Book Four: The Tiger's Wife

“In my earliest memory, my grandfather is bald as a stone and he takes me to see the tigers.”

Rating: Tyler Hansbrough 

This is a hard book to rate, because although I thought it dragged at points, and although I was close to giving up on this book and not finishing it, I loved the ending. Obreht won me over by the end, and I'll walk away from this novel with mixed feelings, I think. It had all the pieces to be an amazing novel, a compelling story, a death, intensity, and character's who are unforgettable, but for some reason, it never connected for me. Natalia's story is cleverly woven in with the story of her grandfather's childhood and his interactions with the "deathless man" as an adult.

I'll have to say, it is masterfully written. The book seems much longer than the 340ish pages that it actually is, and although at points I didn't know if it was worth finishing, I'm glad that I stuck with the story. The interactions with the "deathless man" were my favorite parts of this novel, and I think that they're what really drew me into this story and made it impossible for me to leave. I know that these interactions weren't meant to be the part of the story on which you focused, the part that drew you in, but I loved him. Even as an adult, something about the magical idea of a man continually finding Natalia's grandfather at different junctures in his life, always at a time when he (the deathless man) should be dying, or at points where Natalia's grandfather himself is hugging the line between life and death was so appealing to me. That this man claims to have survived through a drowning, and multiple shootings (and as far as we can tell, he has), to tell the tale and to teach Natalia's grandfather a lesson about faith and about life. I was fascinated by the deathless man's character, and I could have read an entire book filled with his story.  

I wasn't nearly as taken with the episodes recounted from Natalia's grandfather's youth with the Tiger's Wife. The way that her story wove in to the episodes of the deathless man were masterful, and I truly felt for that woman, but it just didn't spark for me.

I think what I'll remember most when looking back on this novel is the deep achy sadness that settled in my chest when I was finished. I feel like I need to sit down with a friend, have a cup of tea (this book put me a bit off of coffee) and have a long talk about it. 

I don't think I'll ever read this all the way through again. It was an interesting story, but it was too long and too hard of a read for me to want to relive the entire experience. It's a rewarding read however, and it really sticks in your imagination.