Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Oct 11, 2011

Kate rated it:

Beautifully written, engrossing novel plants you deeply in the passion of practicing medicine, winds you intimately into the cloth of Ethiopia. Verghese uses language so elegantly and paces his story so perfectly that I was totally transported.

I finished the book feeling homesick for Addis Ababa, although I have never been there.

When I signed up (in several places) to review early editions of books on my blog and in other viral / social media places (like Facebook), I had More...

1 comment like (19 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2012

Judy rated it:

I'm going to start this review doing something I've never done before and that is tell what I didn't like right away. The reason for this is because I want to spend the rest of the time enumerating many of the good points. Believe me, there are a lot of those!

The only two faults I see in Cutting for Stone is that there is a lot of medical jargon. I'm surprised at the number of people who have read the book and liked it considering the length. Fortunately, my ten years of working in More...

33 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2012

Wicked Incognito Now rated it:

I just can't listen to this anymore. I ONLY ever listen to audiobooks while exercising, and this one makes me want to lay down and take a nap.

I think audiobooks and I were just not made for each other. I can't listen to something and think about DOING anything at the same time. I can't drive and listen, I can't exercise and listen....I'm just too easily distracted. So...I give up.

Now, I'd like to say that this has no reflection on this book, but I'm afraid it does. More...

10 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2011

Barbara rated it:

As usual, I will not summarize the plot here, merely comment on my reaction to this book. The essences of the story are many- love/lust, heartbreak and humiliation,the ability to forgive and the trials and tribulations of life and death. It is difficult to know where to start with all of these complex, interwoven themes.

Verghese has undertaken a novel which is very broad and ambitious in scope. His geographic sweep travels from Asia, to Africa, to America, with the major part in Ethi More...

22 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2009

warren rated it:

This is the one that started me. I read a galley and it will be published February 2. It was a sublime reading experience, the best novel I have read in several years. Back in the old days of Just Books, I probably would not have let a customer out of the store without the book in hand. In some places that might be considered pushy. In Greenwich, it was a gushing "Thanks Warren for putting this book in my hands."

Anyway, this is the story of twin doctors separated at their b More...

9 comments like (28 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2010

Alex rated it:

But it was only now, near the end, and far too late, that the pieces suddenly - dreadfully - clicked into place. Like a long Tetris piece slamming down, making a whole block of mystery blink and vanish. Only now did he realize what suddenly seemed so obvious: everyone who had suggested this book to him – every single one – was a middle-aged woman. This book…it was about the importance of family.

A wave of cold horror washed over him.

It would take months of porn and comic More...

43 comments like (90 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2012

Jason rated it:

The world turns on our every action, and our every omission, whether we know it or not.

It is statistically improbable that I will read a book as good as this one anytime soon. Although I admit it might have started off slowly, I found that the depths of this novel were revealed as the protagonist’s life unfolded. Something of a bildungsroman, Cutting for Stone focuses on a pair of twin boys who were born and raised in an African missionary hospital. Their story combines elements of I More...

6 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2009

Sara rated it:

Many readers will tell you that Cutting for Stone is the epic story of two conjoined twins fathered by a brilliant British Surgeon and an Indian Nun. And it technically is. Narrated by Marion the first born twin we are told of every influence on his and his brother’s existence. More than the story being told however, the novel is an accurate portrayal of life in all it’s cruelty and wonder.

The twin’s mother dies in childbirth and their father abandons them minutes later. They a More...

12 comments like (75 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2011

Annalisa rated it:

This had the potential to be amazing, a sweeping epic history of Ethiopia ala The Poisonwood Bible, but for all of Verghese's description, he failed to paint a powerful picture of Ethiopia. I expected so much more from him. He wastes 20% of the book describing the first day, but most of it I found pointless to the novel. I would much rather all that description give me something of the setting, of the characters, something powerful and enduring. Either that or cut it by a good 200 pages. But I w More...

6 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2011

Ayaz rated it:

“My VIP patients often regret so many things on their deathbeds. They regret the bitterness they’ll leave in people’s hearts. They realize that no money, no church service, no eulogy, no funeral procession no matter how elaborate can remove the legacy of a mean spirit.” (Cutting for Stone, pg 434)

More than a few people who’ve read the novel mentioned to me that they wanted to discontinue reading the novel. And I understood what they meant, when I finished reading Cutting for Stone th More...

26 comments like (46 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2010

Karla rated it:

Narrated by Marion the first born of conjoined twin brothers. Fathered by a brilliant British surgeon and an Indian nun. The twins mother dies in childbirth and their father abandons them almost instantly after birth. Left to be raised in a missionary hospital in Ethiopia by Loving skilled doctors of the hospital Ghosh and Hema.

The medical jargon is very detailed and descriptions of Ethiopian cuture and history are richly described. The twins Marion and Shiva's lifes are riden with tra More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2011

Juanita rated it:

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
4 stars

Verghese is a new author to me; he has, understandably, only two previous books, for besides being a writer, he is a physician who also holds two appointments at distinguished medical centers in Stanford and San Antonio. This book only just misses my 5-star superlative rating, but it was compelling, intelligent and intricate, reflective and shot through with symbolism and analogy. Cutting for Stone is set primarily in Ethiopia, More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2010

Kasa rated it:

Recently in San Francisco I attended a reading by Abraham Verghese, who has written my favorite book of the year: CUTTING FOR STONE. I'd gotten it from the library, and after @150 pages was so in love with it that when I heard he was going to be at the store, I returned the library copy (there's a huge line waiting for it), and bought a copy just to have the pleasure of his signature. We actually had a little chat after the reading, while he happened by on his way to his car. He asked why I'd ch More...

3 comments like (49 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2008

Katie rated it:

I liked CUTTING FOR STONE, but ultimately, it disappointed. I'd heard such glowing reviews, perhaps I was setting my self up to be underwhelmed. Still, I found Marion, the narrator, very distant and was not able to engage with his character at all.

The books contains some interesting detail about the advent of several medical procedures, and I did find the end of the book much more emotionally satisfying than the beginning and middle, but in the end, it wasn't enough. Verghese is More...

7 comments like (22 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2009

Wanda rated it:

Any superlative which I could use to describe this book would pale in comparison to your own experience of reading it. You simply MUST read this book and experience the lives of the characters and how a family is defined.

I will definitely read other books by this author. The author is a master at descriptive writing and so many times while reading this book, I felt as if I were right there with the characters sharing their experiences.

I cannot adequately describe the More...

9 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2009

Marge rated it:

I took time finishing this book. Although it is an easy read, the writing is so good that some of the lines warranted second, even third, reading. It is also the second book I read this year that has a protagonist with a twin brother. Pure coincidence.

When I finished a really good book, it's hard for me to shake the feeling of loss. This is an excellent read and I am highly recommending it to friends. You will not be disappointed.

2 comments like (12 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2009

Trish rated it:

Unequivocably fine. The authorial control over the number of carefully- drawn characters, the time-span, the continental shift, the depth of medical knowledge, the sheer size of the story--all these inspire awe. The novel also inspired gratitude in me--that the author shared his story with us, taught us things about medicine we didn't, couldn't know, and for trusting us to rejoice in the differentness of his construction. And for the time. I hope he got as much out of the telling as we have got More...

13 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2008

Sarah rated it:

Long, winding, sad, funny, graphic (fistula surgery! described!), lyrical, good. this will, barring shit luck, will be The Kite Runner in 9 months. This is coming from Knopf in February; everyone's already tripping over their shoes for it. I read it because I wanted to feel in the know, but I finished it -- slowly, craving chapters between Canal and 57th Street -- because It. Was. So. Good.

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2011

Katie rated it:

I wish I still had this book in my future. I wish it were tucked away in a stack of books on my nightstand, waiting patiently for its turn to be read. I wish I were going home tonight to curl up in a chair with nothing to do but pick up this book and slowly -- savoringly, if that's a word* -- take it in, one page at a time.

There's a lot to say about this book, but I'll simplify what could otherwise become a lengthy review (Me? Verbose? Nevah!) and say this: Cutting for Stone is a beau More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2009

RNOCEAN rated it:

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel — an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hover More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2010

Tim rated it:

"What treatment in the emergency room is administered by ear?" asked the renowned surgeon Thomas Stone [to over 200 young interns and students at a leading Boston medical teaching facility:]. I knew the answer because it was in his book, a book I had read carefully and more than once in my voyage out of Ethiopia and during my stay in Kenya. Surely, I thought, at least 50 would know the answer. No one spoke. I raised my hand, "Yes?" he said. All eyes were on me. I was in n More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Marla rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Joan rated it:

The story has almost every reading genre. It has historical fiction, it is philosophical, it has medical drama, and medical history, it is a coming of age drama, it has redemption, culture conflicts, love conflicts, and throughout it has humanity. I found it a most engaging story. It is has many gross parts because it is about humans and human beings after all are dirty creatures living in a messy world, but they try to rise above this with hope and how love and the acts of kindness toward each More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2011

Jing rated it:

There are some books where you struggle, patiently waiting for that spark to unfurl itself, finally grab your attention and get you interested. Cutting for Stone is not one of those books. I haven't read a book like this in a long time, where from the get-go, it's hook, line, and sinker. After finishing the book, I realized it was a simple enough story, a plot that you could summarize in a few lines. But it was all the missed opportunities, missed communications, and little misunderstandings tha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2011

Gail rated it:

This was a very cool book. It is about the lives of twin boys, and the people around them. It takes place mostly in Ethiopia during the early 50's and spans about 40 years. During their lives, Ethiopia goes through several revolutions, and their is great unrest in the country. The two boys grow up in a medical clinic with some very dedicated doctors, which makes both boys very interested in medicine. There is a lot of medical experiences in this book, which I found very interesting. This b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Genia rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2011

Reagan rated it:

this took me a second to get in to, but i loved it. the basic premise is: twin brothers temporarily orphaned by their mother's death and father's fleeing the scene...how they survive and thrive in Ethiopia under the care of two unlikely guardians.

what i loved about it was the many relationships that touch and guide each of the characters, particularly the narrator (Marion). there is a sense in the book that each of them has a desire to run, to be independent and free from the ti More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2011

Donna rated it:

It really too me a long time to read this book, well over a month! Maybe it was because of school, or work, or whatever but it took forever! Whatever the reasons are it is now finished. I read this book because of my work book club and I am glad I did. I may not have read it or I may have just at a later point.

There were things I loved and of course things I hated. I really like Marion, even when I felt a little disconnected with him I still felt closer to him than Shiva. I loved Sh More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 18, 2011

Ruth rated it:

I adopted this book for my book club after reading the amazing reviews everywhere, but I'm left feeling confused since I was not all impressed with this book. Yes, I enjoyed the historical fiction, and parts of Marion, the narrator, coming-of-age, but he never seems to grow up, adapt to the world around him, carrying with him a childish longing that is unrealistic and the author appears to want to shock or jolt the reader continously with tramatic deaths of characters, one after the other almost More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2010

bookczuk rated it:

Two days after finishing, I'm still digesting all the themes and stories in this book. There were so many moments that just stunned me, either with the elegance of writing, the ebullience of the human spirit or the eloquence of the scenes and details. Perhaps the fact that I have a medical background in one of the areas of specialty of one of the characters or that I spent many years in a rural health clinic in India helped to draw me in. But even without that, I think I still would have bee More...

9 comments like (8 people liked it)