By TONI LANDIS | Madison
Perhaps you’ve heard about the latest Nobel Peace Prize winner, Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia. Perhaps you thought to yourself, “Where is Ethiopia again?”
The novel “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese will certainly provide some clarity when it comes to answering this question. For starters, there’s a handy map! But, aside from that, Verghese’s writing style is so detailed and descriptive that you’ll taste the food and feel the rain as you read.
Located on the eastern side of the continent — considered the “Horn of Africa” (think Rhinoceros) —Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in Africa. Most all of narrator Marion Stone’s recollections occur at Missing Hospital, located in the capital, Addis Ababa. Marion and his brother, Shiva, are born under both mysterious and tragic circumstances. Their mother is a nun, secretly pregnant and dangerously so by the time her predicament is discovered. The twins’ impending birth, the disastrous condition of their mother, and the realization of his absolute love for her is a sudden and complete shock to their father, Dr. Thomas Stone. At her death, he disappears.
The story proceeds as Marion recounts all that he and his brother experience over the course of their childhood, raised by the only parents they know: Hema and Ghosh. While Hema steps easily into the role of mother, it takes a life-threatening plane ride to convince her of her love for Ghosh. In the meantime, Ghosh is determined to leave the country to escape his unrequited love for Hema. Luckily, with the arrival of the twins, he not only assumes a fatherly role quite naturally, but he wins Hema’s heart with his devotion to the boys and his willingness to assume the chief surgeon role vacated by Thomas Stone’s unexpected departure.
What more could happen to these four? You name it. There’s a coup involving one of the family’s closest friends (and based on real events). There’s a kidnaping and a murder. Marion develops what will become one of the most troublesome crushes ever on a childhood friend, Genet. Shiva commits a selfish, thoughtless act that alters the brothers’ relationship. And all the while, where is Dr. Stone? Will he return? As Marion considers this prospect, he thinks, “You’re much too late. We went ahead with our lives without you.” Yet, both he and Shiva carry on the work of their absent father as both train to work as doctors.
Suddenly, Marion’s crush on Genet causes him bigger problems and he’s exiled from the country. Making his way to New York, he finds himself working as a surgeon in an underfunded hospital that routinely serves as a hotspot for organ transplant. Who should appear one day, but Dr. Thomas Stone, notorious for his live-saving techniques in the world of liver transplants?
Stone’s reappearance marks a very active period in Marion’s life, which includes the return of Shiva and Genet. Be on the lookout for mentions of the “University of Wisconsin solution” (used for transplant surgeries) and descriptions of medical procedures that will earn you your medical school diploma for their thoroughness — you’ll find it all in “Cutting for Stone.”
