The Tiger’s Wife

I chose to read this book as a way to find out more about the war(s) in the former Yugoslavia, and indeed I did become much more familiar with how the wars affected the people of the Balkan region. What I hadn’t expected was an interesting juxtaposition of modern scientific thought and the superstition of religion and older cultures. The fear of death, which was unfortunately a common part of life, inspired many beliefs and rituals, even among the most devout scientists in the book (perhaps excluding Zora). I myself am a deeply religious, yet also scientifically-minded, person, so I am a bit tempted to think that the book made light of religion as merely a “crutch” to make sense of the difficulties of life. However, nowhere in the book is it clearly articulated that religion in itself is always irrational.

Based on the writing style alone, I would have given this book a five. Reading it was like listening to beautifully composed music. And based on the stories and page-turning anticipation the author builds, I’d also give it five stars. But the oddness of the plot and the disappointment I felt at its ending caused me to deduct a star. Perhaps I just didn’t completely get the intended message. Find out for yourself!

So, this was a bust for me. The story was only slightly engaging – really something that could have been told in a short story and would have been sufficiently entertaining. The back and forth narrative perspective from the grand daughter to the grand father was not very fluid. The prose was so padded – but not in a meaningful way. Themes, historical connections were woven through out but while somewhat interesting, they definitely felt tied to culture rather than universal. I wish my book club had chosen something else.

An amazing book from a very young author. The story is often disjointed, as the central narrative is interrupted by episodes narrated by or remembered from the main character’s grandfather. Some readers will find this irritating, but if you’re in the mood for this kind of story, it’s terrific.
The setting is an unnamed country several years after the war that broke up the former Yugoslavia. The narrator, a young doctor, travels across recently-created (or reestablished) borders to retrieve her grandfather’s belongings after his death.
By switching between a modern, realistic narrative and a mythical or folkloric past, the author creates a portrait of a country and a culture that has been changed, perhaps destroyed. The title story, The Tiger’s Wife, is perhaps a little too filled with pathos. I think the author reveals her youth here by making the violence and the abuse the characters suffer extreme, horrific. But it’s similar to the content of fairy tales (the unexpurgated versions) and meant to be symbolic of what the country and its people have lived through.
Don’t expect something uplifting or saccharine. If you want to immerse yourself in the mood of Balkan tragedy, this is a great story.

This was a delight to read. Obreht weaves together myth and hard-core realism in telling the story of a young doctor delivering care in a war-rent region of the Balkans where she had once lived. Part of her former homeland has become hostile to those of her ethnic origins, which affects her ability to travel safely and interact comfortably with her former neighbors. Her grandfather, also a doctor, is a powerful presence in the novel, and adds two powerful mythic threads to the story. This was one of the most memorable books I have read in the past decade.

The story a young woman and the relationship she shared with her grandparents. The novel unfolds in dream-like sequences interspersed with conversations she holds with her grandparents. The novel encompasses two stories, which run concurrently, and several supporting narratives of which the author unites into the conclusion. The storyline offers an interesting premise. The authors writing is beautiful, descriptive and full of emotion, although the tales reveal gratuitous violence and the mysticism becomes esoteric.

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