The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) - Abraham Verghese

The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club)

By Abraham Verghese

  • Release Date: 2023-05-02
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 3,362 Ratings

Description

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY

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

“One of the best books I’ve read in my entire life. It’s epic. It’s transportive . . . It was unputdownable!”—Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com

An instant New York Times and indie bestseller and an Oprah Book Club Pick, The Covenant of Water has sold more than two million copies worldwide and was widely named as a best book of the year. Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, Abraham Verghese’s long-awaited, masterful novel follows three generations of a Christian family in Kerala, South India, that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning. As the novel opens, a twelve-year-old girl is sent by boat to her wedding, where she meets her husband for the first time. She joins a prosperous household and becomes known as Big Ammachi, the matriarch of an extraordinary family that will endure hardship, celebrate triumph, and witness unthinkable changes over the coming decades.

An exquisite modern classic finally available in paperback, The Covenant of Water is an unforgettable and stunning epic of love, faith, and medicine.

Reviews

  • S

    4
    By mean aunt syl
    S

  • Mildly interesting.

    3
    By Kevin Palo Alto
    Pacing was okay.

  • Intricate and beautiful storytelling

    5
    By EileenRN
    Very beautiful story with intricate details that draw you in deeper and deeper.

  • Sublime

    5
    By LoKelly18
    Just read it

  • Wonderful read

    5
    By Peach gal
    Beautifully crafted and covers the whole range of human emotion. Loved every character and every word!

  • Must read

    5
    By beneaththesewesternskies
    The best book I’ve read all year. The trials of love, marriage and child rearing across multiple generations made me feel like I personally knew the Parambil family.

  • More Powerful than Shantaram

    5
    By twigger333
    More powerful than Shantaram, this book captures the same profound themes and principles, delivering an even deeper emotional and philosophical impact. Beautifully written; its meaning and impact on your daily life will continue to reveal themselves for years to come.

  • Someone tell me how it ends because I couldn’t stand to finish it

    3
    By GeekyGamerChic
    I really struggled with this one. I wanted to like it. I loved the characters, and I felt like I really got to know each one. I loved learning about the culture and era, as well. But… it was sooooo slooooowww. To say it dragged is an understatement. While I kept muddling on through the first thousand or so pages, I realized tonight that I just can’t do it. I can’t suffer through another thousand pages of this book just to see what happens. I rarely ever put down a book unfinished, but this one’s just going to have to unread.

  • What an incredible book!

    5
    By akialam26
    As one might expect from 700+ pages, this book involves many different narratives interconnected through the theme of remedial love, specifically through the lens of family. Though I had trouble parsing through the technical and medicinal terms and language, I can admit that it adds so much colour and texture to this book. I was particularly touched by what it means to heal in this novel. How do we think about treatment and cures beyond our modern understandings (i.e., drugs)? This novel, I feel, pushes us to see that underneath all forms of remedies is a love that “treats one as their own.” (I may have butchered this quote.) I think this is best exemplified thorugh the character of Big Ammachi who, anchored by her faith and love for her family, goes to unimaginable lengths to ensure their safety and wellbeing. Lastly, the narratives of this book are told against the backdrop of gradually rising political tensions in what starts out as India under British rule and evolves into 1970s independent India undergoing major political tensions, inflation, etc. While Parambil does not feel like a space that is experiencing the worst of these sociopolitical changes, it definitely is a space that allows the author to explore the caste system in India and its varied manifestations.

  • “Well done!”

    5
    By J.g and g.g.
    Verghese has done it again. A novel of beauty, pain, loss and love. A triumph. I am the better for having read it.

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