The Covenant of Water | Abraham Verghase

We’ve been waiting around for this? Have you ever read a first draft of, well, anything that a decent writer has written? Doesn’t have to be a novel. Well, this is kind of like that. I was left wondering if Verghase’s editor was on sabbatical when he submitted this and someone just sent it to the printers. I write this with full knowledge that someone out there thought it was the great book they’d ever read and that I wouldn’t know a good book from Twilight. 

At 900 pages (!!), it feels like it’s moving in real time (rather than evoking the passage of time). I kept forgetting what was happening and which characters I was supposed to be caring about. There’s a lot of time spent on the Scottish doctor, but he’s not in the family, so I don’t think that the book is really about him…although I didn’t finish it so maybe he’s the hero?? I slogged through more than 500 pages and decided that I Just. Couldn’t. Do it. And I always finish books. I can probably count the books I haven’t finished in my adult life on my toes. 

I had found Cutting for Stone really interesting, and thought all the medical descriptions was important to the plot. In Covenant, it almost felt like Verghase was reminding me that “I’m a doctor and you’re a mere mortal.” 

Maybe you’ll love it. Maybe I’m missed the whole point. Or maybe I just got a week of my life back by not reading to the end. I’ll never know.