“All water is connected and only land and people are discontinuous.”
A Review of my 2023 Book of the Year
Exploring the intersection of life and literature to understand how what we read influences our lives and how our life experiences influence the books we choose.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Published May 2023 by Grove Atlantic
Genres: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Audio narration: Abraham Verghese
“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden.” - Genesis 2:10
It is the day before her wedding and she is twelve years old. She has never met the man who will be her husband. It all seems very rushed but adults decide these things. She wishes her father were here. Maybe he could explain why a forty year old widower with a child, wants to marry her, who is still a child. Her mother says the wedding day will be the saddest of her life. She knows it can’t be worse than the day her father died.
In this way a girl enters our lives. Soon she enters our hearts.
The girl becomes first a wife then a mother and finally a woman, binding everyone together - her life is the central stream of all that is to come. It is a story of family and our girl is the heart of it. She is Big Ammachi - Big Mother - a name given to her by the step-son she loves and raises as her own. Together with her husband she builds a family and a farm and a future.
Love is only part of this story. Tragedy dwells here as well. A powerful affliction holds dominion - in each generation someone dies by drowning.
In Kerala, India, on the Malabar coast, water is everywhere.
Verghese’s characters are deep, multi-dimensional, authentic, and relatable. Our vested interest holds us captive as they experience the best and worst that life has to offer. Their stories are weaved together in a rich tapestry of blessings and curses, water and land, art and literature. We can not help but love them for they are us.
"And now (she) is here, standing in the water that connects them all in time and space and always has. The water she first stepped in minutes ago is long gone and yet it is here, past and present and future inexorably coupled, like time made incarnate. This is the covenant of water: that they're all linked by their acts of commission and omission, and no one stands alone."
Verghese’s powerful writing interweaves the cultural, historical, and political realities of India in the early 20th century while exploring themes of agriculture, personal identity, and familial duty. All within a lush landscape that takes on a life of its own as we come to intimately know the fields and rivers of Parambil, the family estate.
Faith is explored through the presence of the small but devout community of St. Thomas Christians. Tracing its lineage to Thomas the Apostle, they “stayed true to their faith and did not marry outside their community. Over time, they grew, knitted together by their customs and their churches.” Faith was central to Big Ammachi’s life and leadership of her family.
“We are merely renting these bodies of ours. You came into the world on an in breath. You will exit the world on an out breath.”
Death and disease take center stage in Verghese’s writing where he uses his experience as a surgeon to delve into the rich history of medical progress and technological advances. We have front row seats as doctors perform detailed procedures in poorly equipped clinics and hospitals, bringing to light the damage caused by the caste system and the differences in quality of care. The cycle of life and death is not hidden but front and center. Mortality is a fact of life, one to be embraced, not shied away from.
The Covenant of Water is a tour de force. It is the work of an author at the height of their skill. The mastery of language, wordcraft, and storytelling often left me breathless. Seldom do books impact me as emotionally as this one did. The prose is lyrical, the characters complex, the themes expansive, and the story epic. It encapsulates the whole of the human experience in the tale of one family. Without reservation I would recommend this book to anyone willing to invest the time to read or listen. This was my first Verghese book but it will not be my last.
Until next time…
This past week I enjoyed reading:
- published a great article on Late Bloomers.
- writes a wide-ranging article on the internet and reading.
I really enjoy books that span large periods of time, and central female characters. And I love literary fiction mixed within historical. It sounds like I must read this book asap. :)
Also this sentence is heartbreaking and a grand story opener: "The girl becomes first a wife then a mother and finally a woman."
What a beautiful description of the book and your experience of it. It makes me want to read it!