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. Metaphors in cutting for stone take a stand on the claim. Cutting for stone kindle edition by verghese, abraham. Spanning three decades and several continents, the sprawling epic is loaded with vergheses acute eye for detail and medical truisms as metaphors for life. Cutting for stone is an ambitious novel which allows abraham verghese to show his virtuosic ability to weave history, geography, medicine, religion, and politics together with family relationships, friendships, ethics, humanity, and spirituality. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading cutting for stone.
It is a beautiful story, beautifully crafted, and definitely worth your time. Vergheses skill at intertwining so many stories is awesome and prohibits simple description of the novel as a whole. Take the food metaphors we use to describe disease. His history of rasselas, prince of abissinia is peppered with insightful and pithy commentary on the foibles of humans who, for example, believe happiness possessed by others to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for themselves. Verghese, marion praise stone, the novels protagonist, is also a doctor with south indian roots, born and brought up in ethiopia, who eventually immigrates to the united states in the wake of political unrest. Vergheses third and most recent novel, cutting for stone a. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese, paperback barnes. The probationer is probably the person who is most responsible for sister mary joseph praises death, since she was more worried about following rules than about seeing what was in front of her and feeling any compassion. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese nook book ebook. Each character is so fully developed from start to finish that the reader becomes deeply involved with each and every one. The book includes a deep description of both medical procedures and explores the human side of medical practices.
Hubby dear groans with dismay whenever he spots a tome in my hand. Chapter two of cutting for stone, by abraham verghese, is titled the missing finger, and we learn how dr. Id learned many things about suffering first that white was the uniform of suffering, and cotton its fabric. Abraham vergeses novel, cutting for stone, proved his perception. Please be sure to support your argument with examples from the readings provided and the main novel cutting for stone, use two 2 metaphors from the book cutting for stone and two 2 metaphors from the book aids as its metaphors and illness as a metaphor pages provided in the content list for week 6 to support your argument on the. Jan 21, 2015 cutting for stone 2009 isnt directly autobiographical, but it has a bit of a documentary feel to it. The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own. Cutting for stone by michaela elias on september 23, 2014 interdisciplinary is a term that gets tossed around a lot these days, a sought after label whose true meaning sometimes. The lyrical sound of the title and its poetic medical significance are certainly convincing. Cutting for stones medical content increases as marion goes on to an internship in new york, and robs the novel of a little of its magic.
Abraham verghese injects his first novel, cutting for stone, with an intimate knowledge of ethiopia, the healing arts and its mysteries. Now an accomplished surgeon and teacher, he was born and. Mastering skills for clinical practice, a bestselling textbook on the doctorpatient relationship. Cutting for stone 2009 isnt directly autobiographical, but it has a bit of a documentary feel to it. 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.
Abraham verghese discusses stealing metaphors and the language of medicine at tedmed author lia steakley published on september 15, 2014 january 18, 2018 few of us pay close attention to metaphors used in the language of medicine. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese hardcover, 560 pages knopf list price. Cutting for stone is divided into four parts, each part with its own epigraph or three. Despite their different personalities, the twins have in common a passion for medicine. Authorphysician abraham verghese talks about his dual career. Sep 15, 2014 abraham verghese discusses stealing metaphors and the language of medicine at tedmed author lia steakley published on september 15, 2014 january 18, 2018 few of us pay close attention to metaphors used in the language of medicine. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mothers death at their births and forsaken by their father. Readers will be hardpressed to recall any other medicallythemed novel that is the equal of this gem. But beyond rhetoric the title does not resonate emotionally throughout different levels of meaning in the novel. Abraham verghese is professor and vice chair for the theory and practice of medicine at the stanford university school of medicine. Cutting for stone is the first straightforward novel set in and largely about africa that ive read in a good long timethe kind richard russo or cormac mccarthy might write, the kind that shows how history and landscape and accidents of birth and death conspire to create the story of a single life. 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. 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. Cutting for stone quotes by abraham verghese goodreads.
In 1954 in addis ababa, an indian nun, a nursing sister. Medical images of clinical signs and pathology were communicated through metaphors in the 19th and early 20th centuries to make recognition easier in anticipation of the clinical counterpart. Along with medical drama, cutting for stone is rich in postcolonial history, philosophical riffs, and literary. Cutting for stone by abraham verghese book club discussion. 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. Cutting for stone 2009 is a novel written by ethiopianborn indianamerican medical doctor and author abraham verghese. A grand romp through medicine and metaphor with abraham. But beyond rhetoric the title does not resonate emotionally throughout different levels of. What does cutting for stone reveal about the emotional lives of doctors.
In cutting for stone, there is a strong connection between motherhood and compassion, even when were not talking about technical motherandchild relationships. Jack coulehan, a physician, an awardwinning poet, and editor of the 5th edition of the medical interview. Nov 06, 20 finally, cutting for stone contains frankly lyrical passages. Almost all of the characters in cutting for stone are living in some sort of exile, selfimposed or forced, from their home country hema and ghosh from india, marion from ethiopia, thomas from india and then ethiopia. The probationer is probably the person who is most responsible for sister mary. The title of abraham vergheses first novel, cutting for stone. Jan 26, 2010 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. View essay gender in cutting for stone from ihs 2215 at ohio university, athens. 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. Here is one that i starreda pensive discourse by protagonist marion stone on the common rituals of patients seeking succor at the missionary hospital of his youth. It is impossible to fully explore the incredible depth of cutting for stone within a few paragraphs. A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novelan enthralling family saga of africa and america, doctors and patients, exile and home. The novel opens with sister mary praise leaving india to travel to africa as a nurse.
Finally, cutting for stone contains frankly lyrical passages. He has also said my ambition was to write a big sweeping novel into which you could disappear, travel away as though in a spaceship, disappear, meet exciting people, and return to find that only a couple of days. The removal of kidney or bladder stones by surgery. This is because verghese did have some of the ethiopian and american experiences he writes about, and also because his career, other than being a writer, is as a doctor. Doctors ply their trade cognizant that they dont have all the answers. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The books climax unfortunately marks a further major misstep on vergheses part. March 10, 2009 physician abraham vergheses debut novel, cutting for stone, is a big, sprawling story of an ethiopian surgeon, his family and his craft. In cutting for stone, renowned physician abraham verghese has given us a remarkable reading experience that explores the lives of a memorable cast of characters, many of them doctors. Verghese will choose his three favorites next week, and if your metaphor is selected, tedmed will send you a copy of his book cutting for stone. Stone is the shared name of the three main characters but cutting for stone is the name verghese bestows upon the equally important character that medicine and surgery personify in the novel. These wartime references are metaphors as described by dr.
Jun 02, 2009 stone is the shared name of the three main characters but cutting for stone is the name verghese bestows upon the equally important character that medicine and surgery personify in the novel. Feb 25, 2010 abraham verghese injects his first novel, cutting for stone, with an intimate knowledge of ethiopia, the healing arts and its mysteries. Sister mary joseph praise is far from her home, and matron has no children of her own, but her maternal instinct perks up, and she treats sister mary with the compassion of a mother. Jun 27, 20 hubby dear groans with dismay whenever he spots a tome in my hand. Orphaned by their mothers death in childbirth and their fathers. The title, cutting for stone comes from the original hippocratic oath that physicians as opposed to surgeons took in ancient greece. Part 3 22% in there are no more uses of metaphor in cutting for stone. Contrast the attitudes of hema, ghosh, marion, shiva, and thomas stone toward their work. Reading guide for cutting for stone by abraham verghese.
The extensive medical detail in the book reflects his lived experience. Metaphors in cutting for stone take a stand on the claim below and make an argument for or against please be sure to support your argument with metaphors in cutting for stone take a stand on the claim. Verghese said that his aim in writing cutting for stone was to tell a great story, an oldfashioned, truthtelling story. Jan 25, 20 cutting for stone is an ambitious novel which allows abraham verghese to show his virtuosic ability to weave history, geography, medicine, religion, and politics together with family relationships, friendships, ethics, humanity, and spirituality.
The idea of compassion in medical care is an important one in cutting for stone. He tells a tale which crosses the generations, and traverses several continents. When it is 658 pages long, hes in for extended periods of silence. In 1954 in addis ababa, an indian nun, a nursing sister with a thing about bernini, gives birth. 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. Verghese is of indian descent but was born and raised in ethiopia, went to medical school in india, and has lived and worked. Physicians swore to heal patients through nourishment and medicine and to leave surgery i. Jul 08, 2017 these wartime references are metaphors as described by dr.
Tedmed 2015 will be held in palm springs november 1820. I moved on to a new medical service a few days after that morning i deemed my patient a fighter. Imagine not having a say in choices that involve you because you are not considered to have your own identity. Its narrative is laced with metaphors and analogies. However, the books title cutting for stone may indicate the danger and risk inherent in familiar love. The story in cutting for stone seems to be modeled after at least a few of dr. Mar 10, 2009 cutting for stone by abraham verghese hardcover, 560 pages knopf list price. Abraham verghese synopsis this is a fascinating family saga written by a professor of medicine whose indian heritage and ethiopian background permeate the book. Samuel johnson wrote one of the worlds best books and set it in ethiopia. In what ways is cutting for stone an oldfashioned storyand what does it share with the great novels of the nineteenth century. Medical definition of cutting for the stone medicinenet. The economist critiques, surgery is indeed a wonderful metaphor, but it. Gender in cutting for stone imagine not having a say in.
1491 900 825 286 950 141 1086 282 376 738 961 125 1357 930 415 920 1283 539 1317 74 375 730 562 293 557 1526 999 80 156 907 490 519 708 1007 262 1375 910 1477 1143 59 842 474 652