This book review is written by and posted on behalf of Vijaya Gollamudi.
I recently read the beautiful Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese before I picked up his new book, The Covenant of Water. I loved Cutting for Stone, but I like The Covenant of Water even more.
The Covenant of Water is a family saga that spans over 70 years and is set in Kerala on India's Malabar Coast. The story follows a family in southern India across three generations as they grapple with a chilling affliction – the death by drowning of at least one member of every generation. It is an excellent book for its efforts in documenting times and places most readers would be too young to have witnessed. The book is a tribute to the scientific progress that has made human lives healthier and the sacrifices made by previous generations.
The Covenant of Water begins in 1900s India where we are introduced to Mariama, a 12-year-old girl, preparing for her wedding to a 40-year-old widower. As Mariama tearfully says goodbye to her mother, the decades-long narrative and legacy of Mariama begins. The story follows the incredible life of Mariama whose endearment name will become Big Ammachi – grandmother, and her descendants, including family that are not blood, the remarkable changes in India during the time of British Raj, and family secrets – which include a family “condition” where someone from each generation drowns. But why?
Simultaneously we are introduced to a young doctor Digby Kilgore from Scotland sent to practice medicine in India. A tragic accident will change Digby’s trajectory in unimaginable ways. As we are all familiar, the author Varghese himself is a doctor which makes the medical writing in the book even more fascinating.
This brilliant novel has superb writing and narration that traverses nearly 80 years. Readers are captivated by endearing characters, fascinating plotlines and most of all, the novel's empathy and intrigue.
I recommend listening to the story on audiobook where Verghese himself reads the novel in a theatrically beautiful way. The novel is a shimmering evocation of lost India and the passage of time. The book is also a hymn to the progress of medicine, human understanding, and hardships undergone by previous generations for the sake of the people alive today. I personally consider this novel as one of the most masterful literary works ever written.
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