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

So good

Incredible story. It’s been some time since I’ve read a book only to arrive at the end knowing how much I will miss the characters.

Beautifully written

I became part of this story, this family and did not want it to end.

Absolutely amazing!

I loved this book- it was so deep and detailed. I would have to set it aside from time to time to let my brain clear because I didn’t want to miss any of it. I’m so glad I did it has to be one of the best books I’ve ever listened to.

Fantastic story and narration!!

A beautiful story well written. Excellent narration. Definitely worth one credit one of my new favorite books.

A Brilliant Tragedy

A gripping story from start to end filled with poetry love and heart. Perhaps a bit heavy in medical detail. Ultimately I was compelled to listen till the last word. The reader was perfect and conveyed the characters so they came alive. A pleasure.

Great!!

Thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end. Well developed and intriguing characters, storyline, and historical placement. Highly recommend!!

Amazing. Avid reader, this is definitely in my top 10

This author is brilliant. I enjoyed this one just as much as The Covenant of Water (which I read first).

Touches on so many emotions

I really enjoyed listening to this book and my enjoyment heightened as I got further into it. Of course there were times it was frustratingly slow and the main character a bit long winded but the messages of devotion, love of family and friends, forgiveness rang true. I love international travel and have a scientific background so was drawn to all the medical references and facts about Ethiopia, particularly in light of events taking place there now. I also enjoyed the character development and you felt at the end that you not only knew but liked these individuals. I will try more of his books later, but definitely need some time in between.

Impeccable!

What a marvelous book! Impeccable narration, excellent character development, intriguing story. Hated to get to the end, and I miss the characters already.

Liked

Engrossing, intense and with an interesting historical setting, I liked the book. The protagonist’s inability to love in a mature way was a deep character flaw that disappointed me. He blamed the girl he had loved as a young man for how his life went wrong.