Cutting for Stone
Cutting for Stone (2009) is a novel written by Ethiopian-born Indian-American medical doctor and author Abraham Verghese. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mother's death at their births and forsaken by their father. The book includes both a deep description of medical procedures and an exploration of the human side of medical practices. When first published, the novel was on The New York Times Best Seller list for two years and generally received well by critics. With its positive reception, Barack Obama put it on his summer reading list and the book was optioned for adaptations.
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Also by Abraham Verghese
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The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 1954 Addis Ababa, twin boys Marion and Shiva are born to a young Indian nun and a British surgeon at a mission hospital. The novel follows them through the Ethiopian revolution and Marion's surgical training in the Bronx.
Cutting for Stone is fictional but draws on Abraham Verghese's experiences as a physician trained partly in Ethiopia and the United States. Many medical and political details reflect real conditions in 1950s through 1970s Ethiopia.
Cutting for Stone was a New York Times bestseller for over two years and won several reader-choice and book-club awards. It is widely featured on lists of the best literary fiction of the 2000s.
Cutting for Stone was written by Abraham Verghese, published in 2009 by Insel.
Cutting for Stone is 655 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Cutting for Stone takes most readers 10 to 14 hours to finish.
Cutting for Stone is a standalone novel by Abraham Verghese, not part of a series.
Cutting for Stone is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
