Cutting for Stone

This was an okay book that I enjoyed reading, I guess. Some parts seemed a little bit clichéd, some parts seems sort of hokey. I enjoyed the medical parts the most as I was a science major and enjoy things like biology and chemistry, so the medical procedures and explanations were of interest to me. The book seemed to go on and on, though. Just too long and the ending pissed me off because it was so predictable. It's worth a read but eh, don't expect to be blown away.

My book club raved about this; my feelings are mixed. It took me a long time, close to 2/3 of the novel, to get into the story enough to want to read it for its own sake rather than as just a book club pick. I like the medical and historical detail included in the story. The writing is superb and paints a beautiful picture. For most of the novel I found a couple of the main characters annoying to the point that I didn't really want to know what would happen to them. On the whole I'm glad I stuck with it although it's not something I would choose for myself.

Some echoes of John Irving's The Cider House Rules in this novel--but it takes the concept of a medically proficient orphan and takes it into a whole new wonderful world of multiculturalism. The novel takes its time, and while there may be moments when it potentially borders on precious, it somehow manages to keep it real. Well written passages on medical procedures, especially!

Everyone liked it. Although it clearly had faults, most notably that it was much longer than it needed to be. But the writing was evocative and the story compelling. And if there were just too many coincidences to be believable, well, they did bring the book back round to a tidy conclusion, and after all, it's a novel.