‘The Tiger’s Wife’ by Tea Obreht

The Tiger's Wife is remarkable in so many ways that just listing them all seems an especially daunting task. The novel was awarded the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction last year, making then twenty-five-year-old author Tea Obreht the youngest woman ever to take the prize, a feat made all the more impressive by the strong competition she fought off in the process - Emma Donoghue's Room and Great House by Nicole Krauss were also shortlisted. A clearly overwhelmed Obreht accepted the prize in London on June 8th, 2011, to a rapturous reception from those in attendance.

The Tiger's Wife is set in an unnamed country in the Balkans and details a young doctor's relationship with her grandfather and the great many fairy tale-like stories he shares with her. One of the most enduring of these tales is that of the deathless man, a seemingly immortal being who he meets several times over the years. Another tale she remembers well is that of a deaf-mute girl from her grandfather's childhood village who befriends a tiger that has escaped from captivity, thus earning herself the title 'the tiger's wife.' The bulk of the novel was written while Obreht was studying at Cornell University, and excerpts of it were published in The New Yorker in June 2009. When asked by a journalist to summarise The Tiger's Wife, Obreht stated: 'Its a family saga that takes place in a fictionalised province of the Balkans. Its about a female narrator and her relationship to her grandfather, who's a doctor. Its a saga about doctors and their relationships to death throughout all these wars in the Balkans.'

Obreht was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in September 1985, with the Yugoslav Wars taking her family to places such as Cyprus and Egypt before she and her mother settled in the United States when Obreht was twelve. Obreht, who was born Tea Bajraktarevic, decided to write under her grandfather's surname as per his dying wish. Obreht's close relationship with her grandfather was clearly instrumental in the development of The Tiger's Wife, and the book is touchingly dedicated to him.

The Tiger's Wife is one of those books that I have been meaning to read for quite some time, particularly since it won the 2011 Orange Prize. It might not be for everyone, particularly those who like their reading material fast-paced and comprising more twists than a Curly Wurly, but I enjoyed it unreservedly. In fact, my enjoyment of the novel was only enhanced by the fact that it is so different from my 'usual' fare - I cannot easily liken it to anything else I have ever read. The book reads as though it were written and published long before 2011, and I mean this in the most complimentary way. The prose feels timeless and almost mythical, and I can certainly see why the Orange Prize judges were so utterly charmed by it. As far as debuts go, this one is pretty solid, and I am quite literally shaking in my Doc Martens. This is truly an interesting read.

This piece was originally published on alisonlaurabell.tumblr.com in January 2012.