I was long overdue to read this and I started it a couple of times but then hadn’t been able to carve out a block to tackle its 700+ pages. But as the temperature dropped this past winter, the skies were dark and dreary, and the political lay of the land infused with anxiety, I needed a “comfort read” and I hoped this would fit the bill.

I was correct.

I love a multi-generational family saga and I’ve had great experiences with several massive books set in India by Indian or Indian diaspora authors (Tomb of Sand, A Suitable Boy, A Fine Balance) so I had a feeling this might hit that sweet spot and it did.

The Covenant of Water begins in 1900 India with a young girl leaving her home to be married. Her new husband is an older man whose wife has died. He has a child Jojo. As she grows older and learns to care for a child and a home, she also comes to learn of the history of the family she is now a part of, in particular, their mysterious and frequently tragic relationship with water. A few years later, we also meet Digby, a Scottish doctor who comes to India in 1933 to work as a surgeon.

Many of the books I read play with the form of the novel; they are literary fiction which distort perspectives, play with POVs, cavort with linguistic conventions, and bend structure sometimes near its breaking point.

The Covenant of Water is not that kind of book. Yes, it’s got multiple storylines and yes, it spans many years but it is at its heart an accessible read. The threads converge eventually, themes are echoed across its pages, and we stay with characters for a long period of time. And sometimes that’s exactly the kind of book I want to read. It fits into a category that I think of as “tell me a story”, books that have enjoyable yarns to spin.

If you’re intimidated by big books, this might be a good one to try. While perhaps more detailed than most short books, it lets you get to know characters and the world they inhabit. Verghese takes time in building the histories and personalities of his characters so that we will understand their motivations. And Verghese uses all that detail to create some vivid scenes that stay with you for a long time.

In looking over my journal, I discovered that many times I noted the inclusion of graphic medical scenes. Verghese is a doctor when he’s not writing books and the pages of his books (the same was true of Cutting for Stone) include detailed descriptions of medical conditions and procedures. This includes some quite traumatic scenes (including childbirth, substance abuse, and suicide) that readers are best aware of going in.

The Covenant of Water explores a rich family history. There’s lots of living, dying, and tragedy to be had. But there are also richly developed characters that you come to grieve when they pass and miss when you’re finished. They’re flawed and make mistakes and the book asks us to think about the costs of those mistakes and what sacrifices we’re willing to make for love.

While I did feel that at times that the book could have been tightened up, that Verghese could have trusted readers more and explained (or recapped) a little less, overall I found it a book I enjoyed spending time with. It didn’t ask a lot from me other than to become invested in its characters and its world. That investment paid off with a sad but satisfying story.

With thanks and apologies to @groveatlantic for the eARC.

The Covenant of Water is an ambitious and deeply heartfelt novel that spans generations, weaving together family history, medicine, and the evolving landscape of South Indian culture. Abraham Verghese's prose is beautifully moving, and his affection for the region and its people shines through every page. However, the novel is long and dense, and story gets bogged down with many subplots and medical details that feel underdeveloped and disruptive to the flow of the main storyline. Overall, it’s a beautifully written book with great intentions and moments of brilliance, but one that will lose the interest of readers looking for a tighter, more focused read. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF at 30%

I have tried so many times to read this novel but it just didn't work for me. Shame as I loved his first novel

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel.

This was my first Abraham Verghese book, and it won’t be my last! It held my interest throughout the entire story. I’m sorry I waited so long to read it.

This was a really beautiful book! The character building was excellent, and it was so enjoyable to watch the different characters' lives intersect. Every page of this book felt like it belonged, which is impressive for a book of this size. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Grove Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you for the opportunity to review this advanced reader's edition. Unfortunately, I will not be able to give it the time required to write a thorough review and will be unable to read it for this purpose.

Really enjoyed this one! I should have read it so much sooner! But I don’t regret it. This maybe a new obsession! I love the characters, plot, etc.

This novel follows one Indian family in the province of Kerala for over seven decades. It begins when a twelve year old girl is married to a forty year old landowner. She doesn't know how to be a wife but slowly learns and although she starts out fearing her husband she learns to love him over the years. They have three children, JoJo, who is the husband's child from his first wife, Baby Mol and Philipose. Over the years, the young girl becomes the family matriarch known as Big Ammachi.

There is also an alternate storyline following an English doctor named Digby who is a surgeon but who ends up spending his life working in a leprosy sanitarium. The two stories end up coming together at the end of the novel.

Along the way, the reader will learn about many things; the caste system of India, the scourge of leprosy, medical practice in the 1900's in India, Indian culture and art. The family hides a secret; that the men especially have what they call The Condition. That condition is an inordinate fear of water in a watery environment and many with the condition end up drowning. As the book progresses we learn that this is a medical condition and the grandchild of Big Ammachi becomes a surgeon and dedicates her life to studying the condition.

Abraham Verghese is a medical doctor and some readers have thought there was too much medical detail in this novel. Overall, it was released to great anticipation and was an Oprah's Book Club pick. I enjoyed the novel but thought it ended too abruptly as one of the main stories was left in limbo. Overall I enjoyed learning more about the Indian culture and especially reading the twists and turns of this family over many decades. This book is recommended for readers of literary and multicultural fiction.

I loved "Cutting for Stone" so I was so excited to read this long-awaited book by Abraham Verghese. It did not disappoint! His prose is just so descriptive and poetic, it made me feel like I was really in India and could picture everything as it took place. I was pulled along by the slow warm current of this book, parts leaving me both heartbroken and hopeful. It was an emotional journey but I love how all of the parts came together. If you're looking for a longer, deeper read, this book would be perfect! I highly recommend. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Gorgeous and heartbreaking….and surprisingly fast paced for being so very long. This novel has sold so well for us, and I look forward to being able to press it into even more readers’ hands when it is released as a paperback.

I was unable to finish this book when I had the ARC, but I did enjoy what I had managed to read. I will pick up a copy to finish the book.

Cutting for Stone was one of my favourite books for a very long time. I love Verhjese's writing and the way his characters pulse off the page. The Covenant of Water had this same quality, plus the sweeping epic story that take the reader on a journey through multiple generations. Some parts of this I enjoyed, and the way the story twisted and turned, I never wanted to put it down. However, one thing about the length of this novel and the amount of time it spanned, was that I would find myself connecting to a character only to move on and lose them as time went on. That combined with the length of this novel is what brought it down slightly from a 5-star rating for me... but still a absolutely fantastic book.

"Time and water move on relentlessly."

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The Covenant of Water spans almost 80 years through three generations of a family with an unusual relationship with water, one that often leads to their deaths. The family is a part of an ancient Christian community where family and tradition are important. We get a flavor of so many aspects of life in Kerala, India at the time. We get immersed in the culture, the impact of the caste system, the impact of the world wars, the fight for independence as well as the split of India and Pakistan and the impact of leprosy and other inherited diseases. We get a deep dive into one family with several branching stories that take the long route in coming together.

This one took me more than a month to read, not because it was too long or that it wasn't good, but because there are so many intense and heartbreaking moments. There would be so much time immersing yourself falling in love with a character in the timeline and then the promised tragedy would shake me and I'd need a break. But I was always drawn back. I expected the epic multi-generational story but how this one comes together is beautiful and uplifting and heartbreaking all at the same time. In that way, it reminded me of The Love Songs of WEB DuBois. The imagery of the nature of water and the deep dive into familial love balanced with the burden of inheritance and the realities of genetics was so masterful.

This will definitely be one of my top reads of the year, if not of all time. It's worth the 31 hours of audio / 700+ pages of your time, I promise!

Thank you to @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. This is the story of a family in India, from 1900 to 1977. It’s hard to even attempt to describe it, it covers so much and so many different plotlines. It is beautifully written and probably could be considered epic. I will say it is very long and I started it several times before finally settling in and reading it. But it was well worth spending the time with this. #oprahsbookclub #thecovenantofwater #abrahamverghese #netgalley #advancedreadercopy #arc #covidnovel #bookstagram #booklover #reader #bookblog #lovetoread #fictionreader #bookreview #bookrecommendation #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #takeapagefrommybook #readallthebooks #booksbooksbooks #booksofinstagram #bookwormproblems #bookaholic #booknerd #whattoread #readingtime #bookaddict #ilovetoread #ilovebooks #needtoread #readallday

I remember reading Cutting for Stone when it first came out and being thoroughly compelled by that book, not so this one, though apparently I'm an outlier. A multiple-stranded, multiple-charactered story, that brings in everything including the kitchen sink - child-bride marriage, a strange condition that affects boys more than girls in a large and extended Indian family, the loss of babies and children, leprosy, medicine, art, mothers dead too young, politics, partition, religion, caste, and much much more. Sections of the book intrigued me, some of it I found myself skimming because of the too-muchness of it all, the neat tying up of loose ends, too neat for my taste. It's a magnus opus, a doorstopper at 724 pages, the writing not particularly wondrous, still after wading my way through this, and some of it read quickly, and some of it felt like a slog, I'm glad to have read it, and though I have no issue with long books, I love long books, either I wasn't properly settled in for this one, or, in my opinion, it could have been trimmed substantially so that not everything carried the same weight.

Thanks to Grove and Netgalley for an ARC.

This was one of my favourite books of 2023. Beautifully written and so evocative of Kerala. The plot was masterfully woven together with characters that were bursting with realism. An outstanding achievement.

Sweeping and utterly worth it. This lengthy tome covers such delights as goiter, leprosy, political turmoil, famine, and the trauma of the caste system and makes them all purely fascinating. What makes it work is that these heavy topics always take a backseat to the expertly drawn characters whom I had come to love. While the book is long, nothing is wasted, nothing taken for granted. It is purely masterful.

I love everything Abraham Verghese writes, his latest included. Long, but completely worth it. Long sweeping family drama spanning decades.

I’ve read and loved all of Verghese’s previous books. At over 700 pages this book was an example of epic storytelling . Spanning eight decades and three generations the book weaves together a family saga of history ,medicine, failures and triumphs . Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. I highly reccommend this book .
Thanks to NetGalley and the publsiher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Last night, I finished my last book of 2023 — The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. If you love literary fiction, do not sleep on this one. Yes, it is HUGE, but the 715 pages were fantastic. I loved this sweeping epic that begins in 1900 and ends in 1977 in southwestern India. There is a reason that this one is an Oprah pick.

There are many main characters in this book, but that does not detract from the story line. Usually, I have trouble with following threads when there are more than 2 or 3, but since this book takes place over 77 years, more characters work. I also enjoyed how none of the characters were totally dropped from the narrative. Just when I was missing Digby, he came back.

5 stars. Thanks to my new in-person book club for making this a December/January pick.