Women From Away

Week eighteen - February 20, 2014

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

Lauren: I have tried to read this book a few times before this. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I liked the medical parts the most but I thought the characters were flat. Normally that is how I connect with a book, and I didn't attach to any of these characters. My favorite character was Genet. I did not care about them. I read a few reviews before I read the book which spoiled some for me. I think it is a mistake to know too much about a book before reading it. I like reading books like this one because I learned so much about Ethiopia. I was able to learn a lot about the world in a new way.  I would give it a 3 out of 5.

Robin: The first half is great but I was very exciting to see it pick up. I really loved the medical parts and I liked comparing the way that medicine is done there with how we do it in Canada. Their approaches to medicine are very different. Here we get reports and tests to tell us what we need to know whereas in the book, Marion and Ghosh were able to smell and just see what was wrong with a patient. I  would give it a 4 out of 5.

Laura: I really enjoyed it. I really loved the beginning of the book because when it picked up it was traumatic. I really enjoyed the wise words from Matron before the story even begins. I thought he would have pulled it in more throughout the book. I agree that some of the characters did seem flat. I didn't feel a strong connection with characters and so I was not greatly affected when he died. It felt like two books. I would give it a 4 out of 5.

Amy: I probably would not have finished the book on my own, that is why I love book club! The first 400 pages for me were the hardest because it is so descriptive. Way too descriptive, I think it could be 150 pages shorter. It hit me however when Marion goes back to Ethiopia, it feels like a homecoming. It felt familiar at that point, so I don't know now if I would exchange those 150 words and the work to get through it. At the end it becomes clear why the description is so important. The references to coming home may have been unnecessary but I understood the importance. I would give it a 3 out of 5.

Nicole: I really liked this book because it reminded me of the nuns I knew in Kolkata. The style of medcine, the reliance on the human senses, I loved that. My favorite character was Thomas Stone, but not until the end. I have a weakness for characters who seem hard shelled and rather frustrating on the outside but that slowly unravel to have true weaknesses and a vulnerable heart. Near the end when Thomas Stone opens up about his own history with ill parents and a hard adolescence, it humanizes and provides understanding (I think) for some of his choices and attitudes later in life. That well rounded testimony melted me. I would give it 4 out of 5. 

Nikki: I have a feeling I am going to like the second half better.

Average group rating: 3.4 out of 5

What do you think?

"A son isn't a man until his father dies" - are we not truly free until our parents die?

In America, news of having a fatal illness "always seemed to come as a surprise, as if we took it for granted that we were immortal", whereas in Ethiopia patients assume that all illnesses are fatal and that death is expected. 

"What treatment in an emergency is administered by ear?" The answer is, "Words of comfort" - responses to this approach to medicine?