Reviews

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

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steffski's review

3.0

Very poisonwood Bible - very heartbreaking story of life and loss and love. Hefty to get through and I kept waiting for a mystery or surprise that never happened. Everything is exactly as it seems.

sittingwishingreading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

kiragreads's review

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

jbabiarz's review

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3.0

I went back and forth with this book. At times loving it, at times cringing over the surgical details. Overall, I liked it. But knowing what I know about the book after finishing it, not sure I would do it again.

r0b3rta's review

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5.0

At close to 700 pages, there's a lot to process. I read this book as part of bookclub. The first third of the book was dense with medical terminology, and I was looking up meanings every few minutes, so I feel that was why I felt the first third of the book was slow. Then, the story got more into a rhythm.

I connected with the book from my own personal medical experiences over the last year as a patient. The life stories in the book really connect with you too.

I borrowed the book from my local library, I feel it's a book I'd like to add to my personal library.

I feel like reading the book again would bring further insight. The story is beautifully written with lots of memorable quotes.

enbylievable's review

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5.0

Masterful! This book has everything you would want in an unforgettable story: medical drama, love, coming of age, brotherhood, surrogate parentage, family, and more. Paired with an unbelievable level of descriptive storytelling, Cutting for Stone was an awesome book! My only qualm is that Marion sort of turned out to be a massive misogynist towards the end in terms of his behaviour towards Genet, and was giving me really strong "boo hoo I'm in the friend zone, your life sucks so bad because you didn't have sex with me when I wanted you to, this is punishment for you hurting my feelings" vibes (and like he sort of rapes her too?? wtf?) Given that Marion's character made me really uncomfortable at times, I still felt this was a beautiful story enriched with culture and nature, so much so that it makes you homesick for a place you've never even been before.