Cutting for Stone

Over two years as a NYTimes Best Seller, this lengthy novel is a true, modern epic story.

Twin brothers Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a secret union between a south Indian nun and a brash British surgeon, are orphaned and separated at a young age. They must learn to navigate the world together as they grow up in Ethiopia on the brink of a revolution.

This global story covers Africa, India, and the United States in a family saga with chaotic history as a backdrop to a family story of finding one another. A great read!

This riveting novel by an infectious disease physician demonstrates how something as seemingly stereotypic as a medical career can be profoundly shaped by circumstance, accident, location, and political events, as well as by family and personality.

The practice of surgery—be it closing a wound or removing a lesion—can be both of those things for the emotions of the person performing it. There is an analogous message for other fields of medicine—practice and practitioner become interrelated at a deeply personal level.

I love how this book blends historical facts with wonderful, real characters spanning decades.

It starts in 1950s Ethiopia with the birth of twin boys, orphaned at birth. As they grow and mature, there is a deep love for each other, but also betrayal and hurt that kept me turning the pages to find out what happens next.

The author is a doctor, and I love how he shared his knowledge, taking me inside a working hospital in Ethiopia and New York. I read this novel in 2010, and it was the first time I learned about the true predicament… show more.

I loved following these characters from an improbable birth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to the world of medicine in New York and back.

I learned about a time and place that never appeared in my history texts and about how that history and landscape impacted and illuminated the main character. I was riveted through all 667 pages. 

There are so many wonderful themes in this book: colonialism, the synchronicity of twins, the ethics of medical care, and the powerful bonds of families created by blood or by choice.

Verghase weaves all of these ideas together in a marvelous tapestry set in the exotic location of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the more familiar locale of New York City. Set against the backdrop of major historical events in Ethiopia, the novel sweeps you into a world where every decision has unexpected consequences.

This sweeping historical novel took me from Addis Ababa to New York. It gave me insight to the missionary medics and the political landscape of Ethiopia.

Marion and his conjoined twin brother Shavia are the central characters in this multigenerational saga. After their mother’s death and the father’s disappearance, they were orphaned. Marion’s quest is to find the identity of his biological father, which takes us to New York, where Marion, like his father, is a renowned surgeon.

The reason the novel remains one of my favorites is that there are many levels to the story, historical and philosophical; it's… show more.

Marion and his twin brother Shiva, adopted sons of Indian doctors, come of age in a missionary hospital in Addis Ababa in the 1960s and 70s. Verghese shows his knowledge of this setting in detailed descriptions of life in the hospital and its environs. These evoked vivid memories for me of the time I spent working in similar Ethiopian hospitals. All you could do, often, wasn’t enough. I could see, hear, and smell the rich detail Verghese provides. Against this background, he unrolls a family drama centered on the conflict between the twins. Marion finishes medical school in Addis amidst… show more.

The only novel on this list, Cutting for Stone isn’t even strictly about a civil war. Most of the book takes place in hospitals, rather than on the battlefield. But I would be hard-pressed to find a book that better illustrates how the political and social forces rippling across a country can tear apart a family. I read this book while I lived in Addis Ababa, and somehow Verghese’s descriptions of life in Ethiopia felt even more alive and colorful than the world outside my window. Cutting for Stone is a deeply moving book, about the human toll of rebellion… show more.

An absolutely beautiful description of medicine in Africa, set against the backdrop of political unrest in Ethiopia in the 1960s. For me, this book evoked very strong memories of my brief stint in a hospital in Malawi. Verghese’s writing is so evocative of the sights and smells of East Africa.