Reviewing Verghese's books and how it altered my reading experience

 I recently finished reading two of Abraham Verghese’s books and something in me has shifted. It took me days to come out of the universe that Verghese so meticulously creates in these books. The stories are not connected. The characters, settings and timeline are entirely different, but the way Verghese writes, connects you to the soul of each story.

‘The Covenant of Water’ spans three generations starting with the marriage of a twelve-year-old girl with a forty-year-old man in the early 1900s. Set along the shores of the Indian ocean, the novel follows a cast of unforgettable characters, each carrying a story to tell, a heartbreaking story of love and loss and separation and fleeting moments of light and love. And in all that these characters live through; water becomes a thread binding them together. Towards the end, comes a revelation so devastating that it makes you want to close the book, sit and stare into nothingness as your heart dem
ands time to recover from what has just unfolded.

‘Cutting for Stone’ is yet another heartbreaking story of twin brothers Shiva and Marion, narrated by Marion. Sister Mary Joseph (a nun whose pregnancy nobody knew about) dies while giving birth to the twins, and soon after the birth, the alleged father, Dr. Stone, disappears leaving the brothers in the care of two extraordinary doctors, Hema and Ghosh. Set in Ethiopia, the story later moves to the US, it is a coming-of-age tale of the two brothers growing up in a household that sits atop a hill, near the hospital where their adoptive parents work. ‘Cutting for Stone’ is a story of love, betrayal, abandonment, friendship and forgiveness. And all of it in abundance- wholesome and overwhelming all at once.

I discovered Verghese only recently through these books. Part of me wishes it was sooner, but I also think books arrive in our life exactly when we need them. Verghese is gifted with a remarkable skill and talent to make you laugh, cry and feel all the emotions along with his characters. At times, feeling all that they feel can be almost too much at times.

These books are more than just a reading experience, they are an immersive experience.