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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, 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 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 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, 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 hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. Imbued with humor, deep emotion, and the essence of life, it is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.
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0The first 500 pages of this book are gorgeous; an incredibly immersive read, that makes you feel a part of this family, experiencing their highs and lows with them. The central matriarch, Big Ammachi, shows so much love and understanding and care for her family, and this seeps onto the pages, with each family member feeling cherished and adored, even when they make mistakes. You feel the pain of the family and there are some really poignant moments centred in this book. However, after the 500-page mark, the book takes a shift, due to events that happen, and the subsequent story loses the heart of the novel. The quick change left me stunned, and how the previous events are just left, felt very harsh. Overall, I think the ending could have been earlier in the novel, with arguably the last 150 pages not needed. They felt like they were added for shock value, especially the final twist, and for me, didn't add anything spectacular in terms of moving the narrative forward.
0I love any kind of generational fiction book, and this was no exception. The writing was so beautiful, and I loved how the stories came together. It definitely felt a bit long at time, but I still really enjoyed it!
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