The Covenant of Water - bookrastinating.com

eBook

English language

Published May 5, 2023 by Grove Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-8021-6218-2
OCLC Number:: 1354771768

A stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret. 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. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new work: there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving …

A stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret. 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. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new work: there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving story, and characters imbued with the essence of life.

A shimmering evocation of a lost 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 hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.

2 editions

KnitAFett reviewed Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Unnecessarily long.

3 stars

This was a chonker of a book that I feel really didn't need to be so big. I appreciate that Verghese was giving detailed background to the characters, but when you're 3/4 of the way through the massive book and wondering how everything comes together still, it's a little much.

I was glad to get an actual explanation behind the water curse that wasn't just some mystical occurrence. It was nice to have the reference of science helping to explain mysterious happenings that we hadn't previously been able to understand.

Overall, I would say the storyline was at least enjoyable enough, but I won't ever feel compelled to revisit this one in the future.

This was a chonker of a book that I feel really didn't need to be so big. I appreciate that Verghese was giving detailed background to the characters, but when you're 3/4 of the way through the massive book and wondering how everything comes together still, it's a little much.

I was glad to get an actual explanation behind the water curse that wasn't just some mystical occurrence. It was nice to have the reference of science helping to explain mysterious happenings that we hadn't previously been able to understand.

Overall, I would say the storyline was at least enjoyable enough, but I won't ever feel compelled to revisit this one in the future.