Cutting for Stone
Abraham Verghese
I had this book but had put it aside for several months because it just did not seem like something I wanted
to read. However, when a friend asked me if I had read it and I said no, she said, “You should. I
think you’ll like it.” So, almost reluctantly, I opened it. It wasn’t long before I was completely
immersed in the story of Sister Mary Joseph Praise, Thomas Stone, their twin sons, Shiva and Marion, and their adoptive parents.
The characters come to life against a backdrop of a medical mission serving the poor of Ethiopia
during the time of Haile Selassie. The mission, dubbed ‘Missing’ by the locals, seems to be an island of
stability in a land which is subject to dictatorial whims and political unrest. Although the book explains that “Missing”
is the way the locals misunderstood and mispronounced ‘mission,’ the term becomes an apt description of
the phenomena which creates the tension and motivates the characters.
The first person narrative begins
before the narrator’s birth and continues through his adulthood. This viewpoint, by definition, is limited, but
Verghese maintains the consistency of the perspective and presents well-rounded characters. Indeed, one of the most
notable things about the book is that all of the characters, even the minor ones, come to life in vivid detail.
The setting is first in Ethiopia, and then in an inner city section of the Bronx in a hospital which trains only foreign doctors,
because the American students prefer more modern, well equipped places. The setting and the practice of medicine are
described vividly, but matter-of-factly. Extremely squeamish readers might want to skip the surgery descriptions, but
I did not find it distasteful. Both the setting and the practice of medicine are germane to the story and to the development
of the characters and the plot. Some of the coincidences in the book do require a strong suspension of disbelief, but
this is a novel well worth reading for the story, for a greater understanding, for the characters who will live on after the
book is finished, and for the elegant prose.
Every so often, something comes up which
reminds me how much I enjoy reading poetry. I happened to see this on a blog (Well Read Life). Steve Leveen describes
going with his wife to his college reunion, somewhat reluctantly, and then, as he says, “I had my lights punched
out by poetry.” I quote from the blog:
“Meryl
Streep, Class of ’71, was on stage.
After the applause died down (including my own, for an actress I have long admired), Meryl paused to let the silence
soak in. Then she read this sonnet by a fellow alumna, class of ’17: Edna St. Vincent Millay.
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by
one,
Yet knows its boughs more
silent than before:
I cannot say
what loves have come and gone,
I
only know that summer sang in me
A
little while, that in me sings no more.”
Comments:
I just finished reading this book as well and could not put it down. Betty did a wonderful job of describing the book; I was taken by the intense descriptions of characters and of details from the first few pages and was pleased to see that someone else felt the same way. I almost felt at times that the author spent too much time giving details! I "suspected" that there would be some medical event that the identical twins would be involved in early on but the twist that it took was a great surprise! A great read!
25 May 11 @ 12:56 PM
I agree with the comment that there seemed to be, at times, too many details. However, the reader is drawn into the lives of the characters and experiences the events right along with them.
26 May 11 @ 8:55 AM