Having a few friends who have adopted children from Ethiopia, it was interesting to read of Addis Ababa and the region. The story focuses on twin boys, born to a nun who works at the hospital named Mission (but miscalled Missing and it sticks). The boys are initially conjoined at the head and grow up as the adopted sons in the hospital. I do not want to give away much as the reader will cheer and hiss at various plot changes and it would just be mean of me to share it here. The boys are surrounded by medicine and people who love them, influence them (good and bad) and change their lives forever. Entire chapters tell the individual stories of other people within the book, but only Marion’s story is told in first person. Marion is one of the twins, but his brother Shiva is just as important of a character. The novel spans years and locations, but you always know where the heart is and where people seem to belong. (When the protagonist refers to his twin and himself as “ShivaMarion,” I reminded me of how my daughter Noa, when she was just two years old, would refer to her twin cousins [Sydney and Madeline] as “SydneyMad.”)
This is a book that will take you some time – now, if you have several days with no interruptions or a plane ride without children, you can probably get through it fairly quickly (as did my friend Aimee). But if you live An Interrupted Life and find yourself picking up and putting down a book multiple times a day, count on the book to take you at a few weeks. It also has a lot of technical and medical language and scenes – the author is a physician and he is certainly writing what he knows, but for an English major like myself, my eyes can glaze over after a while. Stay the course – the story is worth it.
I know some people who think this is one of the best stories they have read in years – I would certainly say it was one of the better I have read this year, but not sure how quickly I would pick it back up. I would lend it out with confidence and encourage others to read it, but it will not be very high up on my “read again” soon list.
Wasn't that the definition of home? Not where you are from, but where you are wanted.”
― Abraham Verghese