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At 775 pages, this novel is not a quick read. It took me five months to dive in after I bought it, knowing it would dominate my time. I spent six full reading days making my way through it, but it was absorbing and I had no problem with it keeping my interest.
Those pages cover the stories of several generations of a family, centering primarily on their relationships to the matriarch, “Big Ammachi.” In 1900, at just age 12, she is married off to a much older man who owns 500 acres of property. His holdings are called Perambil, in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast. The area is surrounded by and infused by water; the easiest way of getting from place to place is by boat and barge.
Big Ammachi learns early on that her husband’s family has a history of having at least one person in each generation drown. And as her life goes on, “the Condition,” as they refer to it, certainly does manifest itself, leading to life-changing grief and heartache.
We see this woman go from scared and lonely new wife, and instant stepmother to a toddler, to more confident wife and manager of a household. She’s small but mighty and beloved by all. As years go by, she is surrounded by more immediate and extended family. Their stories take turns with a few other individuals who are not related to the family but eventually take their place in the big picture in various ways. I cared about all of them.
I haven’t read Verghese since his first book, My Own Country, and that was nearly 30 years ago. I was impressed then and I’m impressed still. He is such a keen observer and chronicler of human nature and even physiology (he is a doctor). I love how his medical career shows in this story in various ways, with the illnesses that come up and the doctors in the story. (I’ve always been fascinated by medicine, illness, the body, the brain, etc.)
So much happens in these nearly 800 pages, but every bit is significant. Important pieces that come up throughout culminate in the powerful conclusion. I stayed up into the wee hours to finish reading it, and tears were escaping my eyes. There’s so much I could say, but let’s simply say it’s worth the time it takes to read The Covenant of Water.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 3 uses of strong language, around 10 instances of moderate profanity, about 10 uses of mild language, and maybe about 10 or 15 instances of the name of Deity in vain. About 15 uses of British (bl-) profanity. Sexual content includes some crude references and maybe five scenes with some detail about (mostly) husbands and wives being intimate. They are tender and not overly detailed, lengthy or erotic. Violence includes tragic deaths and injuries with some gory details. There are a number of surgeries and some births with blood and medical detail.
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