Review: The Tiger's Wife

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was a really unusual book. It takes place in Eastern Europe somewhere, kind of like Croatia or Serbia, but the country is not identified. A young woman is traveling across the border to vaccinate children at an orphanage when she finds out her grandfather has died. She wants to retrieve his belongings and also to provide the vaccines, and as she does both she also reminisces about the stories her grandfather has told her about his childhood.

The stories are really unique - fairy-tale esque in a lot of ways. One about a woman who marries a tiger, and one about a man who doesn't die. They are interwoven into the modern-day storyline in pieces, as this woman comes to terms with her grandfather's death, and tries to understand what is happening in her country, besieged by war.

I liked this book because it was different. It wasn't the story itself or the allegories that I enjoyed so much as the surprise of reading something different than a linear narrative.



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