Cutting for Stone

Alright, here it is, the reason why I've been so incredibly lame and only managed two posts in two weeks: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  It is a magnificent book.  Once I picked it up, I was essentially ruined for all other activities.  The book is well over 600 pages, so that is saying something, particularly since I am a very slow (and very thorough, I like to believe) reader.  In fact, the reason I picked it up to begin with was because I so enjoyed watching my dad read it last summer while we were in Maine.  He'd grab a bag of pretzels and a beer from the fridge, go sit on the deck and have this look about him, like 'Ahhh, ain't life great!'  Still makes me smile thinking about it.

Anyway, I am not going to say much about the plot of the book.  All I will say is that it takes place in Ethiopia (mostly, anyway) in a medical community.  I find it a complete marvel that a surgeon/professor of all things medical can double as a writer of fiction,  but there it is.  Abraham Verghese is an excellent writer, but I suppose this isn't such a rarity.  Wasn't William Carlos Williams a doctor by day and poet by night?  At least I think it was William Carlos Williams.  Blasted over-achievers.

Cutting for Stone is very unique, very eye-opening, and very refreshing.  It is incredibly researched but not weighed down with too much history, because it is woven into an engrossing narrative. It is also filled with surgery after surgery.  I tend to be of a rather squeamish nature, but even I plowed through it.  There were only two parts where I had to put the book down and declare 'yuck.'  And one of those parts involved a cow that was part of a celebration.  (Not bad since I was the rare one not to finish Life of Pi because it made me so sick.)


I've begun to look at Cutting for Stone in the same vein as A Fine Balance.  (If you've not read that, shame on you.  But maybe read Cutting for Stone first.)  It is one of those eye opening books that will stay with me for a very long time.  (I actually read A Fine Balance right before Emilia was born.  I think I finished the last page as we were about to load up the car to go to the hospital.  That was what, nearly two and a half years ago?  And I still think about that book every single day.)

And so, with that.  If you've not read Cutting for Stone, run and get yourself a copy.  (I am currently in the process of sneaking mine into Michael's briefcase when he is least suspecting.)   May I also suggest a big bag of pretzels and a lovely bottle of beer to go with it?  As for me, well, I may go and look for a few recipes to make injera and wat.

A quick side note -- If you look closely, you may be able to see my bookmark for Cutting for Stone in the photo above.  Yes, it's true.  My new favorite bookmark is my Kindle.  It works perfectly between the pages of your favorite book.  As I type, my bookmark/Kindle is currently residing between the pages of the book I just started last night.  There's technology for you.