The Tiger’s Wife was, until recently, one of those books the entire blogosphere except me had already read. It’d been hailed by many a review as one of the most amazing recent discoveries, so I decided to give it a shot.
I was also intrigued by the setting of the novel, the post-war Balkans (which I know nothing about but would like to know more). The Tiger’s Wife weaves together different narratives. The one set in the present follows Natalia, a young doctor, on her journey across one of former Yugoslavia’s new borders in order to vaccinate children at an orphanage. On her way there, she learns that her grandfather has died under very strange circumstances in a hospital close to the village she is travelling to. So rather than turn around, she goes ahead on her vaccination trip in order to pick up his belongings which are still at the hospital. Meanwhile, she is suspended in a surreal limbo, going about her business while she comes to terms with her grandfather’s death, remembering the stories he used to tell her. The other narratives include precisely these stories, the most important one being that of the tiger’s wife, as well as memories of moments Natalia has shared with her grandfather.
The writing in The Tiger’s Wife is beautiful; I just loved the richness of the narrative voice. I know it’s been said before, but it is something like the Balkan’s magical realism. All the time, it was like old Gabo lurking just around the corner in order to have someone levitate. There’s a mute woman who loves a tiger, a deathless man, and so on. I wanted to immerse myself in that language, bathe in it and never get out.
However, for me there was a strange disconnect between the wonderfully crafted narrative voice and the content of The Tiger’s Wife. It’s difficult to describe, but just the richness of the language, to me, jarred with the content, especially in the parts dealing with the Balkan wars. I felt like the horrors of that time deserved something less “cutesy” (one of the reviews I read – I forget which one – called this the “Disneyification” of the Balkans and I can’t help agreeing with that).
The Tiger’s Wife is Téa Obreht’s first novel, and as such it is certainly a very important literary achievement.* But it did leave me wondering whether the fact that the language and the narrative were sometimes so strongly at odds with one another are a symptom of that. Maybe her voice will mature as she writes on?
I very much enjoyed The Tiger’s Wife as a bit of “lighter” reading. But I did get the feeling that precisely this lightness may not be the ideal choice for some of the horrific episodes narrated in the novel, like it needed some more Primo Levi rather than García Márquez.
* Does anyone else get that thing where suddenly people that achieve amazing things are younger than yourself? – I got a huge sense of underachievement out of the fact that Obreht was born in 1985.
Books, Bikes, and Food 
August 26, 2012 at 8:31 pm
I so wanted to love this book! And I did love parts of it. However, like you, I found that there was something not quite right. I also find it hard to explain exactly what. A good book, but a bit of a disappointment. Great review!
August 26, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Thanks! I just went back to read your review and you’re also right in that she doesn’t develop some of the characters in as much depth as you’d like (especially the grandfather). It almost seems as if there are “too many” stories so she doesn’t have space to do that. Which is silly because the book could have been longer if she’d wanted it to be, so I wonder why she does that given that she develops other characters extremely well, as you said.
August 27, 2012 at 10:09 am
I haven’t read this (and I doubt I will), but it does seem as if it is the work of an immature (in the sense of emerging) writer. It’s a shame that every new voice is immediately hyped up to be a star these days 😉
August 27, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Yeah, I can definitely go with “emerging”. I feel like there’s a lot of potential here but she’s not using it well. I hope she gets around to it later!
August 29, 2012 at 12:52 pm
yes her age shocked me ,I felt this book was rather over hyped I enjoyed it too but not the masterpiece it was made out to be ,all the best stu
August 29, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Thank you for stopping by Stu! Unfortunately I think the whole age thing means we’re getting old…
September 1, 2012 at 12:59 am
Well, everyone in the blog-o-sphere had read it but you. And now me! I was so excited with all the buzz about it, when people were buzzing about it, that I bought an autographed, hardcover edition. Which, of course, is still unread ono my shelf. I, too, would have a hard time with horrors being treated lightly; I, too, wonder at the youth of those around me. How about Marco Rubio speaking at the Republican National Convention? He looks like he’s twelve! A very handsome twelve, but still…I’m not all that old, but apparently that perception in my mind. 😉
September 1, 2012 at 8:40 am
😉 I also got it with these baby athletes at the Olympics. That Chinese girl who won the IM swimming faster than Michael Phelps? She’s FIFTEEN.