The Covenant of Water

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).

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.