The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

This book was nothing like I expected! When I read the teaser for it I thought it sounded like a good mystery--a granddaughter seeking clues in the death of her grandfather. Once I began reading I did not find it a mystery but more of a family history. Still I did enjoy reading the book.
As a child I too used to spend time with my grandfather. Unfortunately he died when I was almost five but I really loved the time I spent with him. I see the author as also loving the time she spent with her grandfather and wanting to share his life with others. It took me a while to figure out where she was going with the story though until I realized where her story was set. Although never addressed by name, only towns, I realized it was taking place in the former Yugoslavia.  Then it began to make more sense.

 As part of one grad class I read a lot of books and stories set in this part of the world. Myth plays more of a role in modern Eastern Europe than it seems to do here in the US but it is important to recognize the symbolism of each myth.  Her grandfather’s love of the tiger is symbolic of the struggles of the land. These are strong people who overcome many adversities. The tiger is left to starve in the zoo, begins to eat his own legs, escapes, and finds solace in a deaf mute woman who needs his strength to help her survive an abusive husband.  The grandfather is orphaned as a child, lives with an unemotional grandmother, finds friendship with a person who cannot speak or hear him and retreats to The Jungle Book for his spiritual nourishment.  Later he meets and marries a woman (Muslim) and moves across the border to keep his family safe. 

 The deathless man is also a central character.  He says he has been forbidden to die and shows up at various times throughout the book.  At first meeting I thought he was the devil with whom the grandfather had made a deal representative of the Devil and Daniel Webster.  Later I came to believe he was more like the angel of death—there to help the dead cross over but not there to steal their souls.  When the grandfather’s belongings are retrieved the Jungle Book is not there. Since that was his “Bible”, he no longer needed it. It was also part of the deal with the deathless man that he would have the book upon his death.   

The one person I found most confusing was Natalia.  She is obviously a modern woman, a doctor in her own right, fiercely independent and willing to take chances—going off with another female doctor to help sick children, standing up to the men in the vineyard about child labor, driving across the border alone to retrieve her grandfather’s belongings and of course, following the old man up the hill after he retrieved the “heart”.  Still, I was never certain she fully got the relationships of the people about whom she wrote. Yes, she loved her grandfather.  Did she understand his relationship with the deathless man or the tiger’s wife?  Maybe?

While I am happy I read the book it did leave me with questions.  What purpose did the bear man serve?  Was he representative of groups that moved through the country during the wars?  The apothecary—was he there to promote religious tolerance or the show that the people were adaptable?  When the deathless man helped people cross over was that truly a death experience or was it too symbolic of the ways borders were drawn regardless of allegiances to towns, to people? 

I look forward to reading the interpretations of the rest of you about this book.  The symbolism I saw here may be totally different from you found.  Please comment so we can have a good discussion!