About the Book:

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel—an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

As a person that generally loves books, I frequently find myself explaining that though there may be things in every book I read that I don’t like, or agree with — for the most part I can always find things in every book that I enjoy as well.  And in approaching books with this type of mind set, I frequently forget the amazing experience that happens when I come across a book that simply rocks my world, and I fall in love with everything about it.  I also tend to forget that these are the books that make reading so worth the effort.  They are the ones that don’t just tell a story, or have great characters, or intriguing story lines.  Rather, these types of books are the ones that affects the readers universe, and makes them want to close the book only so they can start the book over again, and re-experience the joy of discovery once more.  Such is the case with this book.

I first came across this book in one of my online reading groups when a girl mentioned that she had started reading this book for a multiple time read, and that she simply had to read this book on a regular basis because she loved it so much.  I remember at the time thinking I needed to put it on my list of books to read.  When I did, I sought it out several times, and checked it out of the library on more than one occasion.  But, I have to admit that I rarely got past the first chapter — before becoming intimidated by the length of the book.  Generally, length doesn’t daunt me — but for some reason I kept resisting this one.  So, when I had a week off from work — I decided this was the week — and I was going to get through this one if it killed me.  And once I started — I couldn’t put it down.

The only thing that I found about this book that I could have skipped was the extensive medical scenes.  There are numerous surgeries in this book, and some of them are pretty graphic (the author being a successful surgeon), and if you are someone that has a weak stomach you may want to be warned about these scenes going in.  If some of these had been left out, it might have made the book a little shorter and less daunting.  However, I am uncertain if they could have been successfully left out, and still maintained the impact that the story carries.  There could probably be arguments made on both sides about this.  But that is the only complaint that I could have tried to make about this book.  Everything else about it is right at the top of my favorite book list.

I don’t know what kind of career Mr. Vergese had as a doctor — but I know that as an author he has an amazing gift for words.  His writing is simple and direct — but there isn’t the problem of cliche phrases and pat plot lines that are found in this first time novel.  He is simply a great story teller.  I loved the way he was able to create not just a story, but the characters, images, and an overall feel of the book that is haunting and elegant.

The interaction between the characters is also beautiful in its presentation.  Shiva and Marion are simply amazing in their creation, and development throughout the story.  And this story is probably as close as non-twin readers will ever come to knowing what it is like to have been born in this world with an identical twin, someone with whom you share a bond that is closer than anyone else will ever be in your lifetime.  Mr. Verghese has opened the mind and heart of these two boys and allowed us to understand, at least mentally, a portion of the bond that united these two boys — and it makes the story so much more poignant because of that development.

But the interaction of all the other characters cannot be discounted either.  The absent father, the surrogate parents, the nontraditional childhood — all of these things can speak volumes to all the different elements that go into making up the concept of family.  And yet — even with all these different elements in play — there is still the background on which they are all presented.  Everything from a lonely hospital run by foreigners and expatriates, all the way through the political upheavals of civil war, coup d’etats, and the dangers of military instability in a very volatile country.

And if that doesn’t pack this book enough to interest the reader, there is also the moral question of men’s capacity for self-destruction, in the face of everything he has worked to create.  How far are men willing to go for love, and when is love warped into something much more self destructive, and transitions into a devastating force.  And not just the love between a man and a woman — but the exploration of love between parent and child, friends, siblings, and all the other various definitions and types of love that we all have in each of our lives.

I can’t begin to recommend this book enough — and it is one that has rocketed to the top of my favorite book list.  It also is a great reminder of why I keep reading, and the enjoyment that comes from finding that one book that can change the world of the reader.

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