MBTB #4: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 2009

This is an amazing book. Go read it. Trust me. In a nutshell, it’s a sweeping story of the life of a set of twins born in unusual circumstances. The plot takes the twins across Africa to Manhattan. Reviewers use words such as sweeping, epic, remarkable, unforgettable and enthralling to describe this book, and they are not engaging in hyperbole. 

Here are images that stick with me from this marvel of a book:

• The copper bowl in which the twins were revived

• The finger in the jar

• The old slippers that can’t be thrown out

• The description of the plane crash

• The aneurysm in Shiva’s head

• The first fistula patient

• The physicality of Hema

• The emphasis of the normalcy of life in the home of Gogh, Hema, Marion, Shiva and Genet

• The fact that Genet was responsible for Shiva’s death

• The description of Thomas Stone’s apartment in Boston

• The shock of meeting Stone.