Synopsis: Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics–their passion for the same woman–that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him–nearly destroying him–Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.
Cutting for Stone will go down in my personal reading history as the second book to have brought tears to my eyes (Of Mice and Men being the first). The family and brotherly bonds that make up the core story are intense, yet not cheap or melodramatic. A lot goes on from beginning to end, but as tightly woven as the narrative gets, it moves ahead logically with good pacing and foreshadowing. I don’t read a lot of family saga type books, but this one just sounded so interesting that I gave it a try. At first I had a hard time getting into the story; it’s a bit vague and stretches the bounds of belief (an infant remembering its birth? Oh come on.). Also, it plunges you straight into the story with no explanation as to circumstances or people involved. After a while though, the story coalesces and begins to construct itself.
I’m not 100% convinced that first-person was the right perspective for some of the story, particularly events before Marion’s birth, but it did make for a very personal story, one a reader can easily be emotionally connected to. I’m very glad I read this with my ears; Sunil Malhotra did an amazing job, putting just enough characterization into specific voices for them to be recognizable, but not cartoonish. He became the voice of Marion Stone. His voice, intonation and cadence was a treat to hear.
Spoilers set to stun.
Out of all the characters I think I loved Ghosh the best. His long, slow courtship of Hema was so tender and dedicated; I laughed out loud when they finally got together to live their lives. His relationship with Marion and Shiva was fatherly and also somehow, professorial as well. He taught them how to be people first, but doctors too in a close second.
The complex relationship between Marion, Shiva and Genet is too much to go into here with any detail. Plus it would give away too much of the plot, but suffice to say it is an unusual relationship and one that both makes them as individuals, but also destroys. The tentative beginnings with games of blind man’s buff are pretty illustrative of where it will go. I also had to wonder about how casual Shiva’s later sexual involvement with Genet was given what he was a silent witness to years earlier.
The historical context Verghese brought to the story was excellent. In other novels I’ve seen this kind of thing throw off and distort a story, taking a reader down ratholes that don’t go anywhere, but in Cutting for Stone they enhanced the story and fleshed out its people. Ghosh’s imprisonment, the tenuous situation Missing Hospital found itself in as a result of the government, the coups and rebellions; all of it was central to the story, not extraneous. Even if Verghese had an axe to grind here, it didn’t come off accusatory to this white, western woman. It made me very curious about Ethiopia and its history.
I also loved how Missing Hospital became a character all by itself. Doctors, nurses and support staff who dedicate years of their lives to these hospitals are amazing people. Aside from that, Verghese made the community a wonderfully nurturing place for Marion and Shiva. It’s clear that Stone’s abandonment was really a good thing for them. Hema, Ghosh, Matron and the others were more parent than Stone could have ever been. Missing was the perfect training grounds for Marion in terms of developing his medical style and preparing him for a hospital like Our Lady of Perpetual Succor. The deprivations he found there were light compared to Missing.
One thing I would have changed, or possibly just reduced were the surgical descriptions. Visceral isn’t strong enough a word. I mean, while reading a vivid account of a vasectomy even I squirmed. While on one level they were interesting, I don’t think so much detail was needed to convey the intense passion for surgery that is part of Marion’s personality. Overall though the story is original, extremely character driven and one I know I will re-read again and again.
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