Susan Nussbaum's debut novel, winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, is, as Rosellen Brown says, "a celebration of...
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Darcie, January 4, 2013 (view all comments by Darcie)
This book was amazing! It was very beautifully written. The plot held your attention and the transitions between past and present were smooth and added to the plot.
JoanB, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by JoanB)
This book was very beautifully written. The young author is an amazing storyteller able to combine folkloric, realistic, and magical realism elements into an unforgettable tale, with elements of ethnic conflict from the Serbo-Croatian war seamlessly interwoven with a young woman's search for the circumstances of her grandfather's death and a gripping legend about the peasant woman who (possibly - who knows?)became the tiger's wife. Drama, suspense, great characterizations, and gifted prose combine for a delightful read.
Product details
368 pages
Random House Trade -
English9780385343848
Reviews:
"Staff Pick"
by Michal D.,
The postwar chaos in the Balkans provides the backdrop for Obreht's superbly crafted debut. A young physician seeks to unravel the mystery that surrounds both her grandfather's death and the mystifying Deathless Man he encountered throughout his adult life. Mesmerizing and wholly original, The Tiger's Wife is a profoundly rewarding read.
by Michal D.
"Staff Pick"
by Dianah,
Part mystery, part folktale, part dark fable, The Tiger's Wife is wholly original. Set in the Balkans, this atmospheric novel follows a young doctor who works in an orphanage and has just lost her grandfather. Trying to make sense of his death, Natalia begins to unravel the meaning behind twin folktales — The Deathless Man and The Tiger's Wife, both unbelievable yet seemingly true — that seem to be entwined with her grandfather's life and death. Told again and again to Natalia by her grandfather, these stories of his youth become her stories, as well; every opaque and muddy sentence becomes a link to her grandfather. Obreht is the youngest author named as one of the New Yorker's Best 20 Writers Under 40, as well as the National Book Foundation's Best 5 Under 35. At 25, her ability to write The Tiger's Wife is astonishing. A seasoned and mature writer would be hard pressed to match the scope and lyricism of Obreht's debut book. Moody, pensive, and shadowy, yet at the same time positively radiant, The Tiger's Wife should not be missed.
by Dianah
"Review"
by Publishers Weekly, Starred Review,
"[A] brilliant debut…[Tea] Obreht is an expert at depicting history through aftermath, people through the love they inspire, and place through the stories that endure; the reflected world she creates is both immediately recognizable and a legend in its own right. Obreht is talented far beyond her years, and her unsentimental faith in language, dream, and memory is a pleasure."
"Review"
by Library Journal, Starred Review,
"Dizzyingly nuanced yet crisp, [and] muscularly written…This complex, humbling, and beautifully crafted debut from one of The New Yorker's 20 Under 40 is highly recommended for anyone seriously interested in contemporary fiction."
"Review"
by O: The Oprah Magazine,
"Deftly walks the line between the realistic and the fantastical…In Obreht's expert hands, the novel’s mythology, while rooted in a foreign world, comes to seem somehow familiar, like the dark fairy tales of our own youth, the kind that spooked us into reading them again and again…[Reveals] oddly comforting truths about death, belief in the impossible, and the art of letting go."
"Review"
by T. C. Boyle,
"A novel of surpassing beauty, exquisitely wrought and magical. Tea Obreht is a towering new talent."
"Synopsis"
by Random House,
When The New Yorker ran an excerpt of The Tiger's Wife in its 2009 Fiction issue, it was clear an astonishing new talent had arrived in the world of contemporary fiction.
The time: the present. The place: a Balkan country ravaged by years of conflict. Natalia, a young doctor, is on a mission of mercy to an orphanage when she receives word of her beloved grandfather’s death far from their home under circumstances shrouded in confusion. Remembering childhood stories her grandfather once told her, Natalia becomes convinced that he spent his last days searching for "the deathless man," a vagabond who claimed to be immortal. As Natalia struggles to understand why her grandfather, a deeply rational man, would go on such a farfetched journey, she stumbles across a clue that leads her to the extraordinary story of the tiger’s wife.
An involving mystery, an emotionally riveting family story, and a wondrous evocation of an unfamiliar world, The Tiger's Wife is a brilliant novel.
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