RaveLibrary Journal\"This new work from Verghese is not just a novel; it is a literary landmark, a monumental treatment of family and country, as sprawling in scope as Edna Ferber’s Giant ... Writing with compassion and insight, Verghese creates distinct characters in Dickensian profusion, and his language is striking; even graphic descriptions of medical procedures are beautifully wrought. Throughout, there are joy, courage, and devotion as well as tragedy; always there is water, the covenant that links all.\
Jonathan Dee
RaveLibrary JournalA story of the desperation and ultimate impossibility of isolation, Dee’s narrative is a spider web of questions that won’t let readers go, questions like where does insanity begin and end? Readers of Dee’s earlier novels will not want to miss this page-turner.
Werner Herzog, trans. by Michael Hofmann
PositiveLibrary JournalThrough spare language and minimal detail that recall Herzog’s screenwriting technique, together with great leaps through time, the novel spans the full 29 years of Onoda’s remarkable story while keeping the focus on him ... A brief but powerful and noteworthy addition to the résumé of a master storyteller; fans of Herzog’s films will see the filmmaker’s cinematic fingerprints all over this absurdist, if absorbing, story.
