Be prepared!

For an involved reader, a bittersweet literary postpartum follows from the completion of a truly great novel. The resolution of the narrative hangs in the air like the final chord of a symphony. You long for more, already missing the characters, their lives and their emotions. However, upon finishing Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, you may feel washed up, wrung out and left to dry–the book falling to the floor as you collapse with an exhausted sense of relief. The events of the closing chapters of the book are heaped upon the reader in a barrage that evokes a yin and yang of human emotions designed to tear your heart to pieces and leave you choking on your tears.

Love in all its manifestations. Regret and guilt. Passion, betrayal and forgiveness. The righting of old wrongs, returns to sacred places and reunions with cherished loved ones. Mysteries solved, misunderstandings resolved, on and on... There's no way to prepare for the emotional onslaught of this powerful and authentic story.

On rare occasion I will read again a really good book –The Magus, Catch 22, The Sot-Weed Factor, Catcher in the Rye. Though Cutting for Stone is surely one of the finest literary works of this era, it will take a great deal of courage to re-enter its roller-coaster maze of human emotions. I don't think I could take it. Not again...

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