This is another novel I read for my Outdo Yourself Challenge plus I have to include novelsI feel are in the literary category. Not to knock anyone else if they like escapist type literature or commerically
successful. I love books with imagery I guess it's the poet in me.
About the Author:Dr Verghese is the Professor of Theory &Practice of Medicine at Standford University school of Medicine, in addition to being Senior Associate Chair of the Dept. Of Internal Medicne. He was born to Indian parents(in 1955) who migrated from India to a town near Addis Ababa, Ethopia.
There was alot of political turmoil in 1973 forcing him and his parents to go to the United States interuppting
his medical studies, he was able to return to Madras Medical College and complete them there.
He came back to the U S to become an orderly at Boston Medical,in 1980. Here he was to come face to face with HIv epidemic. and later the muse for his forst book. My own country: A doctor's story. Afterwards he became so enthralled with writing that he took time off from medicine to study at the Iowa Writer's Workshop earning his Master's Degree in Fine Arts.(I guess it's never to late to reinvent yourself!)
My overall impression: Actually I am not shocked that the author is a doctor in real life because the story was
laced with medical terms, I would have been surprised if he hadn't been a doctor or at the very least a medical
student.Marion and Shiva Stone are twins who are abandoned by their father ,Dr.Stone. Their mother has died in childbirth leaving an Indian couple to raise them in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the 1950's. I think he did an excellent job with the setting , however I had a hard time believing that Dr. Stone didn't know he impregnated his nurse who was also a nun. I could definitely see why the Book Addicts on Good Reads
choose this book it is in my permanent collection and I give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
