On 01.02.02, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Too late for surgery, I had chemotherapy, which failed. In May the chemotherapy was changed and I was soon in remission which was celebrated and welcome and lasted nine years - until October 2011. There was progression in 2011 so more treatment was indicated and I am now back in partial remission. But I'm not only a cancer patient - I also enjoy my family, walk my dogs and am learning to draw and paint. Life is good!

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Latest great read


Cutting for StoneCutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese


I just finished reading this novel and can't wait to talk to someone about it.  It is amazing!  As I read further and further I gave up more and more of my daily life just so that I could turn the pages faster as I rushed to the end.  Looking back, I can see the complexity, but it didn't feel complex in the reading because everything is neatly interconnected and resolved.

The story concerns a pair of conjoined twins who were born in Ethiopia.  Their father was a locally renowned surgeon and their mother was a nursing sister, a nun.  No one knew of the pregnancy, not even the father, who fled the scene when the mother died.  The boys were adopted by others in the medical community.  That sounds so simplistic!  So much else is going on - the relationship of the brothers, the relationships of everyone else living in the household including the hired staff.  There's a political uprising.  There are medical procedures under development.  There is the flight from Ethiopia to the United States - and that's as much as I'm going to divulge.

It's a great book - enjoy!


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3 comments:

  1. Does it have a good ending? I really hate reading a book and having a bad ending. I figure there is enough bad stuff in the world; at least when spending time reading I want some happiness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everything resolves in the end, I'll put it that way. I really liked it. - Barbara

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aargh, that means I have to try it to see!

    ReplyDelete

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