Téa Obreht

Struggling to understand why her beloved grandfather left his family to die alone in a field hospital far from home, a young doctor in a war-torn Balkan country takes over her grandfather's search for a mythical ageless vagabond while referring to a worn copy of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. A first novel. 18,000 first printing.

A Novel

The Tiger's Wife

Mary Rose Luksha

I thought the language in The Tiger's Wife was beautiful, and I did enjoy reading it. That being said, when I finished the book, not a lot made sense to me. After I thought about it for a few days, here's why:

Contradiction 1
Obreht's description is minute and exact, but for all that still flows well. 
However, we are left with anonymous and vague descriptions of a Balkan country.
Reasoning: Yes, I understand the horrors of war are universal. But without that anchor to specific wars (even a made up one for crying out loud), I felt it devalued the tragedy of nameless warfare. I think Obreht was trying to comment also on the monotony and cyclical nature of war, but using a vague construct to establish a vague feeling came off tiring.

Contradiction 2
There are 3 stories told in the book. Two are The Tigers Wife and The Deathless Man, and they both took place when Natalia's grandfather was younger and supposed to show us his character. The third story is what is happening to Natalia herself when she finds out her grandfather died. I count this as a story as well because when she tells The Tigers Wife and The Deathless Man, it is written as if in some pre-determined time in the future, so I was led to believe the "present day" occurrence is also actually a story.
So, The Tigers Wife and The Deathless Man are told slowly, relishing details, going into back stories about the grandfather.
However, the narrator is a flat, journey-less character. She rarely even recounts interactions with her grandfather. Their relationship is placed at the center of the book, and I never got to find out why because the author was too busy giving me back story about minor characters.

Contradiction 3
The story of the Tigers Wife. 
However, the story of the Deathless Man.
They don't go together! *SPOILER* I loved the Deathless Man. I wish his had been the only story, and we got to learn more about his relationship with the grandfather. It was imaginative and a great plot point to develop Obreht's themes. The Tigers Wife was interesting at first, and I was very invested in it but, (and here comes the SPOILER) the ending left me feeling cheated. What was the moment the apothecary decided to do it (Obreht's backstory lets me understand why, but without that decided moment there was no tension)? What happened to the deaf-mute girl? Her baby? How did the townspeople react? It felt like Obreht didn't know how to write a good ending, or didn't feel like it, and left us all wanting.

I liked the premise of the story. I loved Obreht's language. Many reviewers will criticize her long-winded descriptions but I stayed with her through all that, and I was rewarded with a lackluster ending. Perhaps people could argue we are meant to draw our own conclusions, but you know what? I hate when people say that. It means they didn't want to make a choice and instead force you make one. I'm all for using my imagination, and each person having their own interpretation of endings, but the author has to give you something to go on. Obreht seemed to intellectualize her way out of concrete character development and story arc.

Robin M Cabana

The Tiger's Wife was a wonderful story and unlike anything I've read. The story of a young woman and her grandfather is touching and so complex as it intersects with the grandfather's stories of the Tiger's Wife and the undying man. I love the magical way Tea Obreht tells the story and weaves in folklore, superstition, history, politics and of course, tigers.

Donald

I can't believe this is Obreht's first novel. It is really really good.

When Obreht's name was announced on the New Yorker's '20 under 40' list, a lot of people complained about it. The complaints were of three varities: 1) misogyny (I read someone who denounced her as a "Barbie look-alike", which she isn't. But even if she was, what does that have to do with her writing?), 2) that she didn't have enough published work (no novels yet, only short stories), or 3) that she was a token 'young person' on the list. Nobody commented on the quality of her writing. But go back and read her stories and the early 'Tiger's Wife' excerpt. They fucking rule. The NYer editors obviously read the manuscript of the novel as well. She is supremely talented. She might be the most talented writer of the whole NYer list.

I could describe the book or give you a plot synopsis, but you can read that on the book jacket. Just read the book. I read it in two nights. It's that good. Now, I can't wait for her next novel!

(It's also sweet that she is moreorless the same age as me.)

Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman

shellybn

** spoiler alert **
           I really wanted to love this book. The story and the characters just did not grab me and it took me forever to finish it. I found the end very anticlimactic. I think my mistake was I thought it would be more about were-tigers or other supernatural creatures than it actually was. That is not a fault of the book, it is a fault in my perception of the book descriptions. 

Other than the grandfather, I felt very little connection to the characters. It seemed to me the writing style was artificially literary or something I don't know how to describe. This wasn't a book like "The Stolen Child" that made me sigh when I finished. It just didn't touch me emotionally. 

I don't know if this review even makes sense. I know many people have really enjoyed this book, so the problem is with my understanding of the plot. Just don't read it if you want to read about were-tigers or the supernatural.

Tracey O’Rourke

I found the writing of this book lovely, but the story left me wanting, and, in the end, no matter how good the writing, its all about the story.

Pia Sophia

I got sucked in to this book from the very start. Obreht has a way with words that makes you feel you're there, you're seeing the tiger, the elephant, and that the grandfather is so familiar as if he was your own. 

The story begins with a secret, one we will not easily learn the answer to. By unraveling this secret we get taken by the hand in a land full of beautiful stories. The story of the deadless man made me turn pages so quickly I nearly ripped the paper. 

Throughout the book, I sometimes got a little lost from the main story by all the flashbacks and side stories. That doesn't mean I didn't like those, because I did! It was just a little distracting and made me care less for the plot (which almost became a side story in itself).

Obreht writes beautifully. She brought me back to the Balkans with the way she described the scenery and the little traditions her family used, and that made me happy because there's little books that take place in my motherland. 

All in all, I must say I liked the theme/story of the deadless man best and that's what kept me reading to the end. I'm a little disappointed that she kept SO many loose ends and open endings. A little closure would be nice, y'know. And because of that, I dare say that if she would have made the story of the deadless man a short story instead of writing a novel around it, it would even be better.

Liv Gliese Johnsen

I will be fair. I never finished this book. I wanted to, but I never did. it was so slow and kind of boring, so I gave up and deleted it from my shelves. I think my life was too short for this book. Or perhaps I am to young to understand the story

Nicholas Hertz

Laura Willett 

Samantha Jackson

Remembering childhood stories her grandfather once told her, young physician Natalia becomes convinced that he spent his last days searching for "the deathless man," a vagabond who claimed to be immortal. As Natalia struggles to understand why her grandfather, a deeply rational man would go on such a farfetched journey, she stumbles across a clue that leads her to the extraordinary story of the tiger's wife.

The Tiger's Wife A Novel

Reviews