Cutting for
Stone by Abraham Verghese
Ice-Breaker Question:
As a child did you
dream of what career you would like to have? If so, how young were
you? And did you end up in that work? Why, or why not?
Book Questions:
1.
What meaning or meaning did you
take form the title of the book Cutting
for Stone?
(Surname, play on words; Stone
of madness, paintings of Bosch & Bruegel; Hippocratic Oath; “I will not cut
for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this
operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art)
2.
Almost all of the characters
are living in sort of exile, self-imposed or forced, from the home country –
Hema and Ghosh from India, Marion from Ethiopia, Thomas from India and
Ethiopia. Verghese is of Indian descent
but was born and raised in Ethiopia, went to medical school in India, and has
lived and worked in the United States for many years.
What do you think this novel
says about exile and the immigrant experience?
How does exile change these characters, and what do you they find
themselves missing the most about home?
3.
What was “missing” in the main
characters lives? What was “found”?
4.
Marion observes that in
Ethiopia, patients assume that all illnesses are fatal and that death is
expected, but in America, news of having a fatal illness “always seemed to come
as a surprise, as if we took it for granted that we were immortal (p.396). What other important differences does Cutting for Stone reveal about the way
illness is viewed and treated in Ethiopia and in the United States? To what extent are these differences
reflected in the split between poor hospitals, like the one in the Bronx where
Marion works, and rich hospitals like the one in Boston where his father works?
5.
In the novel, Thomas Stone
asks, “What treatment in an emergency is administered by ear? The correct answer is “Words of
comfort”. Were you surprised that this
question came from Thomas Stone? Why?
6.
Marion suffers a series of
painful betrayals – by his father, by Shiva, and by Genet. To what degree is he able, by the end of the
novel, to forgive them?
7.
Why did the author tell the
story in Marion’s voice …as opposed to Shiva’s?
[Maybe Verghese himself was more like Marion than Shiva.]
8.
Marion and Shiva were identical
twins, but it is clear from events of the novel that their brains were “wired
differently” and their personalities complemented rather than copied or
duplicated each other. The one exception
being the “ShivaMarion” personality. Why
do you think that is?
9.
What did you think about
Shiva’s “split-personality” in his relationship with women? On the one hand he thought visiting
prostitutes was the most natural thing a young man could do. On the other hand he had such emotion and
compassion for the women (and girls) that came into the clinic with their
particular health issues – and sought medical treatment and came up with
inventions to improve their situation.
10.
What do Hema, Matron, Rosina,
Sister Mary, Genet and Tsige – as well as many women who come to Missing
seeking medical treatment – reveal about what life is like for women in
Ethiopia?
11.
A passionate, unique love
affair sets Cutting for Stone in
motion, and yet this romance remains a mystery – even to the key players –
until the very conclusion of the novel.
How does the relationship between Sister Mary and Thomas Stone affect
the lives of Shiva and Marion, Hema and Ghosh, Matron and everyone else at
Missing? What do you think Verghese is
trying to say about the nature of love and loss?
12.
Why do you think Hema says she
will marry Ghosh “but only for a year”?
(p.218)
13.
“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 don’t. If you keep saying your slippers aren’t
yours, then you’ll die searching, you’ll die bitter, always feeling you were
promised more. Not only our actions, but
also our omissions, become our destiny.”
This seems to apply to everyone in the novel. What are each of the character’s
“slippers”? Do they all manage to “own”
them?
14.
Character discussions – word
association – rapid fire (what adjective best the following characters:
(i)
Genet
(ii)
Thomas Stone
(iii)
Matron
(iv)
Ghosh
(v)
Hema
(vi)
Marion
(vii)
Shiva.
15.
What did you learn about
Ethiopia’s history as a country that you did not know before?
16.
What did you want to know more
about but the novel did not provide the additional details?
17.
The novel tells us of a missing letter early
on in the book – that surfaces at the very end.
Is its content what you expected to find? What about the book’s conclusion generally –
were you satisfied - why or why not?
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