Abraham Verghese

Silvia Morawetz

Roman

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Twin brothers born from a secret love affair between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Addis Ababa, Marion and Shiva Stone come of age in an Ethiopia on the brink of revolution, where their love for the same woman drives them apart.

A Novel

Cutting for Stone

"Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese is like a gourmet meal: rich, flavorful, and full of layers. The atmosphere Verghese creates is so vivid you can almost smell the spices in the Ethiopian air and hear the bustling sounds of the Mission Hospital. It's a heart-touching story that sweeps you up in its arms and refuses to let go, with family dynamics that would make any soap opera envious.

The heart of the story is as tender as a perfectly cooked steak. The way Verghese weaves the lives of the twins, Marion and Shiva, alongside the backdrop of medical challenges and political unrest, is nothing short of masterful. The relationships and the emotional bonds between characters are crafted with such depth that you can't help but feel a pang of longing for your own dysfunctional family reunions.

However, let's talk about Marion. Ah, Marion, the protagonist who seems to have swallowed a medical textbook and couldn't stop quoting it. He's the kind of character who'd attend a party and start explaining the molecular structure of the dip. His intellectual prowess is impressive, sure, but after a while, I found myself longing for just a touch of spontaneity or, dare I say, normalcy in his dialogues. It’s like Verghese wanted to make sure we knew Marion had the biggest brain in the room, and he succeeded—maybe a bit too well.

Despite Marion's somewhat pretentious air, "Cutting for Stone" remains a compelling read. The narrative is stitched together with such care that you can forgive the occasional eye-roll at Marion’s intellectual grandstanding. The book is a beautiful exploration of love, loss, and the ties that bind us, even when those ties are frayed and tangled.

So, I’ll give it four stars. It’s a memorable journey that’s worth taking, even if you have to endure a few lectures from Marion along the way. Besides, every family has that one know-it-all, right?

Jehan Chawla

"Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese is like a gourmet meal: rich, flavorful, and full of layers. The atmosphere Verghese creates is so vivid you can almost smell the spices in the Ethiopian air and hear the bustling sounds of the Mission Hospital. It's a heart-touching story that sweeps you up in its arms and refuses to let go, with family dynamics that would make any soap opera envious.

The heart of the story is as tender as a perfectly cooked steak. The way Verghese weaves the lives of the twins, Marion and Shiva, alongside the backdrop of medical challenges and political unrest, is nothing short of masterful. The relationships and the emotional bonds between characters are crafted with such depth that you can't help but feel a pang of longing for your own dysfunctional family reunions.

However, let's talk about Marion. Ah, Marion, the protagonist who seems to have swallowed a medical textbook and couldn't stop quoting it. He's the kind of character who'd attend a party and start explaining the molecular structure of the dip. His intellectual prowess is impressive, sure, but after a while, I found myself longing for just a touch of spontaneity or, dare I say, normalcy in his dialogues. It’s like Verghese wanted to make sure we knew Marion had the biggest brain in the room, and he succeeded—maybe a bit too well.

Despite Marion's somewhat pretentious air, "Cutting for Stone" remains a compelling read. The narrative is stitched together with such care that you can forgive the occasional eye-roll at Marion’s intellectual grandstanding. The book is a beautiful exploration of love, loss, and the ties that bind us, even when those ties are frayed and tangled.

So, I’ll give it four stars. It’s a memorable journey that’s worth taking, even if you have to endure a few lectures from Marion along the way. Besides, every family has that one know-it-all, right?

Laura K

Fran Lewis

It took me awhile to get into this book but once I did I was hooked.

Emma Friedheim

This book is vibrant, moving, exhausting, devastating, and beautiful - in the best way. Reading for short bursts during my commute, I was immediately transported to its world. And this morning, finally finishing it after 5 solid hours of reading. Those are the signs of a good book. I can't recommend this highly enough.

Riah Forbes 

** spoiler alert **
           I wanted to like this book more than I did. 

My biggest gripe is that I felt disconnected from many of the character relationships. I think this is partly because the Marion point-of-view provides this lopsided picture of what’s going on and partly because the female characters aren’t given as much voice as the male ones. Genet, Hema, the Matron and even Shiva are all fascinating characters - I would have opted to get in their heads and see them develop more, instead of getting the back-story on 8 other smaller characters. 

The strongest sections for me were about doctor-patient relationships and how Marion develops his inner professional dialogue as a surgeon. I also loved the way the book grounded me in both the hospital in Addis and in New York. All the “doctors and patients as human beings” material felt like Verghese at his best. 

In general, I felt like there’s a truly incredible book buried somewhere in here, but maybe needed a different kind of editing to unearth.

Brian Alderman

The story is of epic proportions, crossing generations and weaving lives together. beautifully written

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 and 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.

Christine Liu

There's something that fascinates me about medical doctors with literary prowess. I first heard of Abraham Verghese when I read Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air, one of the most beautiful and profound memoirs I've ever read, for which he wrote a forward. Cutting for Stone is fictional, but it's clear that it contains elements with which Verghese is personally very familiar.

The story concerns twin boys, Marion and Shiva, born to an Indian nun who comes to work at a missionary hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At their birth, they lose their mother and are abandoned by their father, and so they are raised by two other doctors. The story is narrated by Marion as the boys come of age during the midst of political turmoil in Ethiopia in the 60's and 70's and follows him as he becomes a surgeon himself.

The strengths in this book are undoubtedly the poetic descriptions of surgical procedures and the vivid portraits of Ethiopia during a time of change. Verghese's love of these topics comes across clearly as they make for the most interesting reading in this book. But if you strip away those parts of the book, I found the story a little lacking in the emotional impact that it strives for. There are some beautiful, humorous, and heartwarming moments, but we never really get a feel for the relationship between the brothers that forms the crux of the narrative.

Francine Corry

Rosie 

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. <br> <br>Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, <i>Cutting for Stone</i> is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles—and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined. --back cover

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