The Tiger's Wife

A Novel

By: Tea Obreht

Narrated by: Susan Duerden, Robin Sachs

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Award Finalist and New York Times best seller...

“Spectacular...[Téa Obreht] spins a tale of such marvel and magic in a literary voice so enchanting that the mesmerized reader wants her never to stop.” (Entertainment Weekly)

Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s 20 best American fiction writers under 40, has spun a timeless novel that will establish her as one of the most vibrant, original authors of her generation.

In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her - the legend of the tiger’s wife.

Named one of the best books of the year by: The Wall Street Journal, O: The Oprah Magazine; The Economist; Vogue; Slate; Chicago Tribune; The Seattle Times; Dayton Daily News; Publishers Weekly; Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered.

“Stunning...a richly textured and searing novel.” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

“[Obreht] has a talent for subtle plotting that eludes most writers twice her age, and her descriptive powers suggest a kind of channeled genius.... No novel [this year] has been more satisfying.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“Filled with astonishing immediacy and presence, fleshed out with detail that seems firsthand, The Tiger’s Wife is all the more remarkable for being the product not of observation but of imagination.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“That The Tiger’s Wife never slips entirely into magical realism is part of its magic.... Its graceful commingling of contemporary realism and village legend seems even more absorbing.” (The Washington Post)

©2011 Tea Obreht (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Stunning...a richly textured and searing novel.” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

“[Obreht] has a talent for subtle plotting that eludes most writers twice her age, and her descriptive powers suggest a kind of channeled genius.... No novel [this year] has been more satisfying.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“That The Tiger’s Wife never slips entirely into magical realism is part of its magic.... Its graceful commingling of contemporary realism and village legend seems even more absorbing.” (The Washington Post)

I am lost

I am not sure what's the Morality of this book other than the boring story of a woman/doctor. Also, it's hard to follow and not sure who are the characters in the book. maybe it's just not my type of story/book.

Unbelievable great!

I loved this book so much! I understood its setting, in the fragmented lands that were once united as Yugoslavia, the land of my own father, at once so beautiful and tragically war-torn. This story is captivating and lyrical and full of meaning drawn from lives steeped in folk tales and ruptured by war. It is incandescent and ends in joy and hope.

Is that all there is?

The story was haunting, but at the end I was left with feeling that nothing was complete. Did not love this book. Perhaps future works will resolve more.

Fantastic!

Besides its fairy-like atmosphere it talks about innate human qualities. It carries also a dense post-war atmosphere and the scent. It makes you think. It is written fantastically, with a great plot and incredible pace and good timing. She unravels her universe gradually and you never want her to stop.

Story & Style, Breathtaking

Astounded and delighted by Téa Obreht's Inland, I started the earlier, debut novel The Tiger's Wife with lowered expectaitons. Bam! She is a genius stylist. and Bam! she is a great teller of embeded stories. Until I looked up her bio, I had begun to think this teller of a Turkic tale was pseudonomynous Salman Rushdie (my favorite story-teller). Look up the bio yourself, she rivals Joseph Conrad for nimble use of English by a foreign-born author. It's not a ghost story, but there is a moving undead angle in this heart-felt tale of tales that play on a scrim of gauze over hints of senseless human war-wrought devastation.

All over

It did not capture me and struggled listening through the whole thing. It had a good skeleton I suppose but the meat just wasn’t there.

the deathless man stories are amazing

story drags a bit but a well written tale. stick around for the stories of the deathless man. the narrator does a terrific job.

Beautiful Writing, but not my cup of tea

Would you listen to The Tiger's Wife again? Why?

No. The story was very dark, sad, and tragic, but the author truly has a gift for writing.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Tiger's Wife?

I particularly liked the plot about the deathless man.

Who was the most memorable character of The Tiger's Wife and why?

Again, I like the deathless man. Interesting perspective of a character who is tortured because he can't die, can't form relationships, and can't tell people what he sees.

Any additional comments?

I don't understand why the narrators had British accents rather than Slavic accents? The story would have flowed better that way.

Wonderful Story and Narrator

This was a novel my bookclub picked out and I wasn't thrilled with the choice, but I was wrong. This book is really lovely. The words of the novel itself and the narrator do a wonderful job of transporting you to another place and time. The story is not linear, but it's interesting to follow and the perspective is unique in that the book almost takes you through time and place by following superstition. There is an element of the supernatural but not in the obvious way of the vampire-genre type books, but in a way that you can almost understand the motivations of the believers. Really excellent. The only reason I didn't give the book five starts is that the jumped around a bit too much in sections and some of the tangents were almost too tangential - I might have saved those words for more depth on the critical characters. It almost made the book seem intentionally over complex in parts, but really, a great read. Very highly recommended.

Left me unfulfilled!

This novel wraps several stories within stories, all which focus on the narrator's recently deceased Grandfather. These stories are all compelling each in their own right. They just don't seem to have conclusions worthy of the beauty and complexity of the tale.

The premise of this novel is wonderful. The Author does a rewarding job weaving these stories together in an interesting and compelling style. That is, until we get to the conclusion. I felt the last chapter and the final minutes were rushed, perhaps finished to meet some deadline. The conclusion left me feeling unfulfilled, It is a shame such an elegant work of fiction was plucked from the vine just before it was completely ripe. It's a tasty experience, but falls just a few millimeters short of reaching it's full potential.

Another point of contention is that the author sometimes gets too devoted to painting a landscape or setting the scene for us. Occasionally, I found myself wishing she would just get on with the story. I will concede, though, she is very artful with these overdeveloped descriptions. In true Audible form, the Narrators are exquisite.

I don't regret listening to "The Tiger's Wife" I just feel slightly unfulfilled by the conclusion.