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Cutting for Stone |  | Author: Abraham Verghese
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
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Seller: aphrohead_books
Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 282
Media: Paperback
Pages: 560
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0099443635
EAN: 9780099443636
ASIN: 0099443635
Publication Date: December 26, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Marion and Shiva Stone, born in a mission hospital in Ethiopia in the 1950s, are twin sons of an illicit union between an Indian nun and British doctor. Bound by birth but with widely different temperaments they grow up together, in a country on the brink of revolution, until a betrayal splits them apart. But fate has not finished with them.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 34
 A wonderful novel, a great political study, and a vivid medical narrative July 27, 2009
Mr. P. Robbs (Cambridge, UK)
81 out of 83 found this review helpful
Verghese brilliantly brings to life the Addis Ababa of the 1960s,'70s and '80s,a time of horrific political convulsions that transformed the ancient hidden Christian African empire of Haile Selassie's day into a Stalinist revolutionary hell under Mengistu, and to his regime's final collapse. Yet this is just the background, to a convincing and beautiful saga of passions and of family upheavals and torments, woven well into accounts of how a group of doctors are connected by relationship, rivalry and skills into a collective of dedicated men and women fighting to save life in a poor and war-torn third world country. It held me to the last full stop. Surprisingly, the book has attracted less attention in Britain than in the US. It deserves better from UK readers.
Cuts deep in every way. January 21, 2010
Pen pal (Kent, England)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I have never been to Ethiopia, but such was the writing I felt that I was there. Verghese makes the characters in his book come completely alive, and you begin to really care about them. It is the tale of twins, born in unusual circumstances, not least because their mother is a nun. Their subsequent childhood, in which they are raised within a very loving family by Hema and Ghosh, not their natural parents, sets the scene for all that is to come. Marion falls in love with a childhood friend, as good as a sister, but is ultimately betrayed by the two people he least expected. The betrayal has deep ramifications that ring out through the rest of time. This is an extremely moving novel, and I was not surprised to learn that the author is himself a surgeon, as he gives some fairly detailed accounts of various operations that take place. Needless to say, all the key characters in this book are surgeons or become surgeons. The skilled writing made me feel very involved in these medical procedures, and it was a genuinely fascinating journey into an area I have never read about in any detail. All I can say, is this book was an incredibly moving one, well-written and stays with you long after you have turned the last page.
Utterly Gorgeous! January 17, 2010
pinkwellies (Suffolk, UK)
34 out of 36 found this review helpful
This is an incredible novel that has sucked me in and largely taken over my life for the past three days. I usually don't read much over the weekend when my husband is around, but this has been one that I've carried round like a security blanket and have tried to sneek pages in at any opportunity. It is intellectual, yet the investment is worth it. It is a beautifully written and compelling book that is a bit like ER - good story, plenty of medical detail, and well developed characters and personal relationships. Yet there is clearly something more; it reaches higher than anything I've read in a while. There is a truly special quality about this novel, something I can't quite put my finger on, it stands head and shoulders above most contemporary fiction. BUY IT!!! (but make sure you have a few days to spare...)
A Cut Above The Rest July 11, 2009
Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY))
69 out of 74 found this review helpful
As a reader, I'm always in search of that book I would rate a "10" but, unfortunately, these books don't come around that often. Sure I've read books in the past year that I've given 5 stars to but their actual rating was less than a "10". They probably fell in the "8" or "9" range. I've read some really good mysteries this year but I rate them according to their genre so I don't really put them in the same category as good literature. I knew the second half of this year had some potential as three of my favorite authors, John Irving, Pat Conroy and Richard Russo, all have books coming out. But then I started hearing some buzz about this book set in Ethiopia, Cutting For Stone, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's not one I would have picked up on my own simply because the title was so weird. Cutting For Stone....what the heck is that? With the long 4th of July weekend looming before me, I knew I wanted to read something great and decided to take a chance with Verghese's novel. I'm so glad I did.
I've always been the type of reader who loves when an author takes me somewhere I've never been before and, while there, teaches me things I've never known. When they're able to do this teaching without preaching, it's an extra added bonus. I've never been to Ethiopia and I know I'll never go there. When I think of Ethiopia, I have visions of a totally undeveloped country. While I'm sure these visions are partially true, Verghese really opened my eyes to another part of the world in a country where medical teams still strive for perfection without the kind of money that easily flows into many of the hospitals of which we're familiar. Verghese's Ethiopia is filled with people who love their country and their food and their smells and their customs. And when a time comes that they leave their beloved country behind, they miss it as much as we would miss ours. Just recently, I was driving down a street in Manhattan and I saw an Ethiopian restaurant. Other than thinking that they surely have every single kind of restaurant in NYC, my other thought was, "Who would go to an Ethiopian restaurant?" After reading this book, it is clear to me how much business this restaurant probably gets from all of the people who have made their way to this country from Ethiopia and what a blessing it must be for them to get some real home cooking on foreign soil.
When you have an author who grew up in the country he's writing about, it makes everything seem so much more real as these are his real experiences. It reminded me of reading The Kite Runner by Hosseini and how much I got to learn about Afghanistan because it's where that author spent most of his life. In this case, not only did Verghese grow up in Ethiopia but, while there, he also became a doctor. The fact that a majority of this book takes place in a hospital lends itself to some more first hand knowledge from this very gifted author. Another part of the knowledge I amassed was about the politics of Ethiopia under the rule of Emperor Haile Selassie and the political coups during that time to try to take him down. I found this part of the book fascinating.
Before I give you the impression that this book has no story and it's just a learning experience about a country and its ruler, I have to say that it is every bit the story for which every avid reader is searching. It's a novel that's epic in scope and begins on a ship sailing from India to Yemen where a young nun meets a very seasick British doctor and is able to nurse him through that voyage. Some years later, they will meet again in a hospital in Ethiopia where she will become his right hand through every one of his surgeries. Until one day, she doesn't show up in the operating room and the real story begins. Twins are born, secrets are not revealed, lives are shattered and all of this will be narrated by one of the male twins...Marion. I am not even going to go into the entire summary of the book because too many other reviewers here have given too much away already. Suffice it to say that you will not be able to put it down. Every time I picked it up, I was wondering where each of these characters had been since I was last reading. The author does an amazing job of inserting you into their lives and developing characters you will come to love...Matron, the ruling nun of the hospital; Hema, the gynecologist; Ghosh her beloved husband and surgeon; Dr. Thomas Stone, head surgeon; Sister Mary Joseph Praise, his loyal assistant and the twins Shiva and Marion. I'm already making this review longer than I wanted so I'll leave the story there because I know you will be reading it yourself.
It's a tale of love and hope and desire and "enlightenment". I say enlightenment for two reasons. Clearly each of these characters will have their eyes opened in such a way that it will make a mark on their souls. But I can't help but think that there are some references to Buddha that can't just be coincidental. In two separate cases, the author has one character returning from prison...after 49 days of imprisonment...while he has another character becoming unconscious....after 49 days of the onset of an illness. This is the exact number of days (49) that Buddha meditated before he became enlightened. I would love to know if this was done intentionally.
I recently had a friend tell me that they had given up on reading books that had in excess of 500 pages. I can't understand this statement because most of my favorite books were definitely in that category. So what else can I say about the book that was clearly my favorite so far this year. I just wish there were more books like this and more authors who could tell a story like Verghese. All I can say is thank you for 534 pages of reading bliss.
All Blood, Guts and Soul May 30, 2010
Mrs. Katharine Kirby (HELSTON, Cornwall United Kingdom)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The friend who recommended "Cutting for Stone" mentioned that `it is a bit medical'. Surely an understatement as this book is almost entirely medical and none the worse for that. I took a little time to get to grips with it all, particularly as the opening medical drama involves an exceptionally gruesome case of "Placenta Praevia" which was my own first, very frightening, experience of childbirth. The reader is rocket propelled into the gory, under equipped, Addis Ababa Operating Theatre No 3 (there is only one actually) with Dr. Thomas Stone, the Matron, Nurse Probationer and the horribly suffering mother-to-be, Sister Mary Joseph Praise. This baptism of fire sets the scene for a bystander's view of many further dramatic and sometimes terrifyingly pioneering operations.
Well now having read this book, I at least, really am on rather different terms with my internal organs. Less mysterious, they feel like the old friends they truly are and I know where they live! The author who explains so comfortably and clearly the workings of the human body also wonderfully demonstrates the love of teaching, attributed especially to Ghosh in the story, making it easy for the layman to take on board new and important knowledge.
Only such a widely experienced and completely dedicated surgeon could have credibly written like this. On the last pages his meticulous attribution of every beautiful phrase he chose to incorporate throughout his great work paid careful tribute to his sources but it was his human heart that recognised their worth and resonance. The poetic prose of "Cutting for Stone" lifts it all into the highest class. Even the clever title has two possible meanings.
Abraham Verghese mentions his friendship and correspondence with the writer John Irving, acknowledging his influence. I can see the similarities, mainly in the generosity of the writing, their ability to fill such sheer, wide, ambitious canvas but most of all their affectionate observations of the human condition.
I didn't realise that I needed to know so much more than I did about Ethiopia and Eritrea, `Abyssinia', the countries around and their varied peoples. As with Alexander McCall Smith and Botswana, it has taken a man who has lived there, loved it and taken its pulse (these medical references have got into me now) to educate the reader and coax us into recognising truly good and different ways of living. The political strife is brought to life so sharply; it made me feel ashamed that over the years I hadn't properly taken in the truth behind the news. The differing influences on the country's way of life of Emperor Haile Selassie, and later Mengistu, are detailed informatively. Day to day description of existence there during the second half of the twentieth century immerses you in the atmosphere. Scents, flowers, clothes, sounds, speech patterns, religions, the compromises and joys of living in Addis Ababa and that area really spring off the pages. There are also fascinating and inspiring descriptions of highly impressive yet perhaps undervalued immigrant doctors working in New York around the 1980's.
A love of language flows through all this fable; the long and self- explanatory terms used by the medical profession. Warmly exhorted by Ghosh to wallow in the glory of such words, Shiva and Marion are initiated into the magic of thoughtful diagnosis and good common sense from their earliest days. Learning by observation throughout their childhood living at the creatively funded and heroically run "Missing" Hospital, they had the finest of `hands on' medical educations, collecting knowledge in stages and being allowed to absorb it at their own pace.
The nature of `mirror twins', central to the book is one secret to its enthralling quality. Others are the undercurrents of unrequited love and separation, life long friendship, loss and over whelming guilt. It is a huge read and sometimes a challenging one, with detours and recollections along the way. All has its reason for being there, just be patient and hang on in as this book is well worth the time spent with it. The chosen poem at the beginning is truly very lovely and comforting. The eventual ending certainly had me in tears.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 34
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