Abraham Verghese was a doctor first before becoming an author, and it shows in this book. He writes descriptive details of operations and procedures that highlight his medical knowledge and experience. He includes in the book ethical subjects such as female circumcision and transplant from a live donor. But they are not the core of the book.
The book starts in a mission hospital in Ethiopia and the birth of twins fathered by an Indian nun and a British doctor. At times, the twins seem like opposites, suggesting the good and evil of the same person. Neither of the parents are in the life of the twins after they were born, and they are raised by the people in the mission.
The book is a good history of Ethiopia, most of which I didn't know before I read the book. The book tells the story of civil unrest from an individual's point of view.
I thought the setting was unusual, the birth of twins in Ethiopia to an Indian nun. Then I read about Abraham Verghese on Wikipedia and discovered he was born in Ethiopia to Indian parents, so the book is somewhat biographical.
The book has everything you need in a good novel, great plot, interesting characters, unusual setting and even a murder at one point (or, was it an accident?) It certainly led to a great discussion. Some of us thought it was a little long and didn't like the descriptions of medical procedures, but personally I got a big feeling that the author knew a lot more than me about the subject he was writing about, and that fact made me enjoy the book immensely.
