The Covenant of Water
Ratings55
Average rating4.4
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years. Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India's Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning--and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala's long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl--and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi--will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants. A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.
Tags
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
I am at the stage of my reading life where I am an unashamed genre reader, although i dislike the ponsiness of the term. I read, mostly, to be entertained, sometimes to learn something new and if the two mix i am delighted. I am not scared of supposed “literary novels” but they do not draw me to them. But a friend's five stars, and to setting of India in the last century sounded interesting enough to venture into it. It was a slow start as I was parallel reading other books but that allowed the first two parts, the foundations, to stew and settle in. I was not enamored, not rushing back to pick it up but i was intrigued as the writing was rich without being cloying. Then, having finished my other books i dove back in and Covenant picked me up and carried me to the end in so many satisfying ways. The story arc makes sense, the characters are fleshed out, the length is not self indulgent
In the first few pages a twelve-year-old girl leaves her home to marry, by arrangement, a forty-something widower. Seriously? Do I really need to keep reading this?? (I did. Grudgingly. Would you believe that, just a few pages after that, my reluctance transformed into eagerness?)
This. Was. Beautiful. Okay, a bit over the top, but goddamn what a heart Verghese has! Compassion, insight, humor; an eye for the unbearable lightnesses and despairs of life. I was reminded over and over of a soap opera. One where the characters are kind, gentle, smart, talented, noble. I've never actually watched a soap, so all I have is the cartoon cultural idea of what they're like: drama, plot twists, suffering, redemption, characters larger than life; this had them all but entirely infused with tenderness.
Plus, culturally educational. Verghese writes with (what reads like) good rhythm for local customs and language. He packs in a good amount of background, all of which I found enjoyable and fascinating.
The last hundred or so pages ramped up the drama a notch, which forces me to drop my rating from six stars to five.
