Cutting for stone is a gorgeous epic tale, suffused with unforgettable grace, humanity and compassion. Cutting for stone is the complex story of the praise family, focusing on twin brothers marion and shiva as they negotiate the hidden histories of their past while working hard to make medical advances for the future. What does cutting for stone reveal about the emotional lives of doctors. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese reading guidebook club. Cutting for stone by abraham vergese book club discussion. The book includes a deep description of both medical procedures and explores the human side of medical practices. Cutting for stone the phrase is from the hippocratic oath is about twins. Almost all of the characters in cutting for stone are living in some sort of exile, selfimposed or forced, from their home countryhema and ghosh from india, marion from ethiopia, thomas from india and then ethiopia. Cutting for stone quotes showing of 264 the key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you dont. Cutting for stone kindle edition by verghese, abraham. Cutting for stone the phrase is from the hippocratic oath is about twins born joined at the head, in a mission hospital in addis ababa half a century ago. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese book club discussion. This is one of those books you dont want to see end and that will leave you hungry for more. Born of indian parents, verghese grew up in revolutionary ethiopia near addis abba.
This is a long, ambitious novel, dickensian in its scope, detailing the not only the life of marion stone, but the struggling charity hospital in which he is raised, and the turmoil of ethiopia in the 1960s and 1970s. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mothers death at their births and forsaken by their father. However, the book s title cutting for stone may indicate the danger and risk inherent in familiar love. Almost all of the characters in cutting for stone are living in some sort of exile, selfimposed or forced, from their home country hema and ghosh from india, marion from ethiopia, thomas from india and then ethiopia. Oct 17, 2011 cutting for stone is primarily set at a mission hospital in ethiopia, although india and new york city are featured almost as extra characters in the story. Verghese breathes such life into his characters that there is a poignant familiarity to them, one that lingers and haunts long after the dream is over. Phyllis in the ancient greek hippocratic oath for physicians there was a line about not cutting for stone gall stone, kidney stone, etc because of themore in the ancient greek hippocratic oath for physicians there was a line about not cutting for stone gall stone, kidney stone, etc because of the danger to the patient. An indian nun and an english doctor have conjoined twin babies in ethiopia. I will not cut for stone, runs the text of the hippocratic oath, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest.
At the time when there were born, there was a union that didnt bring any good, positive site. A sweeping, emotionally riveting novel with over one million copies soldan enthralling family saga of africa and america, doctors and patients, exile and home. Cutting for stone, set in addis ababa, ethiopia, spans the course of a century in the lives of the denizens of missing hospital, centered on conjoined and separated upon birth twins shiva and marion stone. The novel opens with sister mary praise leaving india to travel to africa as a. This first novel was preceded by two nonfiction books. Abraham verghese story, cutting for stone, takes us to ethiopia during haile selassies rule when poverty foments revolution and betrayal by subjects who want better living and working conditions for its citizens. When the pull quote on the cover is from usa today, well, its not a big selling point.
Each character is so fully developed from start to finish that the reader becomes deeply involved with each and every one. An epic novel that spans continents and generations, cutting for stone is an unforgettable story of. Sign me up to get more news about literary fiction books. The writing is vivid and thrilling, and the story completely absorbing, with its pregnant indian nun, demon. A gripping piece of fiction that follows the story of the stone family over the years. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese free download. Dec 30, 2009 cutting for stone by abraham verghese, 9780099443636, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. But beyond rhetoric the title does not resonate emotionally throughout different levels of meaning in the novel. Cutting for stone ebook by abraham verghese rakuten kobo. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese in fb2, rtf, txt download ebook. Cutting for stone is a beautifully written comingofage novel weaving family, hospital and house staff, patients, community, disease, and country into a complex tapestry. A sweeping, emotionally riveting novel with over one million copies soldan.
The writing is vivid and thrilling, and the story completely. Cutting for stone honors the extraordinary, complex work of surgeons and physicians, but it also allows us to see them as ordinary men and women. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese reading guide. Most of the books on faceting that are available to the beginner are few at best.
As you follow his life you will fall in live with his story and come to feel as if you know the characters personally. Readers will put this novel down at books end knowing that it will stick with them for a long time to. Hes also senior associate chair of the department of internal medicine. It is a beautiful novel because it succeeds in creating endearing personalities. Cutting for stone is a best book club book for discussion, a sweeping first novel and enthralling family saga of africa and america, doctors and patients, exile and home. Dec 12, 2010 i had low expectations for cutting for stone. Those words provide an epigraph partway through abraham vergheses first novel, cutting for stone, and also explain the surname of its narrator, marion stone, along with his twin brother, shiva. May 08, 2009 cutting for stone the phrase is from the hippocratic oath is about twins born joined at the head, in a mission hospital in addis ababa half a century ago. The author of many books take for granted that the reader understands terms like refractive index, dispersion, cleavage planes, birefringence, pleochroism, mohs hardness, toughness, crystallography, etc.
Recommending new books each month to spark lively conversation. Vergheses skill at intertwining so many stories is awesome and prohibits simple description of the novel as a whole. The babies, marion and shiva stone, are raised by hema and ghosh, the. Cutting for stone questions and answers discover the community of teachers, mentors and students just like you that can answer any question you might have on cutting for stone. Cutting the stone, also called the extraction of the stone of madness or the cure of folly, is a painting by hieronymus bosch, displayed in the museo del prado in madrid, completed around 1494 or later. Contrast the attitudes of hema, ghosh, marion, shiva, and thomas stone toward their work. Marion and shiva stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful indian nun and a brash british surgeon. The book s climax unfortunately marks a further major misstep on vergheses part.
Best books to read when getting started in faceting. Verghese, marion praise stone, the novels protagonist, is also a doctor with south indian roots, born and brought up in ethiopia, who eventually immigrates to the united states in the wake of political unrest. The story in cutting for stone seems to be modeled after at least a few of dr. The novel opens with sister mary praise leaving india to travel to africa as a nurse. Cutting for stone is a sweeping family saga which draws you in and transports you to a small missionary hospital in ethiopia. Read cutting for stone by abraham verghese available from rakuten kobo. A passionate, unique love affair sets cutting for stone in motion, and yet this romance remains a mysteryeven to the key playersuntil the very conclusion of the novel. How does the relationship between sister mary joseph praise and thomas stone affect the lives of shiva and marion, hema and ghosh, matron and everyone else at missing.
If you like cutting for stone you might like similar books hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet, state of wonder, the invention of wings, the poisonwood bible, snow flower and the secret fan. Haunting, moving, richly detailed summary from publisher. Cutting for stone this story is talking about two brothers marion and shiva stone, they were twins. Stone is the shared name of the three main characters but cutting for stone is the name verghese bestows upon the equally important character that medicine and surgery personify in the novel. Cutting for stones medical content increases as marion goes on to an internship in new york, and robs the novel of a little of its magic. Cutting for stone s medical content increases as marion goes on to an internship in new york, and robs the novel of a little of its magic.
Ive been telling everybody to read this superb novel from abraham verghese. Cutting for stone is the first straightforward novel set in and largely about africa that ive read in a good long timethe kind richard russo or cormac mccarthy might write, the kind that shows how history and landscape and accidents of birth and death conspire to create the story of a single life. Cutting stone by janet burroway and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Such is the case with cutting for stone by abraham verghese. 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 miraclesand two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined. The indian nun, sister mary joseph praise, was a trained nurse who had met the british surgeon thomas stone on a sea voyage ministering to passengers dying of typhus. Orphaned by their mothers death and their fathers disappearance, bound together by a preternatural. Books similar to cutting for stone cutting for stone. Feb 06, 2009 a violent surfacing of adolescence which has little in common with tarkingtons earlier, broadly comic, seventeen has a compulsive impact. A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel an enthralling family saga of africa and america, doctors and patients, exile and home. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese, paperback barnes. An epic novel that spans continents and generations, cutting for stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, compassion and redemption, exile an epic novel that spans continents and generations, cutting for stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, compassion and redemption, exile and home that unfolds across five decades in india, ethiopia, and america. The book includes a deep description of both medical procedures and. It incorporates love, lust, trust, betrayal, commitment, emigration, faith, poverty, life, death, hope, dreams, fears, and just about every other big theme you can imagine.
Author abraham verghese, md, macp, is the professor for the theory and practice of medicine at stanford university school of medicine. Find out how you can take part in the club, both on the web and in. It is refreshing on every level from the setting ethiopia to its characters indian medical workers, twin boys borne of a nun to a complex web of storylines that covers every emotional base. Complete summary of abraham vergheses cutting for stone. A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel an enthralling. But beyond rhetoric the title does not resonate emotionally throughout different levels of.
He has also said my ambition was to write a big sweeping novel into which you could disappear, travel away as though in a spaceship, disappear, meet exciting people, and return to find that only a couple of days. In cutting for stone, renowned physician abraham verghese has given us a remarkable reading experience that explores the lives of a memorable cast of characters, many of them doctors. Those words provide an epigraph partway through abraham vergheses first novel, cutting for stone, and also explain the surname of its narrator, marion stone. Nobody big except me is the dream world of holden caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab english of the precollegiate. Cutting for stone 2009 is a novel written by ethiopianborn indianamerican medical doctor and author abraham verghese. Reading guide for cutting for stone by abraham verghese. Feb 08, 2009 those words provide an epigraph partway through abraham vergheses first novel, cutting for stone, and also explain the surname of its narrator, marion stone, along with his twin brother. Jan 26, 2010 cutting for stone is a work of literature as noble and dramatic as that ancient practice medicine that lies at the heart of this magnificent novel. March 10, 2009 physician abraham vergheses debut novel, cutting for stone, is a big, sprawling story of an ethiopian surgeon, his family and his craft. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese reading guidebook. But it has lingered on the bestseller list for weeks.
In what ways is cutting for stone an oldfashioned storyand what does it share with the great novels of the nineteenth century. In the ancient greek hippocratic oath for physicians there was a line about not cutting for stone gall stone, kidney stone, etc because of the danger to the patient. With a cultural backdrop of addis ababa, ethiopia, and a f ocus on the art of surgery, the reader is immersed into a different realm of medicine. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese fantastic fiction. Jun 02, 2009 stone is the shared name of the three main characters but cutting for stone is the name verghese bestows upon the equally important character that medicine and surgery personify in the novel.
It is impossible to fully explore the incredible depth of cutting for stone within a few paragraphs. A sweeping, emotionally riveting novel with over one million copies soldan enthralling family saga of africa and americ. John burnham schwartz, author of the commoner and reservation road cutting for stone is a tremendous accomplishment. This is a long, ambitious novel, dickensian in its scope, detailing the not only the life of marion stone, but the struggling charity hospital in which he is raised, and. Abraham verghese is also the author of the tennis partner, a new york times notable book, and my own country, a national book critics circle finalist. Yet cutting for stone is all the better for vergheses encyclopaedic knowledge and affection for its content. Stitching up the surgeons life fiction the guardian. From the bestselling author of the circle and what is the what, a heartpounding true story that weaves together the history of coffee, the struggles of everyday yemenis living through civil war and the courageous journey of a young man a muslim and a u. Throughout the month of march, npr books will be running an online discussion about abraham vergheses novel cutting for stone. The twins, sons of two of the hospitals healthcare providers, grow up in the upheaval of 1960s ethiopia, in the midst of military. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese book cover, description, publication. Dont be discouraged there are a few books out there that can guide you through the whole process and.
Cutting for stone by abraham verghese, 9780099443636, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Verghese is of indian descent but was born and raised in ethiopia, went to medical school in india, and has lived and worked. The main story line focuses on a set of twin brothers marion and shiva, their enmeshment in each others lives, an eventual fissure in the relationship and their ultimate reunion. Every now and then a book comes along that speaks to us in such a way that when we finish it, we want to flip right back to page 1 and start all over again. Marion and shiva stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a.