** spoiler alert ** 
 I'm pretty sure if this weren't a book club book I wouldn't have pressed on so much with it. I definitely didn't empathize with Marion through basically all of the book. And after the middle of the book I didn't much like Shiva or Genet either. I'm actually pleased with the ending because there was no grand reunion with Marion and Genet, just a random one night and then she gave him Hep B. I also totally expected Shiva to die after the surgery, so when he woke up and was talking I was surprised...and then not shocked when it turned out he did suffer complications and died. It reminded me a bit of My Sister's Keeper, that's probably why I was expecting it. I did learn a lot about Ethiopian/Eritrean history, which was cool. The author also used copious amounts of his medical knowledge when writing surgery scenes...I mostly skimmed them near the end.