The Tiger's Wife

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht has been waiting patiently in my TBR stack for some time now and must be awfully happened that the 2012 Tournament of Books shortlisted it, so I became motivated to unearth it and read it.

But I have to confess that I pretty much skimmed the last 50 pages. I feel guilty about that; CB recently had a good discussion on his blog about reviewing books you've skimmed. I only skimmed the last part. Normally I don't skim--I simply give up and toss the book aside. But I do really enjoy the ToB when I've read as many of the books as I can.

By now, you must have guessed that I'm not rooting for this one to win. Nope. Obreht can certainly write, especially evocative description, and the storyline involving the title character was often fascinating, but unfortunately, there were other storylines, and they never really coalesced for me. Nor were some of the other storylines all that interesting. The plots fell flat, the narrator was ultimately not someone I really wanted to spend time with--simply because she wasn't that interesting. 

I have to wonder how this book would have read with some strong editorial guidance, like in the good ol' days. Obreht was only 24 when it was published. There's plenty of talent there; maybe, as someone snarked on Twitter, I'd read another book by her when "she's not, you know, 24 anymore." 

I dunno. This is a book that's gotten a lot of attention and a lot of acclaim, and I have to wonder why. Potential is one thing, but it's not fully realized here. 

So, I've read 3 of the ToB candidates (besides this one, I've read The Sisters Brothers and State of Wonder. Since I also didn't like State of Wonder, I'm not off to a good start. I do have some of the other ToB books languishing around here, so will continue. 

On the other hand, feeling crabby about a particular book can make for an awfully fun ToB...

Comments

[Amy N.]

I skimmed the last 50 pages of Atlas Shrugged and don't feel even the slightest bit guilty. I think the author and the reader have a contract and rewarding a reader who has lasted through the entirety of your work with a rant so boring that it hurts isn't part of the contract. Pfft.

Meanwhile, The Tiger's Wife will return to the bottom of my pile.

[JoAnn]

I've been avoiding The Tiger's Wife for some time (not really sure why) and guess there won't be a change of position now. I've only read two books on the list... liked State of Wonder much better than you did, but The Sense of an Ending was one of my favorites last year.

[Amy Rea]

Amy N., I like the idea of the contract. No, Obreht didnt hold up her end of the deal.

JoAnn, I just started the Barnes today!