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The Tigers Wife
by
Téa Obreht
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ISBN13:
9780385343848
ISBN10:
0385343841
Condition:
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Awards
2011 Orange Prize Winner
4.9
51
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Average customer rating 4.9 (51 comments)
`
Val Mallinson
, October 27, 2014
I am enthralled by her intriguing mix of down to earth detail and supernatural story lines that blend beautifully together. For me, it's a slow book to savor.
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jdcaskey
, January 30, 2013
best book i read in 2012, even though published in 2011
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Darcie
, January 04, 2013
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.
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Mary S Neuendorf
, January 01, 2013
Intriguing story, plus a look at the aftermath of the struggles in the Balkans.
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Los Alamos Reader
, January 01, 2013
Simply engrossing on all levels. A unique first book.
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JoanB
, January 01, 2013
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.
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mariz
, January 01, 2013
(view all comments by mariz)
The Tiger's wife is among one of the best books I've read in the last few years. it reminded me of other Eastern European/Slavic stories, but seemed more real than most of them. I waited anxiously for a public library download and was rewarded for my patience. Life is challenging for the doctor and the reader sees the effects of political repression in people's daily lives. I was fascinated by characters filtered through the perceptions of the doctor's daughter--characters that might otherwise have repelled me. I found the novel to be unsentimental, but not devoid of feeling. Human foibles and endearing traits came to light through action rather than via verbiage as characters like my Slovene ancestors struggled to survive and make sense of their surroundings. All in all a very good read, that reminds Americans how hard we might have had it if our grandparents and great grandparents had stuck around for the 20th century instead of emigrating in search of new lives.
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Andi Agnew
, January 01, 2013
This was one of the best books I read in 2012, and one of the best books I've probably ever read. I love the stories-within-stories presented in this book. Sometimes I have trouble suspending belief and just going with a fantastic story, but The Tiger's Wife was easy to lose myself in.
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Lea Anna
, August 30, 2012
(view all comments by Lea Anna)
I can't believe this is the first book for Obreht, it's stunning. The way she weaves the present with family history and folklore is amazing. Maybe I'm just a sucker for that in a book, but she did it extremely well. The language is beautiful and the story haunts you in the best way possible. A great read!
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KMarie
, March 25, 2012
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A beauty of a book tying together multiple stories and lives. I was very impressed with Obreht's ability to cleanly bring out these stories, personalities, superstitions and emotions springing from death and war. You won't be able to put it down, so start it on a weekend!
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PCAnderson
, February 03, 2012
(view all comments by PCAnderson)
I don't understand all the buzz about this book. It is unique, yes. The writing is lyrical and evocative. Yet I found the contemporary story tedious and could not fathom the motivations of the main characters. The historical stories were somewhat more engaging but not enough that I didn't have to force myself to finish this book so that I could honestly tell my book group that yes, I finished it.
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kkc212
, January 20, 2012
Yes, it's as good as you've heard it is.
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len.thomas
, January 20, 2012
Wonderful writing, especially for a debut novel.
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Julie Hopson
, January 20, 2012
Loved this book. Although I own the book book, I ended up buying and listening to the audiobook version as I had a sudden car trip come up and I couldn't wait to see what all the hype was about. (The New York Times named it one of the ten best books of 2011.) Needless to say, the miles melted! There are two fabulous narrators and the story becomes more and more mesmerizing. It is much like a fairy tale for adults. And the writing is simply lovely.
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craig.gipson
, January 19, 2012
Obreht's writing is great to read; very talented. The various storylines within the plot are well done, though they might have been more tied together.
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OnTheRidge
, January 19, 2012
An amazing first novel by a prodigious talent! I can't wait for Obreht's next tour de force.
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Marissa Misslin
, January 19, 2012
So Good!
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Jennifer Marquardt
, January 19, 2012
(view all comments by Jennifer Marquardt)
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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missandreajade
, January 19, 2012
The unnamed Balkan region that exists in Obreht's first full-length novel seems a place out of time. That could be because the author, born in 1985 (yes, really) is from the former Yugoslavia but has lived in America since the age of 12. She writes of the war and of peddlers and orphanages and villages in a way that seems, impossibly, young and old at the same time. This blending of worlds courses beneath the text in a constant undercurrent. We have here the dichotomy of science and superstition, which can be attributed to the struggle between poverty-stricken Old World villages and hospital-laden New World cities. There are two main facets to the story: the present day, where our main character, Natalia, is providing inoculations and emergency aid to children from "over the border" in the town of Brejevina; and an interwoven, all-encompassing back story which threads in and out of time to tell the story of her grandfather, a doctor, a scholar, a man of stories, a man who kept an over-worn copy of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" in the front pocket of his shirt for most of his life. There are two major stories-within-stories in this novel, one entitled "The Tiger's Wife," and the other "The Deathless Man." Both have elements of fantasy - the wife who fell in love with a tiger, the man who couldn't die because his uncle was Death - but as told through the grandfather, a man of science but also of heart, we feel his inability to completely believe or disbelieve, a gray area which invites the reader to join in the unknowing. It never completely veers into magical realism because it never asks you to fully suspend reality. We are left, like Natalia, to ruminate on stories and clues, to put the pieces together ourselves, and to realize that the grandfather had it planned this way all along. Fans of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jorge Luis Borges and even Colum McCann will find much to enjoy here. One part historical fiction, one part war memoir, one part bildungsroman, one part fairy tale, this layered, full and complex story will require concentration, skepticism and a healthy dose of soul from its reader.
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apaulson
, January 19, 2012
a refreshing and thoughtful read
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Lee Casaleggio
, January 19, 2012
The future of the written word is in capable, caring hands.
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lindavis
, January 19, 2012
(view all comments by lindavis)
Nothing I picked up this past year engaged me more than this novel, written by a woman that is way too young to be writing such polished, wise prose. My writer-jealousy-barometer was off the charts.
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NJKathy
, January 19, 2012
Beautifully written combo of the fantastic, the personal, and the political.
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Ruby the cat
, January 18, 2012
A great book that is NOT about Tiger Woods's ex-wife. I was resisting it, and then I was sucked into the story and couldn't put it down. There's a tiger and a wife and a deathless man, and other wonderful characters.
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richiedunn
, January 13, 2012
(view all comments by richiedunn)
This book is spectacular. Hands down the best book of 2011! I would recommend this to anyone.
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richiedunn
, January 13, 2012
(view all comments by richiedunn)
great book
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Bradley Sides
, January 06, 2012
(view all comments by Bradley Sides)
Obreht's novel is masterful from beginning to end. Sensationally charged with hints of mythology, magic, and the essence of what it means to be a part of a family, this is the best book of 2011. Hands down.
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rsamurai12
, January 05, 2012
(view all comments by rsamurai12)
A wonderful book
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zellarelli
, January 04, 2012
(view all comments by zellarelli)
A beautiful, lyrical book that kept me engaged from beginning to end.
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lwad61
, January 03, 2012
(view all comments by lwad61)
Tea Obreht's lyrical and touching first novel is magical realism at its best--and in the Balkans! The love and regard between the grandfather and his granddaughter is a felt presence. Beautiful book.
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Deb Baker
, January 03, 2012
(view all comments by Deb Baker)
Review from my blog, bookconscious, which you can find at wordpress.com I’m a fan of magical realism, perhaps because as a Spanish and English double major, I took a contemporary Latin American literature class in college and got a taste of some of the early masters of this literary technique (In Spanish! I marvel at that now). I especially enjoy elements of magical realism that blend with political and social history. I would like to make a bold statement here and say that The Tiger’s Wife is among the best examples of this kind of writing I have ever read. Set in a Balkan country after the war of the 1990′s, the story is told by a young doctor, Natalia. Through Natalia’s recollections, readers learn about her beloved grandfather, himself a doctor, who has recently died alone in a town now part of a different country. Through the stories he told her as a child and the things she learns as she searches for clues to his solitary death and possible last encounter with a mysterious man who seems immortal, Natalia pieces together a story from her grandfather’s boyhood, one he never told her. There’s no way I can do justice to this phenomenal novel in a few sentences. The writing is excellent: vivid, but clean, and as my grandmother would say, there’s not one thing that doesn’t belong. The story is incredible; full of cultural and historical detail, fully imagined, and as I said before, complex and nuanced. By the end of the novel you feel as if you’ve finished a complicated puzzle, or solved a hard cross-word, or stitched the pieces of a pattern perfectly so that not a thread is out of place, and the seams match exactly as they should. Everything falls into place, but artfully, subtly; there are no clanking gears (one critique of Simon’s book is that her book’s pieces fit together rather noisily). The Tiger’s Wife is about human experience. It’s about love, about family and war and inhumanity and suffering and finally, hope. It’s a book about memory and myth and their intersection, time and mortality and healing. But it’s also a good yarn; a story (several interwoven stories, really) you could read aloud by the fireside, if you were so inclined. I suspect anyone listening would beg you to go on a little longer.
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sawinsor
, January 02, 2012
The book is set in a Balkan country after war. It is the story of a woman and her grandfather - and also legends and magic. "The Jungle Book" is a central theme. The writing, to me, was amazing - I so hope she publishes another book soon.
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bellefille
, January 01, 2012
An amazing book by a great young author!
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Doreen Sawicki
, January 01, 2012
I liked the mystical, two world atmosphere.
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Nancy Laws
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Nancy Laws)
Really enjoyed the complexity of the this novel. Thought the relationship of the granddaughter and her grandfather was very real. I also liked the use of folk heroes and stories to fill in the background. This is really an outstanding effort from a very young author.
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Jonathan F
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Jonathan F)
Like a lot of people, I didn’t want to buy into the “hype” surrounding the youngest of the New Yorker’s “20 under 40” writers, but Obreht’s novel is wonderful. Set during the aftermath of the Balkan wars, the story skirts the edge of “magical realism,” mixing mythology and family history into a story of a young doctor grieving the death of her grandfather. It's a book that I wish I could read again for the first time.
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Sam Hankins
, January 01, 2012
It's a beautiful, compact novel full of genuine human emotion and delicious prose.
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writer_rider
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by writer_rider)
One of the best examples of a writer shifting points of view and places in time that I have ever read -- the magic realism is handled equally as well. Obreht's writing is clear and concise -- the imagery is rich -- every word counts. I was drawn into this book immediately and wanted it to last, but read it all over two days of vacation. Well worth the read.
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EmilyEm
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by EmilyEm)
A doctor’s granddaughter explores the secrets of her grandfather’s life, why a copy of 'The Jungle Book' was always in his jacket pocket and the meaning of his lifelong passion for tigers. Two stories, the granddaughter’s set in a time after the recent conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and her grandfather’s early in the 20th century are woven seamlessly. Her characters and characterizations are richly drawn. It’s a book steeped in its time and place, lyrically written. An amazing first book.
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salemreader
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by salemreader)
Lyrical narrative of young medical resident Natalia piecing together memories of her grandfather, vivid Balkan folklore and realities of post-war Balkans. Recommend John Vaillant's The Tiger for nonfiction companion to this novel.
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Coco Nelson
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Coco Nelson)
Packed this book (about which I knew nothing) for a summer trip to Croatia. Was surprised and delighted by the strangeness inside.
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Sirah
, January 01, 2012
I was drawn in by the layers of myth and mystery. The "deathless man" and his request for water; the Lion; the diggers; and Natalia's search for "something lost", an orphan's search, all involve the reader in a place and time when life was uncertain and war was a spectre.
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Robin Barton-Smith
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Robin Barton-Smith)
Not all books challenge your world view and fascinate you simultaneously. This one did! And the fact that it was written by such a young woman is astounding. Images and ideas from this book haunt you long after you've read it.
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Martha Stewart
, January 01, 2012
a journey of pure imagination, wonderfully written with fully created characters AND a satisfactory ending
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Petie
, January 01, 2012
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Magical book, beautifully written.
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Kate Keller
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Kate Keller)
Loved this book. Great intertwining of stories, veering on fantasy, and a large cast of characters.
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Elizabeth Caesar
, January 01, 2012
Soaring elegance --how else can The Tigers Wife be described?.
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Rebecca Jane Johnson
, January 01, 2012
As soon as I finished reading The Tiger's Wife, I went back to start reading it a second time.
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Leo Vleugels
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Leo Vleugels)
A wonderful tale, skillfully told, complex and humane, secretive and yet open. Surely my best read this year.
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Risa Mish
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Risa Mish)
This book, for me, was a case of Saving the Best for Last -- my final read of 2011 turned out to be my favorite. Ms. Obreht skillfully weaves fable with contemporary commentary in a way that avoids preciousness and preachiness, and yet makes a case for the lasting power of myth. Brava!
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AmberR
, December 20, 2011
(view all comments by AmberR)
This is a brilliant story. A must read....
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Product Details
ISBN:
9780385343848
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
11/01/2011
Publisher:
Random House Inc
Language:
English
Pages:
353
Height:
8.00
Width:
5.25
Thickness:
1.00
LCCN:
2011456962
Grade Range:
] A”—
Copyright Year:
2011
Author:
Téa Obreht
Author:
Tea Obreht
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
$9.95
List Price:
$18.00
Used Trade Paperback
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New, Trade Paperback, $18.00
Used, Trade Paperback, $10.95
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