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

Such a Magnificently Moving Story

I Love this book so much! It’s been a long time since I was so touched and enthralled in a story. Definitely worth your time.

MY BOOK OF THE YEAR

So many things about this book are amazing that it's hard to sort them out. The story about what it means to be a twin, the story of actually growing up in a medical school, a story of love both lost and found, and a story of supreme sacrifice. I recommend this book, and consider it the best book I've read this year.

Excellent in all ways

What an amazing story. I highly recommend. Riveting tale with well-developed characters. Enjoyable from beginning to end:

Wonderful story

Wasn't sure what to expect with this book. Story and narration were beautiful. Would highly recommend!

Challenging & Beautiful

This is no easy listen. As this complex and wonderfully crafted story builds layer after layer I found myself becoming more engaged & focused. By the end of the story I was emotionally connected in a way that I find rare in fiction.
It is also a wonderful gift to at least for a while spend time with 3rd world characters who are not stereotyped but seem to be complete people.
Bravo.

Amazing story

This was an amazing story. Generally am not terribly interested in medical dramas but this is so much more. The book made we want to visit Ethiopia to know the place. It interested me in the lives of surgeons, something remote from my experiences. Every aspect of the book captured me. The narration was excellent and the accents added so much to the storytelling. I can’t wait to listen to his next book.

Quite Possibly one of the Best Reads Ever

I loved this book. So much of it has stuck with me day to day. If you're a doctor or a nurse, should definitely read this.

This book is a beautiful work of literary art.

This is a beautiful book. Beautiful story, beautiful writing, beautiful narration. Sometimes we buy a book and it might be missing one of those categories; this book has everything. When I read that the story spanned generations, I was hoping that it didn't go too far from one generation to the next. It doesn't. It's exactly right. Apparently there is a sequel. I'm not even sure whether I will read the sequel (if that's the case) because this story begins and ends so rightly. This story is sweeping in scope and moving in its message. I highly recommend it.

Finding soul

Nothing short of spectacular! I am truly baffled by the heart and soul of this gorgeous prose! The story is so compelling and magical almost that it will quickly steal you away from the drudgery of this time.

Epic story

What a great Listen it was never tiring full of humor Very well told story. Great performance by all.