doughastings 's review for:

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

3.0

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I want to love Abraham Verghese, but I just can’t quite get there.  The other of his I’ve read, covenant of water, also starts off strong.  By the time you’re into the second or third storyline, I find I’m just dissatisfied.  His books are way too long, but it’s really the characterizations that I find are my biggest stumbling block.  And his relationships between men and women, the men are so often just, ugh.  I tend to like his female characters more.  And unfortunately his male characters irk me so much, I can’t enjoy reading the book.   So, I didn’t finish. I may return to it, as the setting is excellent, but I’ll be taking a break. This is my second attempt at this book, so we will see.