How Could I Miss This Book?

Cutting for Stone was recommended to me by two different friends. I'd never heard of it, even though I've read many Indian authors.

The author of this book is Abraham Verghese. He's also a physician, which makes the reading so compelling. There's a lot of blood and guts in this book, which takes place in Ethiopia and near the end, the Bronx. Beginning in 1954, the Ethiopian part spans 40 years, most of it during the reign of Haile Selassi. He's portrayed as a benevolent dictator whose people worship him despite their abject poverty. The characters are all doctors or nurses at a mission hospital run by nuns with funding by a U.S. Christian group. It's amazing what they offer their patients in terms of health care.

The long family saga takes the reader through the uprising against Selassi to an understaffed, under-supplied hospital in the Bronx. Serving the poor and those on Medicare or Medicaid, the staff does the best it can. The doctors are excellent, but never dream of getting beyond where they are due to the hospital's low ranking and the races of the doctors, staff and patients.

Miracle liver-transplant surgery performed at the hospital changes everything. Suddenly the hospital receives a lot more funding, and its ranking shoots up. Most of the top-notch doctors, however, decide to stay.

This is a great book to read at the beach if you can get it in softcover. I checked it out from my local library, hard-covered and weighty but I still schlepped it with me on a trip to Block Island and one to Landenberg, PA for a family reunion.

I'd tell you what I'm reading now, but you wouldn't believe me.