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Cutting for Stone  By  cover art

Cutting for Stone

By: Abraham Verghese
Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
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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

What listeners say about Cutting for Stone

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So well-written

amazing story; precise detail, even to the most intricate medical descriptions. loved it. and all the voices by the narrator were excellent too.

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Powerful Storytelling

Captured me from the first page. Will always be one of my all time favorites

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Amazingly written!

This story is so well composed and moving! The narration is great as well. I highly recommend it

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Perfect mix of history, culture, medicine and love

I loved this book!! I’m not good with words so this review of mine is lame.
Definitely one of my top 3!

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Amazing book, so glad I gave it a chance

Full confession: I almost returned it, since it was very slow getting started. Long expositions about the different characters and their backgrounds, etc. and I didn't really see where any of it was going. But then, it turns a corner, and wow, I couldn't stop listening. Beautifully drawn characters, and so much emotion. There were some passages that dragged on, especially the detailed medical descriptions, and a couple of times I put it on high speed, but ultimately it was all worth it. I listened to this after being completely swept away by The Covenant of Water, and I can't decide which one is better. They are both astonishing, and so, so good.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The narrator was fantastic!

Sometimes stories that reflect real life can be uncomfortable to read. This story was real. The characters had depth and raw human emotion, leaving me uncomfortable at moments,. It was as if I were witnessing very person, private parts of a life that I had no right to see, But, by doing so I became deeply vested in the outcomes. Life is hard, but filled with rewards. This novel reflects that. This is a well written and equally as well narrated novel.

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Verghese is the best ever.

Most powerful writing I have ever encountered. Highly recommended. Do not miss this rare opportunity.

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Beautiful story

Thoughtful and insightful story of being human. Captures what it means to be a physician

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Saga

Engaging but lengthy story that has many love relationships, including the love of medicine. The writing style is beautiful.

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Abraham Verghese’s beautiful narration

This is one of my favorite books of all time; the author flawlessly changed into each character adding more enjoyment as each chapter was read. The story was so good! I hope he has another book out soon!

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