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The Covenant of Water
The Covenant of Water
Author: Abraham Verghese
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Ke...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780802162175
ISBN-10: 0802162177
Publication Date: 5/2/2023
Pages: 736
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 14

4.1 stars, based on 14 ratings
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 218
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Covenant of Water on + 1147 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is an excellent choice if you like a long family saga. It's over 700 pages but they flew by for me because the writing, characters, and settings are so beautifully created. I knew little about India so learned a lot during this story of family secrets, community connections, faith, caste, and the changing role of women in society. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did!
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BigGreenChair avatar reviewed The Covenant of Water on + 461 more book reviews
Great rich tapestry of a number of lives, well-written, but it was a miss for me. Too many characters, didn't have to be that long, and while the author several times in the book tried to explain the concept of it overall through a 'covenant of water', I felt that was a bad title..and not necessary tie-in. A friend of mine read it just before me and said the same thing. We both wanted to love it more.
blissmountain avatar reviewed The Covenant of Water on + 31 more book reviews
i'm not sure another review of this book is needed but here i am anyway. i adored the author's book "cutting for stone" and was excited to read this one. maybe it's the difference of many years between the two but i was definitely not happy about holding a 700 page book endlessly. i think the book would've been fine, more than fine, at 500 pages. hell, maybe even 400 pages! what i loved? following the history of the land itself and the families who lived there. just beautiful. what i didn't love? i didn't feel that pull to read forever. i didn't want to keep those characters with me forever. without spoiling it for anyone, the closing of the book, the pulling together of the entire story, did leave me feeling more complete, so i'm grateful for that. and i am sure that i would've enjoyed the audio book version more, for all reasons.
sslowe avatar reviewed The Covenant of Water on + 80 more book reviews
The book is very well written but so long. I put it down because it didn't seem to be going anywhere. After the holidays I decided to finish it. If you can get to page 508 it becomes worthwhile and the story comes together beautifully

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