≡ Read Free Cutting for Stone A novel Abraham Verghese 9780375414497 Books

Cutting for Stone A novel Abraham Verghese 9780375414497 Books

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Cutting for Stone A novel Abraham Verghese 9780375414497 Books

This book review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca).

My Thoughts: I have a confession. I gave up on this book and I don't do that easily. I figure that if an author spent months (or years) writing the book and I should give him/her the respect they deserve and hold on and try to get into the story. That's all well and good but if a book doesn't grab me in 100 pages I figure my responsibility as a reader has been met.

In fact, I read over 270 pages before finally deciding that this wasn't a book for me. I kept trying to get into it based on the extremely high ratings that it received on GoodReads as well as Amazon. Unfortunately I kept waiting for something major to happen, some sort of direction of the plot but it never did. It is a verbose read with its detailed descriptions of medical procedures; it has a lot of different characters (who were hard to distinguish), a tiresome dialogue and plot that didn't seem to have any direction.

That said, my opinion is just that. My opinion. There are many other readers out there who adored and gushed about this book. They passionately defend their reviews (and sometimes adamantly state their disagreements with lower rated reviews). I get that and understand that level of commitment to a book. I'd, respectfully, do the same for Harry Potter, 'Women of the Underworld' series and Sara Donati's 'Into The Wilderness' because I lurrrrve them and they hold a special place in my literary heart.

But besides the verbosity, slow plot and gaggle of characters the biggest thing that bothered me about this book was Marion as the main character. For some reason, Marion always had the voice of an adult ... even when he's telling about his life when he was an infant. Yes, Marion narrates the book even as an infant. The author expected the reader to just accept the fact that there's an articulate infant narrating the book -- and that didn't sit well with me. It just seemed odd to have a protagonist be so articulate and descriptive ... as an infant.

Overall, I can't say that I'd recommend this book but I'm glad that I gave it a good shot. I'd love to hear what you all thought of this book. Am I way off base here? Or did you have a similar experience with this book?

My Rating: 0 (I gave up on it)


Tags : Cutting for Stone: A novel [Abraham Verghese] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel—an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients,Abraham Verghese,Cutting for Stone: A novel,Knopf,0375414495,FIC035000,Medical,Sagas,Brothers;Fiction.,Fathers and sons;Fiction.,Physicians;Fiction.,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,American First Novelists,Brothers,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Literary,FICTION Sagas,Fathers and sons,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Medical,Literary,Physicians

Cutting for Stone A novel Abraham Verghese 9780375414497 Books Reviews

If you have a medical background or work in hospitals you will LOVE this book. I am not from or in that world. SO at times I really got discouraged/distracted by the medical episodes - BUT I stuck with it, and have to say it was a brilliantly written story. Dr Verghese didn't forget ONE CHARACTER detail from the beginning to the end, and wove the story together in such a beautiful integrate way. Bravo!
Cutting for Stone is Abraham Verghese's big, bloated panorama of 20th century Ethiopia, where medicine and religion meet, and surgeons and Carmelite nuns procreate. The book is a roller coaster ride of agonies and ecstasies that too often relies heavily on coincidence to move the plot along. Add to the end result a rather annoying voice of an omniscient narrator (vividly detailing his breach birth, for example), a marvelous ability to evoke atmosphere and some interesting detail about medicine, and the result is a bouillabaisse of a book, with a few questionable ingredients.

After Thomas Stone and Sister Mary Joseph Praise create their twin progeny Shiva/Marion, CFS slows down for a few hundred pages, exploring the mystic cords (umbilical and otherwise) that bind. Not that it is bad, just too much of a bland thing at times. The second third off the book sets a languorous pace too that takes 150 pages to get the boys to puberty. It would be unfair to say the book bogs down, but it definitely would have benefited from a quicker pace or editing.

The last third is the exact opposite--a series of frenetic coincidences and crises that occasionally seem contrived or created solely to wring every last tear from the reader. Some of it works, other times I found myself rolling my eyes. It was during one of these more implausible instances that it occurred to me the author--for better and for worse--reminds me of Charles Dickens, whom I quite like. Warts and all.
It took me about 1/3 the way through this book to get into it. I was seriously at the point of giving up. I stayed with it and was very moved. Similar emotional invocation as the Kite Runner, except not as good. I could do without the life lessons through surgical procedure. Although I related and empathized with Marion and life, I could have done without the details of surgery. Half clinical and really tedious.
I was born in Ethiopia in 1950 to missionaries with the American Mission. Much of this story took place in Addis Ababa. I could see the sights and smell the food. I wept at parts, shook my head in dismay at parts. I thought Haile Selassie was my grandfather when I was a little girl, so I have a hard time with negative views of him. When he came to the states to visit Jack & Jackie, he flew into the Philadelphia airport, then boarded a Train to arrive in DC with all the fanfare appropriate for royalty. My dad took us down onto the tarmack at the airport to greet the Emperor when he got off the plane and into his limo! The protocol officer was annoyed, but my mother was able to have words with the Emperor's Aide.
This book review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca).

My Thoughts I have a confession. I gave up on this book and I don't do that easily. I figure that if an author spent months (or years) writing the book and I should give him/her the respect they deserve and hold on and try to get into the story. That's all well and good but if a book doesn't grab me in 100 pages I figure my responsibility as a reader has been met.

In fact, I read over 270 pages before finally deciding that this wasn't a book for me. I kept trying to get into it based on the extremely high ratings that it received on GoodReads as well as . Unfortunately I kept waiting for something major to happen, some sort of direction of the plot but it never did. It is a verbose read with its detailed descriptions of medical procedures; it has a lot of different characters (who were hard to distinguish), a tiresome dialogue and plot that didn't seem to have any direction.

That said, my opinion is just that. My opinion. There are many other readers out there who adored and gushed about this book. They passionately defend their reviews (and sometimes adamantly state their disagreements with lower rated reviews). I get that and understand that level of commitment to a book. I'd, respectfully, do the same for Harry Potter, 'Women of the Underworld' series and Sara Donati's 'Into The Wilderness' because I lurrrrve them and they hold a special place in my literary heart.

But besides the verbosity, slow plot and gaggle of characters the biggest thing that bothered me about this book was Marion as the main character. For some reason, Marion always had the voice of an adult ... even when he's telling about his life when he was an infant. Yes, Marion narrates the book even as an infant. The author expected the reader to just accept the fact that there's an articulate infant narrating the book -- and that didn't sit well with me. It just seemed odd to have a protagonist be so articulate and descriptive ... as an infant.

Overall, I can't say that I'd recommend this book but I'm glad that I gave it a good shot. I'd love to hear what you all thought of this book. Am I way off base here? Or did you have a similar experience with this book?

My Rating 0 (I gave up on it)