658 pages.
A good story. Long, but well constructed. All the pieces fit, including application of medical specialty.
Ghosh as a perfect person. Also Sister Mary Praise. And Matron.
Hema (and others) bringing across many things we saw in India (rangoli, mask, food).
Genet kind of an annoying character; her mother not stable.
Some idea of what it might have felt like to move from India to Aden and then to Ethiopia.
Gave a reader like me some feel of the uncertainty in unstable government situations (I of course have not had to deal with this). We grew up familiar with Selassie, Mengistu. And heard of Eritrea. Author speaks to Italian influence here - more than I would have expected.
I found especially striking the part where Marion lands in NYC for the first time. The sensations of a new world - one could kind of imagine how this might feel. This was a favorite section. (Reminded me, though in the smallest way possible, of returning to that same airport in June 1975 after three weeks in Europe, though my surprise was mostly seeing (being reminded of) the hugeness of American automobiles and the width of American roads.)
Roman Catholic nuns had so many highly valuable, unselfish roles for a few centuries there. Kind of sorry that went out of fashion.
Matron's idea of "Nurse Sense" - that made sense to me. Applies in other professions as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment