Cutting For Stone

I just finished Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese. It's one of the books for book club this year. Had it not have been, I would have probably put it down. Too. Much. Detail. I have very low tolerance for extraneous detail. Sometimes all the details are necessary. I felt like it wasn't in this book. The actual story was good. Just too much detail. Geography that didn't really matter. Politics that didn't further the story. Details about medicine that was just too much.

In the end, I'm glad I read it. I just didn't connect much with the characters. The narrator (the main character) was a male...which I find difficult to connect with anyway. I grew up with 3 sisters. I have 4 daughters. I am female. I get female. Male? They are like aliens to me. So some of my disconnect to Marion is because he's a he and not a she. In general though, I didn't find that there were too many characters in Cutting for Stone that were very likable. Some, but not many.

But that is kind of what makes it an interesting book. You don't really like some of these people because of the poor choices they make. And by the end, they redeem themselves somewhat (well, some of them) but you still don't love them. I can appreciate that they made a great choice in the end...but what about the choices in the middle? They count, too. It's not like you can live a self-centered life and then redeem your bad choices by making one good choice at the end.

Anyway, I'd recommend this book for literature lovers, medicine lovers, lovers of different countries and cultures, and book clubs. Because even though I didn't love it, it gives a lot to talk about.