well done...very well done. i'm exhausted...at 534 pages, i have been thoroughly engrossed in the lives of marion and shiva stone for close to a month. this book had tons of layers...lots of heart and love and warmth and heartbreak and squirm-inducing scenes. cutting for stone is the sort of book i love...crossing time and generations and taking me to places i've never been and will probably never go. and the title is great, too. even it contains tons of layers.a few minor quibbles...i never felt as though marion was a REAL character...he almost seemed too perfect. i found it hard to believe his pure and true love for genet. shiva was hard to know, too, and i thought some of the story got lost in the medical details. also felt it dragged a bit during their childhood(s). other characters - ghosh, thomas stone, hema, sister mary joseph, even matron - were much better fleshed out than marion and shiva and had better "stories." still, cutting for stone is captivating. read it.