WWW Wednesday # 252

Happy Wednesday everyone! Wednesdays also mean WWW Wednesday updates. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted originally by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS. Unfortunate

The mechanics for WWW Wednesday are quite simple, you just have to answer three questions:

What are you currently reading?
What have you finished reading?
What will you read next?

What are you currently reading?

After spending three months reading exclusively the works of European writers, I have finally embarked on a new journey. Currently, I am reading works published in the past two years that I have been looking forward to. I started with James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store and followed it up with Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant Water. Both are powerful and evocative works of historical fiction and are among my favorite reads this year. The latter is actually part of my 2023 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To List but I was not able to obtain a copy of it last year. The former, on the other hand, was a book I only heard of midway through the year. Speaking of the Top 10 Books I Look Forward To List, my current read, Rachel Khong’s Real Americans is part of my 2024 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To List, just the third book from the list that I have read.

Before this year, I had never heard of Rachel Khong nor had I encountered any of her works. However, her latest novel was a recurring presence in several most anticipated 2024 Books Lists, hence, its inclusion in my own. The novel starts with Lily Chen who we first meet in New York City in 1999. She was working as an unpaid intern, barely scraping by. Then she met Matthew Maier, the scion of a wealthy pharmaceutical company; she was not cognizant of this when they first met. Life took its natural course and they got married. They had a son named Nick who Lily initially thought was not her son. Cut Part 1. The story then pans to 2021 and the voice shifts to 16-year-old Nick. Things apparently did not go as planned between her parents. His story also introduced interesting elements. I initially thought that the book was a straightforward exploration of who and what makes a “real” American but it seems to digress from that. Nevertheless, it explores the subject from a different vantage point which makes it a compelling read. I can’t wait to see how it concludes as the story again jumps into the future and a new voice emerges.

What have you finished reading?

Compared to the week before when I was able to complete four books, the previous week was a rather slow reading week. I managed to complete just one book. However, this book is rather lengthy so there is a good reason why I could only read one book. Moreover, I have been looking forward to Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water book since last year. As mentioned above, it is part of my 2023 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To List. Moreover, this excitement built up after the book was lauded as one of the best books of 2023. Unfortunately, it was only this year that I could obtain a copy of the book. It was a no-brainer for me not to delay reading the book further.

Apparently, it was not only me who was looking forward to reading the book. The Covenant of Water was Verghese’s – who is a physician by profession – second novel; his first novel was published in 2008. The expansive novel commences in 1900 in Southern India where 12-year-old Mariamma was wedded off to forty-year-old widower Big Appachen. As part of tradition, Mariamma left her family and moved to the town of Parambil in Kerala where her husband’s family lived. Mariamma soon learned that her husband’s family has a unique affliction. She would call it “the Condition.” Nearly every generation of her husband lost at least one member due to drowning. The circumstances are often suspicious. Contrary to my expectations, Mariamma’s marriage flourished. She was close to her stepson JoJo even considering him her own. JoJo gave his stepmother the nickname Big Ammachi (Big Mother). However, the affliction strikes at the most inopportune moment, leaving Mariamma devastated. Mariamma’s cross to bear was doubled when her daughter Baby Mol was born with developmental disabilities. Nevertheless, Mariamma cherished her daughter. A son named Philipose was also born to the couple.

Alternating with Mariamma’s story is the story of Dr. Digby Kilgour. Unable to get the training he needed in Scotland because of his Catholic religion, the orphaned physician joined the Indian Medical Service in Madras. But like Mariamma, his life was struck with tragedy, hence, his move to Madras. Meanwhile, Philipose became a celebrated writer and married Elsie, who has become an artist. The couple had a son named Ninan, who died after falling from a tree. They also had a daughter named Mariamma after Big Ammachi but following her birth, Elsie “passed away” under suspicious circumstances. Big Ammachi helped her son rear Mariamma. Cathartic moments concluded the story which, I must say, is one of my favorite reads of the year. It was propulsive, compelling, and, overall, a very evocative read about India, its people, its contemporary history, and its diverse culture.