The Covenant of Water

Audible

English language

Published May 2, 2023 by Recorded Books.

ASIN:
B0BVDNPQ1V

She is twelve years old, and she will be married in the morning. Mother and daughter lie on the mat, their wet cheeks glued together. “The saddest day of a girl’s life is the day of her wedding,” her mother says. “After that, God willing, it gets better.” And so begins the decade-in-the-making follow-up to CUTTING FOR STONE!

31hrs 16min

4 editions

Unnecessarily long.

This was a chonker of a book that I feel really didn't need to be so big. I appreciate that Verghese was giving detailed background to the characters, but when you're 3/4 of the way through the massive book and wondering how everything comes together still, it's a little much.

I was glad to get an actual explanation behind the water curse that wasn't just some mystical occurrence. It was nice to have the reference of science helping to explain mysterious happenings that we hadn't previously been able to understand.

Overall, I would say the storyline was at least enjoyable enough, but I won't ever feel compelled to revisit this one in the future.