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

Great

A good book, truly recommended. The story is set an alien environment, Indians living in Ethiopia. This is a novel, but it seems very close to real life and the truths. Events occuring in the book appear too real to not have happended in real life. The personal portraits are very good, not only of the protagonist, but all people appearing here appear truly alive. The story is heart-breaking, and the two brothers and their sister have a very complex relationship, shaped by events beyond their control.

A tremendous work

This narrative is beautifully written and meaningful in its characterizations, and artful development of the storylines with more than enough surprises for the first-time reader. I’ve read it twice to gaze on how the story was told. It is also wonderfully narrated in the audio book. I highly recommend it.

Grabs the heart, suspenseful with unexpected turns

If you could sum up Cutting for Stone in three words, what would they be?

Suspenseful, detailed, family-oriented

What did you like best about this story?

It is a story about broken people who still find ways to love and care for each other as well as tending to the broken bodies they minister to through the practice of medicine.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Hema and Ghosh fell in love.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The unexpected ending.

Great Story! Love , loss, and forgiveness.

A story of people thrust together with a common cause in a . They are selfless in their work to serve people in desperate need, yet they struggle with their personal relationships.

Extraordinary In every way

Fabulous characters and character development, opens beautiful new worlds and cultures, a treat to heart, mind, and soul. Performance is flawless and deeply moving... Don’t miss this!

Fabulous Story

I always list this when ask to name my 10 favorite novels. Great story. Great read. Good lessons.

Powerful and moving

Superb character developement and the author's ability to transport me to a world I never knew existed and yet was at the same time familiar, make this a delicious read. From the pain of secrets kept hidden, to the joy of forgiveness and personal redemption, this story has changed me.

Authentic narration.

Excellent

Couldn’t stop listening. Fascinating story. I laughed. I cried. Characters were made to feel so real. Narration was impeccable. This book will not disappoint!

one of the best stories I've ever read.

This was one of the best stories I've ever read. It was very detailed and medically accurate as well as the story was fascinating had many twists and turns. If you're looking for something that is nothing like anything else you've ever read this is it.

Picked for a book club

This was not a book I would have read if it were not part of a book club. It was a good book, and very great with the dynamics amount the characters. It was a bit slow though.