The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

The Balkans, 1941. As German bombs fall, a tiger escapes from his zoo and heads to a ridge above the village of Galina. His nocturnal visits hold the villagers in terrified thrall. But for one boy, the tiger is a thing of magic – Shere Khan awoken from the pages of Jungle Book.

Natalia is the granddaughter of that boy. Now a doctor, she is visiting orphanages after another war has devastated the Balkans, when she hears of her beloved grandfather’s death.

From fragments of stories told to her as a child, Natalia realises her grandfather may have died searching for the immortal ‘deathless man’. Struggling to understand why a man of science would undertake such a quest, she stumbles upon a clue that will lead her to the extraordinary story of the tiger’s wife.

The Tiger's Wife filled a two month slot for our book club as it was considered a challenging read and it worked well for us not to rush this one. As quite often happens with this style of literature, our scores swung widely from 3 to 8 stars. There will always be someone who finds something where others find nothing. A good motto for a book club!

To break it down ... most enjoyed the writing, language and description, but many also agreed that there were too many words and the continuity was a bit awkward at times. Everyone found the significance in the contrast between medicine and supersition which was very powerful in the cultural identity of the people. A strong theme and important to the overall impact of this book.

The characters did not appeal and they were hardly discussed, but the history thread kept us interested even though the protagonists became lost in the lives of the people and bogged down in their superstition.

As a group we do enjoy a challenge and this young writer's style and effort was appreciated by us.