658 pages

(Vintage Publishers)

A national bestseller it says, and I know why now, after spending 3 days on this book, which seemed endless in its expanse, its rich narrative and emotional sweep.

Would I say it’s unputdownable- yes, but once you’re past a hundred odd pages or more. At first, you observe the literary magnitude of the author’s language, sweeping you in its bends and curves. It reminds one of yesteryear literature, one that held you spellbound by its very narrative, its command and hold over the core story. It leads you wherever it wishes you to follow, and you are captivated: Ethiopia in the sixties, its aromas, its people, its landscape and its language.

There are too many lines that I underlined to quote, too many paragraphs that made me wish to reread, to be able to grasp the enormity of their reach. Verghese has written a mammoth novel that is both deeply disturbing as it is endowed ever so generously with medical jargon. By the end of it, you begin to feel like a medic yourself.

The story of Sister Mary Joseph Praise, even after her passing and Dr Thomas Stone, embroiled as they are- and their twins Shiva and Marion- or MarionShiva as they are referred to- is strewn with truths- yours, mine, ours. The story spans a few decades, and crosses continents in the latter half.

Is Cutting for Stone a love story? Yes. Is it a story about Ethiopia in the throes of revolution and beyond?- Yes. Is it a story about the medical profession back then, as it was getting more and more advanced? – Yes; Is it the story of a family? Yes and no- it is indeed the story of a family that is one beyond ties of blood, one that is bound by ties so strong, that even a sledgehammer, or a saw would be incapable of untying.

Some chief characters in this tale: doctors all, Hema, Ghosh, Ross, Marion, Shiva, doctor by choice and not education, a genius- solid people, with finely etched bearings. You feel for them, you watch them, you feel with them and when you’re not reading the book, they are with you anyway, developing their story.

Some quotes from the book I have so loved: ‘…where the bottlebrush was so laden with flowers that it looked as if it had caught fire.’

A description of food being prepared on page 225, in my edition-

‘Mustard seeds explode in the hot oil. She holds a lid over the pan to fend off the missiles, Rat-a-tat! Like hail on a tin roof. She adds the cumin seeds, which sizzle, darken and crackle. A dry, fragrant smoke chases out the mustard scent. Only then are the onions added, handfuls of them, and now the sound is that of life being spawned in a primordial fire.’

Verghese specializes in descriptions, this one here of a place:

‘I remember the air that night, and how it was so brisk that it could revive the dead. The fragrance of eucalyptus stoking a home fire, the smell of wet grass, of dung fuel, of tobacco, of swamp air, and the perfume of hundreds of roses— this was the scent of Missing. No, it was the scent of a continent.’

A little story that Marion and Shiva hear, and its motto – struck me as deeply significant : ‘if you keep saying your slippers aren’t yours, then you’ll die searching, you’ll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions, but also our omissions become our destiny.’

I’ll end with this. If you have the patience and the time, and a wish to let a story get under your skin, then Cutting for Stone is an epic tale, one that doesn’t leave you easily. It is emotionally-charged and one that might enlighten you to the vagaries of the medical profession while taking you on a roller-coaster of a ride of Ethiopia, albeit in slow motion, as contradictory as that sounds.

23rd September, 2019