Cutting for stone kindle edition by verghese, abraham. About this guide the introduction, discussion questions, and suggested further reading that follow are designed to enhance your groups discussion of abraham vergheses acclaimed first novel, cutting for stone. Cutting for stone discussion questions west maui book club. Was there a single idea behind or genesis for cutting for stone. Those words provide an epigraph partway through abraham vergheses first novel, cutting for stone, and also explain. But it has lingered on the bestseller list for weeks. You may even be delighted by the ethiopian terms, which are all clearly explained, and you may feel like youve learned a lot after you finish this climb. Blood is thicker than water, and more copious, in this expansive novel. It is impossible to fully explore the incredible depth of cutting for stone within a few paragraphs. Complete summary of abraham vergheses cutting for stone. The interest in the novel does not hinge upon the suspense created by dr. Cutting for stone is a sweeping family saga which draws you in and transports you to a small missionary hospital in ethiopia. The procedure, which is usually performed by means of a surgical incision therefore invasive, differs from.
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. Thesis it is implied that the only greatness that any of the female characters can achieve is if a man is by their side or by the sexuality of their bodies and fulfilling their destined role of motherhood women roles in abraham verghese s cutt ing for stone portrayed as. 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. Dec 06, 2011 cutting for stone has the power to evoke cathartic reactions, much like greek tragedies. Contrast the attitudes of hema, ghosh, marion, shiva, and thomas stone toward their work. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art. At 500 pages it certainly is a long book, but worth every second, earning five stars rating from this reader. I will not cut for stone, runs the text of the hippocratic oath, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest. Handpicked recommendations to other books that have a similar writing style or theme to cutting for stone.
Cutting for stone follows the lives of two boys from birth to adulthood. Cutting for stone abraham verghese, 2009 knopf doubleday 541 pp. These book discussion questions are highly detailed and will ruin plot points if you have not read the book. 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. The title cutting for stone is a pretty on the nose, but it can take a while to figure it out if youre not a doctor whos memorized the hippocratic oath. The surgeon in the book is a doctor stone and his two estranged sons become doctors. That turned out to be true and my first two books were written there. The novel opens with sister mary praise leaving india to travel to africa as a.
Each character is so fully developed from start to finish that the reader becomes deeply involved with each and every one. The removal of kidney or bladder stones by surgery. 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. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese, paperback barnes. It may be required that the stone of choice meets standards related. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading cutting for stone. Did have to go further for the meaning of the title and to my thinking, does have a double meaning. Feb 03, 2009 a sweeping, emotionally riveting novel with over one million copies soldan enthralling family saga of africa and america, doctors and patients, exile and home. Dec 12, 2010 i had low expectations for cutting for stone. Establishments primarily engaged in cutting, shaping, and finishing granite, marble, limestone, slate, and other stone for building and miscellaneous uses.
Thats the professional promise that doctors make first do no harm when they first become legit doctors, and one of its vows goes a little like this. Ethiopian physician abraham vergheses 2009 novel cutting for stone, a publishers weekly best book of 2009 selection, tells the story of twin brothers marion and shiva stone who are born conjoined but are separated at the time of their birth. Content includes books from bestselling, midlist and debut authors. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Stonecutting definition of stonecutting by the free dictionary. Abraham vergheses first novel, cutting for stone, with its huge cast of characters and exotic localesincluding the bronxhas a richness that recalls conrad or forster. While i quibble with that definition, cutting for stone is certainly a long book, and a generally engrossing one. It was jampacked with themes and indepth stuff that my high school english teachers would have had a field day with. The book s climax unfortunately marks a further major misstep on vergheses part.
Cutting for stone is a gorgeous epic tale, suffused with unforgettable grace, humanity and compassion. A portion of book copiers are replacing their slow pens with these highspeed cuttingedge tools. Lauded for his sensitive memoir my own country about his time as a doctor in eastern tennessee at the onset of the aids epidemic in the 80s, verghese turns his formidable talents to fiction. 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 for stone, knowingly or not, follows the formula of the german literary genre, the bildungsroman. Doctors ply their trade cognizant that they dont have all the answers. When the pull quote on the cover is from usa today, well, its not a big selling point. This study guide consists of approximately 42 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of cutting for stone.
The whole phrase is, i will not cut for stone, even in the. Cut stone definition is stone dressed smooth with a chisel or saw. Cut stone definition of cut stone by merriamwebster. The most prominent in the narrative involves the young boys engaged in stonecutting. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mothers death at their births and forsaken by their father. Lithotomy from greek for lithos and tomos, is a surgical method for removal of calculi, stones formed inside certain organs, such as the kidneys kidney stones, bladder bladder stones, and gallbladder, that cannot exit naturally through the urinary system or biliary tract. 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. It was jampacked with themes and indepth stuff that my high. To read the first page of cutting for stone is to fall hopelessly under the spell of a masterful storyteller. Women roles in abraham vergheses cutting for stone by. Establishments primarily engaged in buying or selling partly finished monuments and tombstones, but performing no work on the stones other than. But beyond that, my single where does the title cutting for stone come from. I would love to recommended cutting for stone wholeheartedly, such is the strength of vergheses writing, his.
Set mostly in and around addis ababa and new york, the story follows the life of marion praise stone. 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. My ambition as a writer was to tell a great story, an oldfashioned, truthtelling story. Verghese uses twice in his book the fragment of the hyppocratic oath i shall not cut for stone which puzzled me because it seemed to me something negative that a physician would not want to do. In what ways is cutting for stone an oldfashioned storyand what does it share with the great novels of the nineteenth century. In the first surgical procedure at the newcastle infirmary in 1751, cutting for the stone produced a bladder stone from an edward lough, who later gave formal thanks.
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. 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 german enlightenment term, coined by german philologist, johann morgenstern, refers to a genre of novels that follow a similar plotline mapping the psychological, moral and social development of a, usually young, protagonist. Vergheses skill at intertwining so many stories is awesome and prohibits simple description of the novel as a whole. Tradition bows to the avantgarde in an exhibition of cuttingedge chinese pottery. It is reliant on cuttingedge design, offering a bizarre brand of hightech and higher spec pornography. 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. The author enjoys double meanings, so cutting for stone as well as other terms and events have more than one meaning that weave in and out of the action. The setting for the book is missing hospital, yet the original name for this institution is mission hospital. As the camera focuses on these boys, their frames pitted against the immensity of the mountain, they are dwarfed and made vulnerable by the grueling labor conditions and the seeming inescapability of work as survival. Stonecutting definition of stonecutting by the free. The book includes a deep description of both medical procedures and explores the human side of medical practices. However, the book s title cutting for stone may indicate the danger and risk inherent in familiar love.
In cutting for stone, a familys odyssey of love and. I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest. Sometimes, felt it a little heavygoing but there was always an uplifting segment to get past my literary understanding lacking. What treatment in an emergency is administered by ear. Thesis it is implied that the only greatness that any of the female characters can achieve is if a man is by their side or by the sexuality of their bodies and fulfilling their destined role of motherhood women roles in abraham vergheses cutting for stone portrayed as. Abraham verghese has said that his ambition in writing cutting for stone was to tell a great story, an oldfashioned, truthtelling story. A series of catastrophic events occur during their births, leading to their fathers abandonment and lifealtering changes to the staff of missing hospital. Because it was often misspoken by native speakers, some clerk registered it as missing hospital, and thats what it became. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese book club discussion. 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. Jun 02, 2009 verghese uses twice in his book the fragment of the hyppocratic oath i shall not cut for stone which puzzled me because it seemed to me something negative that a physician would not want to do. Marion and shiva stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful indian nun and a brash british surgeon. Cutting for stone was one of the best books ive read in a while. 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.
Chapter two of cutting for stone, by abraham verghese, is titled the missing finger, and we learn how dr. 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. What does cutting for stone mean in the hippocratic oath. Cutting for stone throughout the month of march, npr books will be running an online discussion about abraham vergheses novel cutting for stone.
Cutting for stone by abraham vergese book club discussion. Wikipedia the hippocratic oath meaning of cutting for stone original, translated into english. Marion and shiva stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful indian nun and a brash british surgeon at. 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.
The boys, marion and shiva are identical twins orphaned at birth who are raised by a surrogate family and grow up on the grounds of missing hospital in ethiopia. A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novelan enthralling family saga of africa and america, doctors and patients, exile and home. Furthermore, the author alludes to the term cutting for stone when describing shivas fistula repair procedure. Cutting for stone is proof that medicine and great literature actually have the answers to many perplexing problems not the least of which is an explanation for good and evil. What does cutting for stone reveal about the emotional lives of doctors.
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. Although its also a play on the surname of the characters, the title cutting for stone comes from a line in the hippocratic oath. Cutting for stone is a novel written from the firstperson perspective of marion stone, one of the identical twins born of a secret affair between a beautiful indian nun and a british surgeon. Addis ababa is the capital of ethiopia, and the major setting of the novel. Verghese paints a vivid picture of these settings, the practice of medicine he is also a physician and the characters inner conflicts. An indian nun and an english doctor have conjoined twin babies in ethiopia. Its straightforward and actiondriven, itll keep your feet moving one in front of the other, and itll entertain you along the way. However, the books title cutting for stone may indicate the danger and risk inherent in familiar love.
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