These batch of reviews coincide with some of the best books I’ve read this summer, the epic books that you might need to visit
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Goodreads blurb: A stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret.
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new work: there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving story, and characters imbued with the essence of life. A shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.
my take 4.5 out of 5 .This book is a gorgeous, epic family saga and the payoff was great even if it was a bit long for my taste. It reminded me a little of when I first read one hundred years of solitude. It has the same level of multigenerational appeal and my need to have a family tree nearby was equally as important. It is beautifully written and definitely an epic drama (this would make a great miniseries). The way everything tied in in the end was wonderful but it did make for some disjointment in the road to get there. You know these seemingly disperse stories where going to come together in the end at some point, but in the meantime it was somewhat random and jarring going through the different plot lines. How they joined was thoroughly beautiful.
What I loved? The evolution of the familiar relationships and the location descriptions. I actually felt like I was in Kerala next to the river. The way the disease is spoken about was really effective a mix of fable and realness that develops beautifully. It’s a must read but set aside a lot of time – it’s looong. Two of my favorite quotes:
- What is time but cumulative loss
- Success is fully loving what you are doing
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
Goodreads blurb: When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed. In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own. But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves. Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars . Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?
As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. An astonishing twist ultimately reveals the truth in this transporting and refreshingly original novel about the bond between sisters, the complications of conflicted love, and the enduring magic of storytelling.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 4.5 out of 5 This is a whimsical and fantastical lovely family saga. I love historical fiction books that dwell in the side participants of war, the women and the children that are left behind and how that affects their lives. This is one of them. This is my second Patti book and in both her love for the written word and fellow authors exudes from the page. This one is a lovely collection of how stories and tales help us go through even the hardest of times. How the power of the imagination can be stronger than the sorrow in our lives. A total tear jerker of a book but so beautifully intertwined with a magical ending.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Goodreads blurb: Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros. Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise. Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die
my take: 5 out of 5. I am obsessed with this book and I need the new book now. Actually i have suggested to some people to wait to read it until November so that they can read the book together. Because I can’t believe I have to wait until then for what happened because saying it ends in a cliffhanger is an understatement. It ends in a collapsing road. This book is like Harry Potter having a baby with Hunger games and ACOTAR and I am all here for it. Fantasy is not usually my genre, I dabble in the greats, but this might make me a total fantasy fan. I’m glad when I got into ACOTAR there where 4 books because waiting for the new ones must have been torture.
Now for the book, It is a delightful blend of fantasy, training, romance and dragon communication sprinkled throughout. The love triangle had some ACOTAR feels in that the characters are never what they seemed, but it did not play out as spectacularly as in ACOTAR, you got the payout quite quickly and you knew who to root for before. I’m really enjoying Violet’s character, definitely someone to root for in her empathy and flaws.
The Paris Daughter
Goodreads blurb: From the bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation. Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change. When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it. More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.
my take: 4 out of 5. i said it whilst reviewing Secret Book above, but here we are again in a great WWII Historical fiction book, one of my favorite genres. And Kristin Harmel is a queen of WWII historical fiction, especially women centered stories of war. This was a devastating tale of three women’s intertwined experiences during the war and it was beautiful. Devastating but beautiful. You might need a Kleenex nearby. My only issue here is that I saw the twist coming way before it came, but I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be that way or if it was meant to be a surprise, so I didn’t know if i was in cahoots with the author or if it was to obvious. But nevertheless the ending is heart wrenching but beautiful as most of her books are.
Tati's Tidbits 