From my bookshelf: Cutting for Stone

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I am not even sure how to describe this book... Historical fiction meets medical meets family saga.  Trying to explain this book is difficult.  The publisher describes it as...

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.

All I know is that it has a little bit of everything and I really, really liked it.  This is not a fast-paced book, but is does definitely draw you in as a reader.  You care about the characters and you want to know what happens to them.

When we discussed this book in my book club, it was interesting that everyone really liked it - a rare occurrence for our club.  But also, everyone was drawn to a little something different within the book.  Reading this book is like pealing back the layers on an onion.  The character profiles, relationships, and the storyline are all multi-dimensional.  So when it all comes together, you get this amazing book that you keep thinking about for a while.