Cutting For Stone

This is a long one. Took me a little to get fully invested, but I'm glad I did.
I learned more about Ethopian history that I ever had before. Reminiscent to Poisonwood Bible in the way the learning of country's people & challenges feel very grounded and authentic (Obviously in this case, Verghese used a lot of his own experiences to shape that- you can tell- it's affecting and profound.) There is one scene that fueled a lot of dislike of the narrator for me. Until that part I had mostly been able to understand why he made the choices he did, but one part got me a little angry and ultimately soured my taste towards him. I can't tell if that was intentional or not, but it was certainly a choice. Overall, very well written and a glimpse into a world I've never really known much about- even including the parts in America.

There was too much medical detail, and too much sidetracking during intense scenes. I listened to the audiobook so maybe it's different had I been able to skip ahead in a book, but it would drive me crazy when we'd be in the middle of a surgery, when there were obvious actions that needed to be taken, and the details upon details that were given about misc. people involved in the action and sidetracks we went down would drive me crazy. Get back to the scene – you don't have an hour to discourse about some random event when the patient is dying waiting on you to begin the surgery!!! Plus, I'd often find myself almost sick to my stomach listening to the gory details I really really didn't care to hear. But there were many beautifully written lines and descriptions that kept me listening through hours and hours of tapes... took 2 weeks of commuting to hear it all.

I liked the story very much. It does have a lot of medical terminology and descriptions of medical procedures, which some might find off putting. Those parts could be skimmed though. It still is very much worth reading.