Thursday, March 17, 2011

Freedom falls flat





After finishing Freedom it was pretty much a unanimous decision among my book group last night that we need a cracker read up next to make up for it. 
Not that it was a terrible book.... it was just more of a 'nothing' book to me. 550 pages of....well, not much. I realise that goes against the opinion of (quite) a few million people in the world but hey - you know a book isn't hitting home when a 'Cataclysmic Event' happens towards the end of said 550 pages and you're left stifling a yawn.
So, onwards and upwards! 
Our next pick is The Tiger's Wife, the debut novel by Belgrade-born Tea Obreht. The Economist's books blog Prospero gave it the thumbs up, saying: 
'The Tiger’s Wife considers 50 years of miasmal Balkan history from the 1940s to the 1990s, and it brims with the remixed and fictionalised personal experiences of this inquisitive young author. The resulting story, of a young doctor named Natalia, her family and their homeland, is highly original, funny and frightening, and a welcome addition to writing on the region.
'Natalia, living in the present day, works in an unnamed part of the region where the maps continue to change. She is grappling with the past: her grandfather, also a doctor, has died in mysterious circumstances. The stories he’s told her about their home eventually offer answers about his death. By interlacing Natalia’s experiences with two riveting tales from her grandfather—about a man who cannot die, and a tiger who escapes the zoo and wanders around indiscriminately hungry for his next meal—Ms Obreht deftly spans decades of Balkan history with all the imagination and passion of Gabriel García Márquez and Louis de Bernières.'
Something different - and I'm a little rusty on my Balkan history so bring it on. What are you reading?

4 comments:

evaf said...

I've been hearing a lot about this one. Keen to know what you think.

jason delamont said...

Wasn't some-one reading that book at Blowering Dam?

Rubyfire Writes said...

The Tiger's Wife - yes... me! Actually I gave it to Ange to read but think the campfire conversation was too exciting for her to concentrate on the book :)

jason.delamont said...

haha yeh, i had to move it a few times, it usaully ended up in my seat lol :)