Book Review Title: The Covenant of Water Author: Abraham Verghese Publisher: Grove Press UK, 2023 Pages: 724 “What defines a family isn’t blood but the secrets they share.” This massive book explores the intricacies of human relationships with a plot that spans almost a century. The story begins in 1900 with 12-year-old Mariamma being wedded to a 40-year-old widower in whose family runs a curse: death by drowning. The story ends in 1977 with another Mariamma, the granddaughter of Mariamma the First who becomes Big Ammachi [grandmother]. A lot of things happen in the 700+ pages of the novel which has everything that one may expect from a popular novel: suspense, mystery, love, passion, power, vulnerability, and also some social and religious issues. The only setback, if it can be called that at all, is that too many people die in this novel. But then, when death by drowning is a curse in the family, we have to be prepared for many a burial. The Kerala of the pre-Independ...
Brilliant as usual Tomichan :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kalpanaa
DeleteThe moment we realise that the thing we are pretending would have a rather negative effect on us might prevent us from pretending. Coincidentally I am reading thinking fast and slow, where the author talks about an experiment where the subjects when unknowingly make a smiling face become more likely to see positivity in even the worst situations and vice versa. So would it not be wise to pretend a fake smile when that smile can make us more positive in life? Sorry for that long a comment. I have more to say, perhaps need a seprate post.
ReplyDeleteIt's the positivity that i'm advocating, Pranju. Our pretensions are always on the positive side, aren't they?
DeleteI'm waiting for your post on it. Glad to have poked you enough to think of s post ☺
True and beautifully potrayed
ReplyDelete:) trying to convey more in less words.
DeleteAnother layer of pretense perhaps....we are full of these traps....! Was i
ReplyDeleteThe traps are inevitable, inescapable! Religious leaders and many others ensure that!
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