I wouldn't have met Piti if it hadn't been for a chichigua. To translate chichigua as a kite does not do justice to these beautiful creations of...
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Obrecht's work is like a knife sparkling in the dark: intriguing, and at times macabre. Her narrative follows Natalia, a modern doctor tracking her dead grandfather across the rural, war-torn Balkan countryside. Natalie herself is an interloper, seeking out a single, certifiable truth, her very existence an affront to the guarded beliefs and customs of the people she treats. She is also from the wrong place, the compassionate victor treating the angry defeated. This realistic narrative is layered with the allegorical tales of the Tiger and the Deathless Man, two impossible creatures as told through the grandfather. The novel is an exercise in storytelling and subjective truths as much as it is an examination of those on the other side of history.
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I loved (and coveted) all of Bender's short stories, each of them quirky and fabulist. Bender excavates what she calls "the unconscious" through such characters as the boy born with fingers for keys, who goes through his life finding the doors he can unlock while simultaneously recovering his family history and acquiring his own family. Or the woman who becomes mother to a gaggle of potato children that insistently gestate in her kitchen, finding her own place in a community of neighbors and gardeners and lovers. These are stories of finding one's place and history, told via fairy tale.
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Jennifer Marquardt has commented on (2) products.
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Jennifer Marquardt, January 19, 2012
Obrecht's work is like a knife sparkling in the dark: intriguing, and at times macabre. Her narrative follows Natalia, a modern doctor tracking her dead grandfather across the rural, war-torn Balkan countryside. Natalie herself is an interloper, seeking out a single, certifiable truth, her very existence an affront to the guarded beliefs and customs of the people she treats. She is also from the wrong place, the compassionate victor treating the angry defeated. This realistic narrative is layered with the allegorical tales of the Tiger and the Deathless Man, two impossible creatures as told through the grandfather. The novel is an exercise in storytelling and subjective truths as much as it is an examination of those on the other side of history.(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Willful Creatures: Stories by Aimee Bender
Jennifer Marquardt, January 1, 2010
I loved (and coveted) all of Bender's short stories, each of them quirky and fabulist. Bender excavates what she calls "the unconscious" through such characters as the boy born with fingers for keys, who goes through his life finding the doors he can unlock while simultaneously recovering his family history and acquiring his own family. Or the woman who becomes mother to a gaggle of potato children that insistently gestate in her kitchen, finding her own place in a community of neighbors and gardeners and lovers. These are stories of finding one's place and history, told via fairy tale.(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)