Cutting for Stone

A Novel

By: Abraham Verghese

Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra

Length: 23 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of The Covenant of Water: A beautifully written, page-turning family saga of Ethiopia and America, doctors and patients, exile and home. • “Filled with mystical scenes and deeply felt characters.... Verghese is something of a magician as a novelist.” —USA Today

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles—and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.

This sweeping, emotionally riveting novel that "shows how history and landscape and accidents of birth conspire to create the story of a single life" (Los Angeles Times).

©2009 Abraham Verghese (P)2009 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Abraham Verghese is a doctor, an accomplished memoirist and, as he proves in Cutting for Stone, something of a magician as a novelist. This sprawling, 50-year epic begins with a touch of alchemy: the birth of conjoined twins to an Indian nun in an Ethiopian hospital in 1954. The likely father, a British surgeon, flees upon the mother’s death, and the (now separated) baby boys are adopted by a loving Indian couple who run the hospital. Filled with mystical scenes and deeply felt characters–and opening a fascinating window onto the Third World–Cutting for Stone is an underdog and a winner. Shades of Slumdog Millionaire.”–Jocelyn McClurg, USA Today

“A novel set in Africa bears a heavy burden. The author must bring the continent home to help the reader sit in a chair and imagine vast, ancient, sorrowful, beautiful Africa. In the last decade I’ve read books narrated by characters homesick for Africa; books by or about child soldiers; books about politics; books full of splintering history.... Lush and exotic . . . richly written.”–Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

“Any doubts you might harbor about a 534-page first novel by a physician in his 50s will be allayed in the first few pages of this marvelous book. Abraham Verghese has written two graceful memoirs, but Cutting for Stone, his wildly imaginative fictional debut, is looser, bigger, even better.... The doctor in him sees the luminous beauty of the physician’s calling; the artist recognizes that there remain wounds no surgeon can men. ‘Where silk and steel fail, story must succeed,’ Marion muses. This one does.”–Jennifer Reese, Entertainment Weekly; Grade: A

multiple meanings of the title

this is my second time to read this novel. it is a deeply moving story set in Ethiopia and later the US. the main characters are all named Stone and each is a surgeon bringing meaning to cutting for stone. The "stone" might be kidney, fistula, liver, or human emotions. very powerful story line and fascinating characters.

Loved this book!

A book with depth providing a window into Ethiopian culture. It’s honest and compelling as it brings you on a journey through the various facets of evolving relationships among family, friends, and enemies.
Stick with it as it felt a little slow in the beginning-you will be glad you did!
The reader is outstanding!

A book like no other

Verghese is a master of the written word. I can’t believe he is a physician. As an English teacher I am in awe of his ability to capture his audience. I never reread a book, however, I have listened to this book twice. Covenant of Water is just as enthralling.

Understanding life in another country..

a little harder to keep up with on audible, due to the length and another culture, but I loved the metaphors that reached into one's soul.

Great narrator!

A very moving story told by the perfect narrator. I had to remind myself often that it was fiction. Believable characters whose hearts become evident over the course of a long and winding tale.

Great story

Loved the story! Loved learning about the practice of medicine in Africa and the contribution that foreign graduates make in our health care system.

Thoughtful and inspiring

I loved this book. It is an incredible, complex story that holds your attention throughout and makes you think long about the important moments in life. It exposed me to everyday life in Africa and how much influenced it is by events and patterns of global happenings.

One of the best!

A ten star book. Excellent story and performance. A must listen. The story will stay with you long after.

Narration was magnificent!

This book had my attention from the very beginning, an excellent book, I highly recommend it! One of my favorites! Best narration yet.

Timeless

Beautiful saga full of culture and love. Swept me away to another place and time.