Cutting for Stone

I read Cutting for Stone in July.  The book was recommended in one of my physician assistant journals, of all places.  It is the story of a pair of twin brothers who were conceived by the mission hospital’s surgeon and the Indian nun who serves as his first assistant.  Because their father flees and their mother dies in childbirth, the boys are raised by the other two doctors in the clinic.  The novel is set in the Ethiopian village of Addis Adaba.  While growing up, the brothers are quite close, but then an event tears them apart.  Later in life, they meet again.  The novel was written by Abraham Verghese – an Ethiopian born physician, now living in the United States. Interestingly, the surname of the twins in the novel is Stone, but the title is taken from the line in Hippocratic Oath that states: ‘I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest.’  I really liked this book.  It was a good read.

MK out.