The Tiger's Wife

I meant to read Téa Obreht's novel when it first came out as it received so much attention. Shortly after, my friend Lenae read it for one of her book clubs. She's very intelligent and I respect her opinion so I asked what she thought. She told me The Tiger's Wife was good, but that though she loved parts of the novel, other parts she wasn't crazy for. Basically her recommendation was to read it because it was worthwhile and a good story, but she also couldn't say rush out and do so right away. It wasn't until I read that the novel received this year's Orange Prize that I finally picked it up.

The Tiger's Wife is set in a Balkan country recovering from a war and is told from the perspective of Natalia, a young doctor. Her grandfather has recently died and she reflects on his death and the stories he told her about "the deathless man." There is another story he failed to tell her, the story of the tiger's wife. I was absolutely enthralled by the stories of the tiger's wife and deathless man, but the story of Natalia didn't as much interest me. Obreht's writing is beautiful and the intrigue for these other stories was so great that I continued to turn the pages, but I thought Natalia's story largely fell flat. Looking at the book as a whole though, it is quite extraordinary, the way the stories are woven together, all embracing themes of death, war, myth and storytelling. As I'm reflecting on it all, fumbling for my final words of recommendation or not, I can't help but think Lenae's assessment was perfect-- The Tiger's Wife is a very worthwhile novel, but not one in which I'd recommend with zeal. It's the kind of book to put on that ever-growing list of books you have to get to one of these days.