A family saga , set mostly in Addis Ababa, with medicine at the central focus. Sister Mary Praise gives birth to twin sons, Shiva and Marion, delivered by the twins' father, Dr. Thomas Stone. Sister Mary dies in childbirth, Dr. Stone disappears. The twins are raised by two other doctors, Hema, a gynecologist, and Ghosh, a GP who becomes the surgeon at the Missing Hospital after Stone leaves.
The twins grow up to become doctors themselves; Marion comes to America after he is threatened by arrest after being unwittingly implicated in a rebellion. Shiva is also a doctor, but not formally trained as such. Typically, the twins are mysteriously connected , coming to age as Ethiopia is on the brink of revolution, but a shared passion for Genet, their childhood friend, tears them apart.
Marion finally meets his father, and they are reconciled, but not before Marion's life is threatened with illness, an illness which brings the twins back together again.
There is some excellent story-telling in this novel, although I found the medical parts somewhat lengthy and boring. Verghese is himself a medical professor, so he is very familiar with the field. I've never read a book set in Ethiopia, and I remember Haile Selassie from my own girlhood, so I found that interesting.
Not riveting reading all the way through, but I'd give it three stars for sure! The novel is well-organized to keep the reader on course: we don't find out near the end what really happened between Sister Mary Praise and Thomas Stone. I just found there were parts when I thought" Ho-hum, this is boring" and then he'd catch my interest yet again.
The term "cutting for stone" comes from the Hippocratic oath, and the inference is that a surgeon must always think of the overall well-being of his/her patient. The Stones were surgeons, and one Stone saved another by cutting away part of himself.
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