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A review by jenbsbooks
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
4.0
This book has received a lot of buzz. An Oprah pick, recommended (or mentioned as DNF) on Facebook groups. I was a little surprised when my mom got to this before me. I knew it was long going in, that there were multiple stories that would end up crossing. I'd heard both good and bad about the narration by the author ... I liked his narration. I grabbed the audio and kindle copy from the library. I stopped audio and turned to kindle quite a few times to make notes/highlights (and that time when I must have bumped the audio and lost my place completely, glad to have the Kindle copy to skim through and find my spot). I'm sure I would have made more notes/highlights had I read more, but audio is easier.
3rd person/present tense ... six "parts" with chronological chapters (84 of them). The chapters had headers, and included a date/location. I wish these were included in the Table of Contents (not on Kindle or Audio, just the chapter number).
One struggle I had was keeping track of WHO the POV was at times ... so much of the text is just "she" and "he" and the names (as a reminder) rarely given. It even starts off that way, the very first line of the book is "she is twelve years old ..." and a little later she is called "Molay" which means "daughter" ... still not given a name. She is referred to as "the young bride" ... chapter after chapter and we are never given her name, in fact, we don't learn it until chapter 54! Instead, she is simply "she" and then "Big Ammachi" (mother). I don't know that we ever learn her husband's name either ... "he" the groom, the widower, Big Appachen ... later on, the other characters (and there are a LOT) have names, so I wasn't sure why these two characters at the start are "nameless". It even says "a name no one has called her in the memory of anyone present, a name that hasn't been uttered since she came here as a twelve-year-old bride" ... so WHAT did people call her before Jojo finally christened her "Ammachi" (months later).
Part 1, the first nine chapters are about young Big Ammachi. So I knew who "she" and "he" were, and everyone else has names. It starts in 1900 in Travancore/South India and ends in 1908 at Parambil (South India). Part 2, things hift completely. It's 1919 in Glasgow, then traveling to India/Madras in 1933 - MC is Digby, studying to be a surgeon. The story stays with Digby in Madras through 1935. Part 3, it's back to Parambil and Big Ammachi in the first (chapter 23) but in the end sets up their meeting with Dr. Rune. The story then shifts to Rune's story (all of chapter 24). Then back to Parambil/Big Ammachi 1923 ...
This shifting is just one reason why I really like to have the chapter headers/location/year listed in the TOC. Just trying to write this review, instead of being able to just glance at the TOC, I have to go individually to each chapter to see the time/POV shifts. When there are headers, sometimes just the TOC can bring back the story with a glance. While reading, listening to audio, I appreciate just looking down and seeing the Part 3, Chapter 25, A Stranger in the House, 1923 Panambil ... instead of just "chapter 25" as sometimes with all my stops and starts (listening while multi-tasking) it's easy to miss the moment the chapter starts and it's said, or coming back into the story to remember where we were. The story continues on, staying with Big Ammachi for much of it, her story also including Philipose on his own tangent, and from there, to Miriamma. Going back to Digby here and there ... what would throw me would be little side-stories ... suddenly, there are a few pages going into the history of Uplift Master or other smaller characters.
Overall thoughts ...
*While a BIG book for bookclub, there would be a lot to discuss ... actually probably TOO much.
*For me, in notes, several little personal connections.
*Water, of course, interesting how he runs through and connects throughout the book.
*Leprosy - interesting, especially after reading [book:The Second Life of Mirielle West|55841940] and learning about it there.
*TOO MUCH TRAGEDY ... I remember reading [book:The Pillars of the Earth|5043], totally different but the same in scope (loooong book, generations, TRAGEDY), so much so that I almost wanted to give up continuing on. How much more can happen to this family?
*Other/OTHER books - I'd read [book:The Girl with the Louding Voice|50214741] recently, and the "young child forced into a marriage" had a similar feel, and my mind was muddling the stories a bit (even though the one here was a nothing like in Louding). A contemporary "Indian" story [book:Lies and Other Love Languages|77042493] also had some similar themes of family, keeping secrets, etc (really nothing to do with being Indian, but applies to everyone).
I have NOT read Cutting for Stone by this author, but still saw a few references to "cutting stone" and there is a whole side story about sculpture. I do plan on reading it at some point.
3rd person/present tense ... six "parts" with chronological chapters (84 of them). The chapters had headers, and included a date/location. I wish these were included in the Table of Contents (not on Kindle or Audio, just the chapter number).
One struggle I had was keeping track of WHO the POV was at times ... so much of the text is just "she" and "he" and the names (as a reminder) rarely given. It even starts off that way, the very first line of the book is "she is twelve years old ..." and a little later she is called "Molay" which means "daughter" ... still not given a name. She is referred to as "the young bride" ... chapter after chapter and we are never given her name, in fact, we don't learn it until chapter 54! Instead, she is simply "she" and then "Big Ammachi" (mother). I don't know that we ever learn her husband's name either ... "he" the groom, the widower, Big Appachen ... later on, the other characters (and there are a LOT) have names, so I wasn't sure why these two characters at the start are "nameless". It even says "a name no one has called her in the memory of anyone present, a name that hasn't been uttered since she came here as a twelve-year-old bride" ... so WHAT did people call her before Jojo finally christened her "Ammachi" (months later).
Part 1, the first nine chapters are about young Big Ammachi. So I knew who "she" and "he" were, and everyone else has names. It starts in 1900 in Travancore/South India and ends in 1908 at Parambil (South India). Part 2, things hift completely. It's 1919 in Glasgow, then traveling to India/Madras in 1933 - MC is Digby, studying to be a surgeon. The story stays with Digby in Madras through 1935. Part 3, it's back to Parambil and Big Ammachi in the first (chapter 23) but in the end sets up their meeting with Dr. Rune. The story then shifts to Rune's story (all of chapter 24). Then back to Parambil/Big Ammachi 1923 ...
This shifting is just one reason why I really like to have the chapter headers/location/year listed in the TOC. Just trying to write this review, instead of being able to just glance at the TOC, I have to go individually to each chapter to see the time/POV shifts. When there are headers, sometimes just the TOC can bring back the story with a glance. While reading, listening to audio, I appreciate just looking down and seeing the Part 3, Chapter 25, A Stranger in the House, 1923 Panambil ... instead of just "chapter 25" as sometimes with all my stops and starts (listening while multi-tasking) it's easy to miss the moment the chapter starts and it's said, or coming back into the story to remember where we were. The story continues on, staying with Big Ammachi for much of it, her story also including Philipose on his own tangent, and from there, to Miriamma. Going back to Digby here and there ... what would throw me would be little side-stories ... suddenly, there are a few pages going into the history of Uplift Master or other smaller characters.
Overall thoughts ...
*While a BIG book for bookclub, there would be a lot to discuss ... actually probably TOO much.
*For me, in notes, several little personal connections.
*Water, of course, interesting how he runs through and connects throughout the book.
*Leprosy - interesting, especially after reading [book:The Second Life of Mirielle West|55841940] and learning about it there.
*TOO MUCH TRAGEDY ... I remember reading [book:The Pillars of the Earth|5043], totally different but the same in scope (loooong book, generations, TRAGEDY), so much so that I almost wanted to give up continuing on. How much more can happen to this family?
*Other/OTHER books - I'd read [book:The Girl with the Louding Voice|50214741] recently, and the "young child forced into a marriage" had a similar feel, and my mind was muddling the stories a bit (even though the one here was a nothing like in Louding). A contemporary "Indian" story [book:Lies and Other Love Languages|77042493] also had some similar themes of family, keeping secrets, etc (really nothing to do with being Indian, but applies to everyone).
I have NOT read Cutting for Stone by this author, but still saw a few references to "cutting stone" and there is a whole side story about sculpture. I do plan on reading it at some point.