M2C Online BookClub – The Tiger’s Wife (Part 3)

Well - did you enjoy it?

(Photo via Flickr - Field Museum Library)

There’s an odd feeling that comes with finishing a book you’ve really enjoyed – partly satisfaction, partly regret, and always some questions to mull over and images that stay with you.

I like to imagine the ghost of the tiger prowling the mountain near Galina.

Why did the apothecary do what he did? Is there any ambiguity about his actions?
Was I imagining it or at some point did the stories intersect - was the deathless man the same man who successfully wooed the woman Luka intended to marry?

And so to the final third of The Tiger’s Wife – the story of Dariša the Bear, the unhappy end of the Tiger’s Wife herself, the heartbreaking reason why the people and children of Brejevina paint Bis the dog all the time. There’s an interesting generational difference between Natalia and her grandmother – Her grandmother accepts the prescribed rituals of mourning and carries them out in a matter of fact manner while Natalia offers to help the villagers complete a superstitious rite out of curiosity.

The parts I loved about this book were he stories that people tell themselves to understand and see the world - people need stories and superstitions is to make sense of death, conflict and war. There are snippets of information about the modern war, there are mentions of different factions and landmines, but for the most part descriptions are vague. This gives the conflict a hazy feeling, not out of place with the rest of the stories. This war is one of a series of wars in the region – Natalia’s grandfather has experienced several in his lifetime.

This book is a skilfully woven tapestry of folktales, family legends, and a compelling narrative that I’m going to be recommending to all my friends in the weeks to come.

Other books to read if you've enjoyed The Tiger's Wife:

Galore by Michael Crumey. An intricate and entertaing novel following two hundred years of a Newfoundland fishing village.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Epic novel following the fortunes of a Chilean family from the turn of the twentieth century.
M2C Bookclub- Competition Time

M2C Online BookClub – The Tiger’s Wife (Part 2)

I found myself galloping through the middle section of this book (chapters 4 – 8), and then having to go back and make sure I hadn’t missed anything. The account of Natalia’s Grandfather’s childhood of the tiger’s journey to his home village of Galina is interwoven with Natalia’s and Zora’s present day mission to the orphanage in Brejevina. Once again the stories are told in chunks that leave you wanting more. Just as one narrative strand ends and another begins – a clever device that kept me reading late into the night, eager to catch up. 



(Photo via Flickr - Smithsonian Institute)



The story of the tiger’s wife is told vividly – the harshness and rigours of early 20th century village life (from the chronology of the book it could be 1920s/1030s?) is startling at times the fever that sweeps through the village in winter and kills all the children under twelve bar one, for example. The treasured copy of The Jungle Book that’s mentioned at the start of the story makes an appearance, a gift from the kindly village apothecary.

Ahhh……stories within stories!

One of my favourite things.

In reading the story of the tiger’s wife we also get the history of the Ottoman musket, the tale of the initial disastrous hunt for the tiger and the Grandfather’s early history until we come to how Luka the village butcher came to marry his child bride and why the villagers started calling her the tiger’s wife.

There are interesting parallels between each story strand – the village of the tiger’s wife appears untouched by modern life and superstition is a way of life but in the present day Natalia and Zora also encounter stubborn beliefs in the family who dig relentlessly in their host’s orchard. Natalia is desperate to inoculate the sick children in the family, but the parents put their faith in the ritual they’ve been advised to carry out and the pouches of herbs they wear around their neck. And a minor mystery as to why the orphanage children paint images of the dog Bis over and over again – they seem to have a talismanic property.

The war is over but casts a long shadow - Natalia makes a trip to the clinic where her grandfather died, hoping to collect his belongings there is palpable tension when she makes inquiries – hostile locals ask her if she comes from ‘the other side’. She remembers a trip with her Grandfather when the ceasefire was declared to the family holiday house across at a lake across the border and the uncertainty of the reception they would get from formerly friendly neighbours. The shifting loyalty that consecutive wars have created is a running theme. The story of the deathless man is taken up again but I didn’t find this second instalment as compelling as the first. For me I just want to find out what happened to the tiger’s wife.

If you’re enjoying the book so far you may also like to read:

‘Ali and Nino’ by Kurban Said. Set in Azerbaijan at the start of the twentieth century, Ali is Muslim and Nino is Christian but they are childhood sweethearts and are determined to marry. A moving love story told against the turbulent backdrop of the First World War and an interesting exploration of conflicting cultures.

‘The Crane Wife’ by Patrick Ness. A romantic and magical novel based on a Japanese folktale.

M2C Bookclub- Competition Time

M2C Online BookClub – The Tiger’s Wife (Part 1)

Fingers crossed some of ye have managed to get your claws into a copy of our June bookclub book – The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht. I’ll try not to include any spoilers for anyone that’s playing catch up this week.

 

I started reading it last week, raced through the first three chapters and am enjoying it immensely. I loved the opening of the book with the memory of the narrator and her grandfather’s trips to the zoo and the tantalising first mention of the tiger’s wife:

‘’I once knew a girl who loved tigers so much she almost became one herself’’

It’s not too much of a spoiler to say that the novel begins with the death of Natalia’s grandfather - the exact circumstance’s of which are murky. The customs and superstitions around death that give her grandmother comfort are interesting and the hints of conflict between various family members are intriguing.

Natalia and her friend Zόra are medical students on their way to help vaccinate orphans in an orphanage across the border. I like the way that explanations about the character and place come organically through the text – it has the effect of actually making me slow down my reading to make sure I don’t miss anything. I get the sense that everything is significant. Time periods shift and change throughout - there are mentions of a war, the Administration shutting things down and a teenage Natalia’s boyfriend is drafted. Back in the present, as she and Zόra cross the border with a carload of medicine it’s obvious that tension is still high – in the orchard of their host family in Brejevina shadowy figures dig on a sinister errand. The sense of trepidation is skilfully wrought; the reader gets the sense that they are being shown pieces of puzzle.

On a mysterious night time excursion with her grandfather Natalia, he tells her the story of his meeting with the deathless man, a wartime experience of his, which was one of my favourite passages of the book so far.

Still no mention of the tiger’s wife but I’m happy to continue reading and try not to skip ahead.

If you’re enjoying the book so far you may also like to read:

‘Burying the Typewriter: Childhood Under the Eye of the Secret Police’ by Carmen Bugan. A memoir about growing up in Ceausescu’s Romania, describing the author’s village childhood and her warm relationship with her grandparents before her father’s dissident activities brings the whole family under the scrutiny of the secret police.

‘The Fall of Yugoslavia’ by Misha Glenny. An acclaimed account of the five-year war in the former Yugoslavia.

M2C Bookclub- Competition Time