Book Review :: Cutting for Stone

"We are all fixing what is broken. It is the task of a lifetime."

To begin to summarize this incredible book is almost impossible. If I say that it's a story of conjoined twins, fathered by a brilliant British surgeon, mothered by an Indian nun - struggling to understand life in all of it's cruelty and wonder it would be true. But, it wouldn't come close to doing this book justice.

The twin's mother dies in childbirth and their father abandons them minutes later. They are raised in a missionary hospital in Ethiopia by an Indian couple who make them their own. The rest of this epic story is about all of these character's journeys to come face to face with their past, their future and their "family."

This is, far and away, the best novel I've ever read. There are so many layers and levels in this book, that even though I finished it two days ago I can't get this book out of my mind.

The biggest downside to reading this one is that I have no idea how to follow it up. Everything else will undoubtedly pale in comparison.

Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese, published February, 2009 by Alfred A. Knopf