Okay AD, I finished it...

[HokieThea]

Let's talk about "Cutting for Stone". **SPOILERS** if you have not read it, and want to read it!



I must say, the book exhausted me, and I was glad when I finished it. At times it made me feel kinda stupid- the author is a walking thesaurus! Not sure if I loved it or not.

What were you impressions of Shiva? He was very underdeveloped character-wise, but I got the impression he was sort of autistic. What a jerk, though. Even in death he managed to make Marion feel inadequet.

[adcooper]

Yeah, I never loved Shiva. He did seem flat compared to Marion, and I think he was often more of a concept than a character. And the girl--I already forgot her name--she was such a brat that I could never understand why Marion couldn't get over her. A lot of contemporary movies strike me that way, too. You have a character who is helplessly in love with someone who is barely interesting, much less lovable. What's that about?

But I loved all the detail about Africa, politics, history, medicine, cultures, etc. And the immigrant characters in the US were really fascinating, especially the doctors. Don't you think Verghese writes doctors especially well? I loved Marion's parents, too.

It seems to me that when men write about sexual relationships in fiction, they often get distracted from the overall narrative. (Sort of the way they get distracted in ordinary life, too, LOL!) Anyway, some of the stuff with Marion and Shiva and the women in their lives didn't seem crucial to the part of the story I wanted to follow.

I agree. Not a perfect novel. Not on my top ten list, but I was glad to read it and I'll recommend it.