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melissatrew 's review for:
The Covenant of Water
by Abraham Verghese
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
”And what is time but cumulative loss?”
What a powerful book.
I went in completely blind, knowing nothing about the book, or the author, and I am very glad I read it, although I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed the reading experience. It’s a heavy story, dealing with extremely dark and painful themes like addiction, suicide, loss of a child, deep grief, birth trauma, slavery & caste divisions, and more.
”A woman’s voice screams, and another from the opposite direction, “God! My God!” but the god of disasters is unmoved.”
It reminded me, at different points, of The Great Alone, for how harrowing and heartbreaking the story was; Cloud Cuckoo Land for how far-reaching and interconnected the individual characters’ narratives were; The Girl With the Louding Voice, for its cultural impact; and The Heart’s Invisible Furies for its multi-generational, intercontinental storyline.
”…shame God, shame that shameless charlatan whose hands stayed behind his back when children fell from trees, when silk saris caught fire…”
I think my biggest takeway from The Covenant of Water is the truth that, no matter how fervently you might pray to him, God will meet your tragedies and your traumas with His own silence.
”May the living and the departed together cry out…”
What a powerful book.
I went in completely blind, knowing nothing about the book, or the author, and I am very glad I read it, although I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed the reading experience. It’s a heavy story, dealing with extremely dark and painful themes like addiction, suicide, loss of a child, deep grief, birth trauma, slavery & caste divisions, and more.
”A woman’s voice screams, and another from the opposite direction, “God! My God!” but the god of disasters is unmoved.”
It reminded me, at different points, of The Great Alone, for how harrowing and heartbreaking the story was; Cloud Cuckoo Land for how far-reaching and interconnected the individual characters’ narratives were; The Girl With the Louding Voice, for its cultural impact; and The Heart’s Invisible Furies for its multi-generational, intercontinental storyline.
”…shame God, shame that shameless charlatan whose hands stayed behind his back when children fell from trees, when silk saris caught fire…”
I think my biggest takeway from The Covenant of Water is the truth that, no matter how fervently you might pray to him, God will meet your tragedies and your traumas with His own silence.
”May the living and the departed together cry out…”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Slavery