Although not all of us finished the book this month (a long one), those of us that did read it enjoyed it very much. There was much to discuss about this book. Even the multiple meanings of the book title prompted a discussion! We loved the characters of Hema and Ghosh and all admitted a softening towards Thomas Stone after hearing the story of his life (similar to Marion's experience). We loved how the author was able to describe surgery in terms we could all understand, and even keep us engrossed in a scene of surgery, waiting for the outcome with bated breath. We also really appreciated the message Verghese seemed to convey throughout the story - that the American medical system tends to focus on the physical aspect of ailments but sometimes overlooks the emotional side of patients, sometimes forgets to use "words of comfort". That said, all of us also agreed that we feel very lucky to have the great medical system we have in this country. How lucky we are that we aren't plagued by the conditions of the patients that ended up at Missing.
Several of us wanted to give this book five stars, but we decided that we would reserve the five star rating only for those books we would read again. Given the length of this book most of us probably would not read it again, so we decided on four stars.
Our meeting spot this month was El Matador restaurant in Bountiful, a delicious Mexican eatery. The long wait for a table proved to be worth it - dinner was "delightful" and the horchata was the perfect accompaniment to the mild spice of the food. One of us received a dinner with no beans and instead of just bringing extra beans, the waitress brought out a whole new plate with the full dinner, including the beans. Great service.
