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

Outstanding

This was one of the best audiobooks I have heard in years, right up there with the best of the best - Angela's Ashes, Memoirs of a Geisha, Lord of the Rings - this is epic. The visceral and cerebral saga of a family, told step by step, with full blooded, gorgeous characters, and accurate medical descriptions. Dr Verghese grew up as an ethnic christian Indian in Ethiopia, and the cultural details seem real and are mesmerizing. History, medicine, religion, love, sex, culture, brotherhood, it is ALL there. I can't possibly say enough good things about this book, and am filled with admiration for Dr Verghese. He describes why medicine is an amazing profession, and why the narrative of life, no matter what the story, is important. Sunil Malhotra does a fantastic job as well.

unbelievably beautiful

Another excellent book from Audible, up there with "The Lotus Eaters" for my favorites of the year.

I listened to this book when I was in the hospital recovering from collarbone surgery, so the fact that the main character was a surgeon, as well as the frequent discussions about surgery and medical history, were at times difficult to listen to because of their realism. The author, a surgeon himself, depicts medicine and its practitioners in a glorious, almost idealized way -- if it weren't for the frequent deaths and sicknesses that befall the patients.

Although I was sad when the book left Ethiopia during the narrator's exile, I was pleasantly surprised to find how interesting the section about medical practice in the U.S. was. Like myself, the narrator works in an inner-city hospital that serves the poorest of the poor. In my own training (in clinical psychology) I have seen the preponderance of doctors with foreign degrees in these kinds of hospitals, but this novel gave me new insight into the division of labor in American hospitals (one kind of care for the wealthy, another for the poor). LIke the main character, I work with and for the poor, and I could appreciate his struggles understanding and being understood by the doctors from the "Mecca" hospital.

Well done, Verghese!

Loved it!

I absolutely loved this book. The narrator is fantastic and I enjoyed the book from beginning to end. I'm usually disappointed at endings but this one didn't leave me disappointed. I was sad it was ending, but not disappointed.

A Nurse loves Cutting for Stone.

A great epic story that started out slowly for me, but took off and I was hooked. I enjoyed every time I got into the car for a long drive. I saved my credits for two months to get this gem! The medical and surgical descriptions were quite detailed and might not be for all readers.

Amazing book

Excellent. Verghese imagery that he creates throughout the book and historical accounting of Ethiopia are truly remarkable and moving. Very engaging and moving story kept me captivated. Verghese beautifully demonstrates the philosophy that life is a circle that always comes around.

Amazing Story from Africa to America

This book is in the top five that I have listened to. It is full of medical terminology, which in itself is fascinating. But the human relationships, between the two brothers who love the same woman, and their father . . . well, you won't be able to stop listening . . .

Outstanding!

This book will stay with me for a long time. As someone who works in healthcare I was a little put off by the subject simply because I try to escape from the world of medicine when I read or listen to audiobooks, but the reviews were so good that I eventually had to succumb. I am so glad that I did. Verghese does an extraordinary job of weaving anatomy and medicine into the story without pulling focus. This novel is thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and will keep you engrossed for hours. One of the best books I've ever read!

Loved this book/One of my favorites

The story unfolds with a lot of medical detail, but that does not detract from the character development or the engaging story line. I loved all the characters and though it was many hours long, I am happy I listened!!!!More than a few surprises in this one....good narrator!

Cutting for Stone

Excellent! I admire Mr. Verghese. I'd dare recommend this book to males as well as females.

I get it, but "it" isn't amazing

While I admit the writing is good, I just wasn't into the book. I finished it, but it felt more like a chore than because I really wanted to listen.

The narration is OK, but the accent is so thick at times that it is difficult to understand.

The overall story is full of turns and complex ideas and while the ending is obviously supposed to be one of those tear-jerkers, I just wasn't feeling it.