The Covenant of Water

eBook

English language

Published May 5, 2023 by Grove Press.

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

(2 reviews)

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.

7 editions

markm reviewed Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Review of 'Covenant of Water' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

An epic novel about a family in southern India by a well-known physician-author. The author is of Indian ancestry, went to medical school in Madras, has another degree in fine arts, and has written other best-selling books – so he has both the ability and access to the stories that make this novel so attractive. I liked the water imagery, the analogy of the river as fate, and the theme of family secrets. I appreciated all of the Medicine in it and I was reminded of several Indian physicians I have known who were more knowledgeable about classical physical examination than my American colleagues.
I have no especially important criticisms, but …
•The ending of this story is a nice example of bathos (in the sense of too much pathos).
•Although Dapsone is mentioned briefly near the end of the book, the pharmacological treatment of leprosy is otherwise ignored in …

An epic novel about a family in southern India by a well-known physician-author. The author is of Indian ancestry, went to medical school in Madras, has another degree in fine arts, and has written other best-selling books – so he has both the ability and access to the stories that make this novel so attractive. I liked the water imagery, the analogy of the river as fate, and the theme of family secrets. I appreciated all of the Medicine in it and I was reminded of several Indian physicians I have known who were more knowledgeable about classical physical examination than my American colleagues.
I have no especially important criticisms, but …
•The ending of this story is a nice example of bathos (in the sense of too much pathos).
•Although Dapsone is mentioned briefly near the end of the book, the pharmacological treatment of leprosy is otherwise ignored in this story. I understand this is necessary for the plot, but it is misleading.
•I feel obligated to say that the so-called acoustic neuroma is really a schwannoma, derived from the cell named for its discoverer, Theodor Schwann (1810 - 1882).

Eduardo Santiago reviewed The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Review of 'The Covenant of Water' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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 …

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.

The Covenant of Water

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