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

Definitely a new favorite!

What an incredible story teller is Abraham Verghese! I happened upon his second book, "A Covenant of Water", first. I enjoyed it so much, I had to find another one of his and I'm here to tell you; it did not disappoint. The book is so entertaining, interesting and informative! I love his style of writing and of course the narrator was a perfect fit! I can't say enough, except to say, you must also read/listen to his other works. I know I shall be looking for more! Great job! Thank you for a delightful read!

Stone teaches

Wonderful descriptions of the magic of love, the difficulty of fear and shame, and the longing of all children to have a parent to love. Verghese has the talent to make the story real.

Absolutely superb!

I “read” a lot of audible books. A lot. This is the best book I’ve read in a long time. I laughed and cried; I already miss it. I expect that I’ll be thinking about this novel for some time.

Very compelling story

This book was a very detailed interesting and compelling story. Excellent character development and a very interesting family. Well done !!

Breathtaking

This book was so beautifully written, and the narration was wonderful - I can’t imagine it having been narrated any other way. The story is both heartbreaking and heart warming.

Just beautiful!!

The story was deep and compassionate! The reader was perfect! The amount of different accents were just so impressive! I loved the book from start to finish!

A BOOK I HAVE LIVED

I was a trauma surgeon about 4-5 years ahead of Marion. This was a time one of my partners called the golden age of surgery. So many of the cases Marion was involved in I have done. The Schrock shunt on a young marine accidently shot, and yes bleeding from the subhepatic cava is terrifying. I have even been involved in an emergency C-section but luckily did better that Stone--who should have known better. So for the readers who wonder about what surgery was like then this book is exceptional. The narrator SM is fabulous and his accents are right on, pronunciations of medical terms is probably cultural, in the US it is cava like cave not like java but that is minor. So for the pros and the lay people an wonderful book

Absorbing stories

Abraham Vergese writing about life is so beautiful, consoling and whole to me that it restores my faith in everytjing.

Incredible storytelling

The characters were brought to life by the narration of the author himself. For me, that greatly enhanced the story. I had never read anything about Ethiopia and about the would be doctors coming to the US as interns. Although I read comments that there were too many medical references for them, it only added to my understanding. After all, this is a tale of a family of doctors. It will remain an unforgettable book for me.

Exceptional

Many moving parts in a timeless story. I will read again and again. Thank you.