Book 5: Cutting for Stone by Abrham Verghese

Synopsis:

The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a tragic union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Orphaned by their mother's death in childbirth and their father's disappearance, and 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.But it's love, not politics -- their passion for the same woman -- that will tear them apart and force Marion to flee his homeland and make his way to America, finding refuge in his work at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him, wreaking havoc and destruction, Marion has to entrust his life to the two men he has trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

I loved this book.  LOVED it!  One of the best books I’ve read in some time.  It is an epic novel about family, community, betrayal, parental love and estrangement, sibling bonding and rivalry, personal bravery, not-so-uncommon acts of kindness, the heroic practice of medicine, suffering and compassion and irony. And I loved it.  Did I say that already?  The characters were so well developed that for days afterwards I’d catch myself thinking about them.  I actually cried at the tragic times and felt so inspired by some of the exchanges.  A powerful book that you should put on your ‘Must Read’ list right now.

5 of 5 stars