Cutting for Stone: A novel
Amazon Exclusive: John Irving ReviewsCutting for StoneJohn Irvinghas been nominated for a National   Book Award three times--winning once, in 1980, for the novelThe World According to Garp. In 1992, Irving was   inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best   Adapted Screenplay forThe Cider House Rules--a film   with seven Academy Award nominations. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review ofCutting for Stone:ThatAbraham Vergheseis a doctor and a writer is already established; the miracle of this novel is how   organically the two are entwined. I’ve not read a novel wherein medicine, the practice of it, is made as   germane to the storytelling process, to the overall narrative, as the author manages to make it happen here.   The medical detail is stunning, but it never overwhelms the humane and narrative aspects of this moving and   ambitious novel. This is a first-person narration where the first-person voice appears to disappear, but never   entirely; only in the beginning are we aware that the voice addressing us is speaking from the womb! And what   terrific characters--even the most minor players are given a full history. There is also a sense of great   foreboding; by the midpoint of the story, one dreads what will further befall these characters. The   foreshadowing is present in the chapter titles, too--‘The School of Suffering’ not least among them!Cutting   for Stoneis a remarkable achievement.--John Irving(Photo © Maki Galimberti)