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kypo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I happened upon this book because I was trying to read novels set in the areas I would be traveling to in September. I did not expect to love this story the way I do. Obreht masterfully interweaves her protagonist’s story with her grandfather’s. There’s something about it that is so fragile and horrible but overall just so human. She makes you mourn for places you will never see — places that can no longer be found on a map.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Gore
Moderate: Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Child death
unboxedjack's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and War
Moderate: Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Medical content
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I've been wanting to read this book since it was published 10 years ago and I'm so glad I finally did.
Obreht is a talented writer at such a young age when she released this and she has a real gift for story-telling. As a dual timeline/narrative, it's often tricky to keep my attention for both timelines, and she held it. We're following our narrator, Natalia who has found out her beloved grandfather has died. Over the years they've grown apart, only to renew their bonds in the last year of his life, hiding his illness from the family. Both medical doctors, they've been shaped by the wars of their unnamed Balkan country, and what it means to practice medicine and hope and fear for their patients. Natalia is sharing two key stories that shaped her grandfather's life as a child and young man - that of the deathless man and the tiger's wife.
I've heard some ascribe magical realism as a genre/writing device to this novel - to me it's not quite accurate. The Tiger's Wife is much more steeped in mythology and folklore and how stories shape our lives and understandings of the world and our place in them. Whether or not the deathless man is the nephew of Death or the tiger's wife was in fact having a relationship with a tiger-human, is moot. What's more important is what those stories say about ourselves, our communities, our spirituality, and our cultures. The themes of death, war, hope, family, and others were really well explored. On the surface level, it's a historical novel without a specific history (the closest being a reference to the former Yugoslavia) and great writing. Below the surface, it has wonderful layers and open-ended stories and complex characters.
The first of two main critiques is I felt this book could've used another 25-50 pages to wrap up the ending. It's slightly too sudden for how deep and thoughtful this book became. The second is the handling of the tiger's wife. She's a deaf-mute teenage girl (and married since 13 because it was the 1940s rural Balkans) who's living with a man who, because of his life circumstances, became violent. On one hand, I understand that not having her point of view was a way to reinforce the 'mysticism' and mythology/folklore elements she gave to the novel (she very much functioned as a source of rumour, frustration, village myth). But on the other, it felt like she lacked agency and a voice of her own. We heard the grandfather's, the blacksmith's, the butcher's (aka her abuser) and other's perspectives in the 'past' sections, but I felt the novel was missing her perspective.
Overall, I really liked this novel - it's well written, thoughtful, and engaging. I'm excited to read whatever else Obreht puts out.
CW: disability and ableism, domestic violence, death, murder, war (including bombing), medical-related scenes/descriptions, animal death.
Obreht is a talented writer at such a young age when she released this and she has a real gift for story-telling. As a dual timeline/narrative, it's often tricky to keep my attention for both timelines, and she held it. We're following our narrator, Natalia who has found out her beloved grandfather has died. Over the years they've grown apart, only to renew their bonds in the last year of his life, hiding his illness from the family. Both medical doctors, they've been shaped by the wars of their unnamed Balkan country, and what it means to practice medicine and hope and fear for their patients. Natalia is sharing two key stories that shaped her grandfather's life as a child and young man - that of the deathless man and the tiger's wife.
I've heard some ascribe magical realism as a genre/writing device to this novel - to me it's not quite accurate. The Tiger's Wife is much more steeped in mythology and folklore and how stories shape our lives and understandings of the world and our place in them. Whether or not the deathless man is the nephew of Death or the tiger's wife was in fact having a relationship with a tiger-human, is moot. What's more important is what those stories say about ourselves, our communities, our spirituality, and our cultures. The themes of death, war, hope, family, and others were really well explored. On the surface level, it's a historical novel without a specific history (the closest being a reference to the former Yugoslavia) and great writing. Below the surface, it has wonderful layers and open-ended stories and complex characters.
The first of two main critiques is I felt this book could've used another 25-50 pages to wrap up the ending. It's slightly too sudden for how deep and thoughtful this book became. The second is the handling of the tiger's wife. She's a deaf-mute teenage girl (and married since 13 because it was the 1940s rural Balkans) who's living with a man who, because of his life circumstances, became violent. On one hand, I understand that not having her point of view was a way to reinforce the 'mysticism' and mythology/folklore elements she gave to the novel (she very much functioned as a source of rumour, frustration, village myth). But on the other, it felt like she lacked agency and a voice of her own. We heard the grandfather's, the blacksmith's, the butcher's (aka her abuser) and other's perspectives in the 'past' sections, but I felt the novel was missing her perspective.
Overall, I really liked this novel - it's well written, thoughtful, and engaging. I'm excited to read whatever else Obreht puts out.
CW: disability and ableism, domestic violence, death, murder, war (including bombing), medical-related scenes/descriptions, animal death.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Medical content, and Medical trauma