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Carol Mc's Reviews > The Covenant of Water
The Covenant of Water
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I heard Dr. Verghese speak recently about his book. He said his editor told him “it needed to be as long as it needed to be.� His editor, in my opinion is wrong. I read all 725 pages trying to decide what it was that was bothering me. I loved, loved, loved Cutting for Stone and I had been looking forward to Covenant. It took me to the end of the book to figure out that what I didn’t like about the book was his editor’s fault. There is a beautiful, poignant (albeit depressing) story hidden inside of way too many unnecessary words. I’m a nurse, and usually I like medical descriptions and stories. Even I found this excessive and boring. I think 300 pages could have been cut and what would have been left would have been a wonderful, magical story. I’m looking forward to any other novel the good Dr. might write as long as he gets a decent editor. Actual rating 3.5 stars.
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The Covenant of Water.
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Reading Progress
April 28, 2023
– Shelved as:
to-read
April 28, 2023
– Shelved
May 8, 2023
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Started Reading
May 28, 2023
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Finished Reading
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Carol
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rated it 3 stars
Jun 06, 2023 08:14PM
Agree completely
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You mentioned medical stories; I’m a former EMT with a similar penchant. If you haven’t already read Daniel Mason’s The Winter Soldier and/or Sheri Holman’s The Dress Lodger, I highly recommend both!!
I completely agree…this book wasn’t edited correctly!
I am just past the half way point in the book and feel it could have been cut in half and half again and still produced a wonderful story. I'm determined to finish but it is easy to put down. If one word will suffice the author uses forty. If a sentence will do he uses a paragraph.
I actually said this to a friend: "clearly his editor just gave him free reign and let him do whatever he wanted."
While reading this book I found myself frequently saying: “Oh, dear this book really needed a good editor.� What a shame that at the core of an unnecessarily complex story that is very overwritten lies an excellent story waiting to be salvaged by a fine editor. Sad.
Well said. Common problem with writers who achieve a certain amount of acclaim- their editors appear intimidated at doing their jobs properly. In addition, the theme of the pre-pubescent girlchild who somehow magically has wisdom and kindness beyond her her years (despite having no crones to guide her) who freely helps the struggling adult male is just so tiresome!
Agreed 100%!! There were too many good parts to this story that get lost.
Exactly! I felt the same way. I could have only read the first 100 with the last 200 pages and the story would have been more complete. I loved CFS too.
I agree with you wholeheartedly Carol. Beautifully stated review. Thank you. I loved the story, and still rated it highly because of it, but, I fought the size of the book the entire way!
I didn't read this bool but I did like "Cutting for Stone." A fabulous read.
Agreed! This book was way too long. I was listening on audio and kept hitting skip. I could literally skip 30-45 seconds at a time and the character would just start to speak. It was way too much! I finished but it was a LONG 31 hours.
I am at 46% and wondering why continue. I totally agree with Carol’s review. I find myself skimming over and still getting the story. Way too many words, that could be left out and still get the story. My husband read it and I discuss what I have skimmed and he said that I know as much as he does. I am going to continue, but not every book is for every person. This book is for the most part depressing. Wrong time of year to read it for me, I would like a bit of joy. The book was a gift to us.
Totally agree. Over half read, but I'm going to return it. Just too tedious, but I'm sure there's a great story in there somewhere!
I completely agree with you!! Too many words! Great story but painfully and unnecessary long
I am slogging through this book. I'm halfway through it, and it feels like dreaded work. Sigh.
Completely agree - beautiful story - much longer than it needed to be.
Yes, a well written but overly complex and lengthy novel. It was hard to keep track of all the characters and their story lines.
I’m about 45% in and keep coming back to the comments to motivate myself to read it. There are so many 5 star reviews and people love it, but I literally have no desire to keep reaching for this read. I can barely keep track of the timeline and all the excessive details and characters.
Thank you!!! I feel relieved to read all this! I was about 35% but had to return it! I’ve only return 2 books and the guilt trip was real! For me the main story to be told was just too diluted in all those unnecessary details. I tried, I really did but after rewinding a chapter for the 9th time I threw the towel.
