BOOKPATHS

Ethiopia; New York, United States

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)

Conjoined twins are born to a nun who dies in childbirth and a skilled doctor who, confused and desperate, leaves them behind.  Successfully separated, readers follow the boys, named Mario and Shiva by their adoptive parents, through the closeness of childhood, the growing tension between them, political turmoil, separation as one seeks escape in New York, finding their destinies in medicine, and finally coming together again in an ultimately heartbreaking reunion.  Cutting for Stone holds readers attention throughout its 500+ pages, offering not only a compelling story of family, but insights into what it means to be a doctor and the impact of place in our lives.

I stood listening once the car pulled away; the dry rustle of the leaves was like a child’s hand sifting through a box of coins.  The sound had lost all its menace for me.  I found that dented and bent curb, which had stopped a motorcycle but not its rider.  I looked down into the trees and the shadows where he fell.  The spot no longer generated any fear for me.  All my ghosts had vanished; the retribution that they sought had been exacted.  I had nothing more to give, and nothing to fear.  I looked out over trees to the city.  The sky was a mad painter’s canvas, as if halfway through the artist had decided against azure and had instead splashed ocre and crimson and black on the palette.  The city was alight, glowing, but here and there it was obscured by great puffs of mist which smudged my view, like the smoke of many small battles. – from Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese

Related Websites

Abraham Verghese Website

Publisher’s Website

Ethiopia

Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, Ethiopian Poet Laureate, is remembered in the New York Times. He died on February 25, at age 69, in Manhattan.

There is more on Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, including a 1998 interview, on the Ethiopian Media Forum website.

“Born in the small mountain town of Boda, near Ambo, Mr. Tsegaye became one of his country's most prominent literary figures as well as an international emissary for its culture. Considered by some to be Ethiopia's greatest playwright, Mr. Tsegaye (pronounced say-GAY) wrote more than 30 plays, most in Amharic, Ethiopia's official language, and translated many Western works into Amharic, including those of Shakespeare, Brecht and Molière. (His native tongue was Oromifa, but he was also fluent in Amharic, several other African languages and English.)” – Jesse McKinley, “Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, Ethiopian Poet Laureate, Dies at 69,” The New York Times