'The Tiger's Wife' by Tea Obreht

The Tiger’s Wife, Tea Obreht (3.5)

Tea Obreht is now known as one of The New Yorker’s twenty best American fiction writers under 40 (she wrote this at 25).  It has several unique characteristics.  Firstly it is set during and after the Yugoslav Wars.  It is not clear where it is set and which ‘side’ the protagonists represent.  Which is, frankly, very typical of that time – very intertwined and hard for many in the West to understand who is ‘bad’ and who is ‘good’.  It also has the feel of a Grimm’s fairy tale sprinkled throughout.  In many of the stories the main character, Natalia, hears, there are bits of fantastical events. Tea interleaves these as Natalia researches her beloved grandfather’s past.  The joy in this book is in the poignancy of these stories. My only complaint is that the story of the Tiger’s Wife felt abruptly added.  The flow of the book was halted and that story began.  It was very important, but you didn’t realize that till the end.  Given that, the book is very different and enjoyable. I felt I had gotten a look into every day life in a post war Balkan country along with the flavor of a mystical culture.