by Anura Guruge
on February 4, 2024
I agree with ‘Oprah’. One of the BEST BOOKS I have read (or to be accurate ‘listented’) in my entire life. Actually, I am willing to go further. Maybe THE BEST BOOK in my whole life.
70% of the way through I was CONVINCED that it would join ‘Pillars of the Earth‘ & ‘The Da Vinci Code‘ as a book that changed MY LIFE. I was that much in AWE. I still am.
He, Abraham Verghese, is beyond a genius polymath. He seems SUPER-HUMAN. I am gobsmacked by his talents and achievements. I think he puts both ‘James Michener‘ & ‘John Irving‘ to shame. He is better than ‘Amor Towles‘! I think he has to be the GREATEST of modern authors!
Wow.
That said he ‘killed’ me with a totally unnecessary INDULGENCE in the story/plot line.
Kind of SPOILT the whole thing. YIKES.
What is my gripe.
He included a TOTALLY IMPLAUSIBLE — farcical — part of the story. Unbecoming.
Yes, he needed away to get rid of a MAIN character so the story could continue. To do that, he had that character ‘Lenin Forever After‘ go to prison. His contention was that Lenin, who became ‘Naxalite’ insurgent, was readily identifiable in rural India in the 1970s. DO NOT BUY THAT. Yes, Lenin would have looked rough, undernourished and unkept — but that was NOT going to make his look like he was a WANTED criminal. That was poor. That was bad. RUINED the book for I. Sorry.
