I was on the fence between three stars and four. Brilliant but uneven. On the one hand: Indian doctors in Ethopia in the 1950's (fascinating, historical setting), wonderful use of language in the writing, and a multi-level identity story with twins and a missing father. On the other hand, the pace in Ethopia gets dreadfully slow at times, the identity story is not well-handled (the author-so sure-footed with the historical and, especially, the medical material-seems to know much less about the identity issues), and the stylish writing is inadequate compensation. While written as a fictional memoir, the voice would be best-described as omniscient first person, which undermines the author's efforts at realism. The medical portions are also extremely graphic and detailed, so much so that the clothing of the story becomes threadbare, and it becomes a medical book; suddenly you are reading a surgical Oliver Saks. Still, I learned a lot, will remember a lot and apart from an unduly long middle portion and a relatively weak love-of-his-life story line, enjoyed the book.Get more detail about Cutting for Stone: A Novel.
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