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A review by readingspells
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I am read this as part of the Women's Prize for Fiction Challenge; to read all the books that have won the prize over the years. The Tiger's Wife won in 2011 and this was my first time reading it.
I knew absolutely nothing about this book going in and the blurb is fairly vague and having read that I can understand why because I am not sure what those book is but do not let that put you off, far from it, I found it a consuming and captivating read.
It is set in an unnamed Balkan country although at one point there is a reference to an airport which definitely places it is in Serbia. It tells the story of Natalia and her Grandfather mostly through stories that he imparted to her over the years most notably the story of The Deathless man and The Tiger's Wife. Both of them have strong elements of magical realism to them so if that is not your thing this book is not for you but I loved the fairy tale, myth, folk tale type vibe that was threaded through this book.
Yes it does jump about a bit in parts from the now back to various times in Granddad's life but once you got a paragraph or two into a chapter it was easy to work out where you were in the time line of things.
I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I had never heard of it before taking on this challenging and considering how many of the winners I have read so far that I never heard of before and turned out to be disappointing I was delighted to find this one bucked the tread and was a really excellent read.
I knew absolutely nothing about this book going in and the blurb is fairly vague and having read that I can understand why because I am not sure what those book is but do not let that put you off, far from it, I found it a consuming and captivating read.
It is set in an unnamed Balkan country although at one point there is a reference to an airport which definitely places it is in Serbia. It tells the story of Natalia and her Grandfather mostly through stories that he imparted to her over the years most notably the story of The Deathless man and The Tiger's Wife. Both of them have strong elements of magical realism to them so if that is not your thing this book is not for you but I loved the fairy tale, myth, folk tale type vibe that was threaded through this book.
Yes it does jump about a bit in parts from the now back to various times in Granddad's life but once you got a paragraph or two into a chapter it was easy to work out where you were in the time line of things.
I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I had never heard of it before taking on this challenging and considering how many of the winners I have read so far that I never heard of before and turned out to be disappointing I was delighted to find this one bucked the tread and was a really excellent read.