The Tigers Wife: A Novel

[anthony]

Haven't lost interest at all Loloma... just haven't been well, then been sitting tests for counselling, and now playing catchup.

I sat down and read chapter 5, 6 & 7 this morning... WOW, I totally get what you're saying about it travelling all over the place. I actually got exactly that this morning, thinking about one of those movies that travels forward and back, and you have to pay close attention to the entire thing, otherwise you miss details.

I think the one chapter at a time is certainly a bit slow... but we have to try different things to find what works and what does not.

I was so thrilled to find out what the tigers wife was... so much dropped into place and made sense in chapter 7 for me.

My perception is that their side of the border is not well liked on the other, poorer sides... yet I felt that even Natalia's location was still poor in nature. Maybe something still missing, or that I missed, that it was them against others around them... but I thought it was based on the German invasion, so it screwed them all up, yet some weren't as badly affected as the others. Memory is a little vague today.

I have to say though, it is really coming into its own now that I've read through to chapter 7... I am going to just read the rest this weekend in one hit I think, so I grasp the full extent of the story with it switching back and forth, without having to go back and revisit some pages as done already to capture where I left of.

 

[Loloma]

Anthony, sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well. I sort of thought that was the case as it has been quiet from your side.

What makes the book a little difficult is that there is Natalia and her Grandfather both doctors and both in two different wars. The grandfather really doesn't speak for himself, as the his story is told by the granddaughter as well as her own.

You are right it there has been problems between Bosnia and Croatia even before they got these names. Another controversial subject was the multi-ethnic make up and the history of conflict that arose from it. Then there was religion and superstition that seemed to be very prevalent in the small villages. Most people like you said were extremely poor.

 

[anthony]

Wow... didn't even think about the religion aspects, nor was the superstitious discussion in the book at the top of my brain yesterday. Nice points... I forgot about the superstition portrayed within it, like the finding of the body of the uncle which was making the family sick, even though they were actually sick. I was really taken back from that in the book, even though it is fiction, lots of fiction has some truth to it.

I was just so tickled to know who the tigers wife was... the deaf mute girl. Like wow... did not see that one coming at all. I really loved how Natalia's grandmother also sent her across to help her, even though the rest of the village at that time was gossiping and rumour mongering about her being pregnant to the tiger itself and such.

I have to admit, I was a little sad that the village was picking on her so much, even knowing the torment her husband had put her through due to her father swapping her out at the wedding unbeknownst to him. That was just... mind blowing to fathom that turn of event. What an arsehole... yet she was no better I guess, running off with doctor who was treating her then selling his songs that appeared on radio some years later.

She was just a child though, 13 from memory, and her father gave her away to him through marriage, that he didn't even know it was her, not the older sister who he loved.

Am I reading it right, to assume the butcher is gay?

 

[KP the nut]

I think that the butcher is gay but obviously that is a huge no no in his culture. Maybe the only way he could get 'satisfaction' was by beating the cr*p out of his wife. Obviously very misguided, but to prove he is the big man.

yet she was no better I guess, running off with doctor who was treating her then selling his songs that appeared on radio some years later.

I think the doctor in question may be the 'deathless man'. I think he was described as a 'miracle worker', not a doctor. If I remember correctly, Death punished his nephew for sparing the life of a victim as he had fallen in love with her.

 

[anthony]

I did wonder whether that inference was towards him or not... though obviously I haven't read that far to determine such yet. Interesting KP...

That butcher certainly punished her for his feelings. That was sad actually... then how fast the town turned from being sympathetic towards her, the dirty secret of knowing what she was suffering in that household, to turning against her. Amazing how small towns work!!! Still to this day they haven't changed... gossip, gossip, gossip.

 

[KP the nut]

I think it comes back to superstition as well as gossip. People through the ages have mobbed what they don't understand. The volcano is erupting, the gods are angry, quick offer him a virgin, or witch hunts. People who are different, deaf on its own would be seen as bad but add mute as well and the kid didn't stand a chance.

It is hard to stand against the town in case you become the next target.

 

[Loloma]

Agree KP and Anthony. Small villages are all the same, Holland in like that I live in a tiny village and don't fit in at all. After I was here for a week everyone knew about the Aussie that had moved in.

I suppose in the small villages referred to in this book, the majority of people were very poor. They had been used to continual war and didn't know what or if they had anything to look forward to. Probably a combination of all the negatives made them all into a bunch of very unhappy suspicious people. Their only outlook was to gossip about each other and to find people to single out, that they could pick on.

In the beginning I felt sorry for the butcher, who grew up in a strong male dominated household, with a brutal father. Yes, he definitely was gay, although he tried his best to hide it. He had a chance to change his life and he took it, only to be let down badly by the only women he loved. He was tricked into marrying her deaf, dumb sister. Once again tradition was more important than anything else, certainly more than a person's feelings it seemed. This never entered the equation.

He tried his best to adapt to his life in the village, but eventually snapped turning into a very abusive unhappy man. I felt so sorry for his wife and what she had to put up with. She decided to spoil herself, and began to smile after his disappearance. The neighbours had a field day with all the innuendos and crazy remarks they made relating to her pregnancy. Will be interesting to find out who the father was.

 

[anthony]

Very interesting and valid point Loloma... feelings were disregarded over tradition. I guess if you live in that culture, then it's not strange. Then looking inwards from another culture, it is very strange to disregard feelings over tradition. Interesting point...

 

[anthony]

I was naughty... just finished the book. I have to say it is an interesting one... something I would not have read outside of something like a book club.

 

[Loloma]

Anthony, your not the only naughty one, I finished it this afternoon to. Very heavy reading, but I'm going to bed now its 12.30am here. Will comment on the chapter tomorrow. Have a nice day. :)

 

[anthony]

I just changed the original discussion on this, based on our other conversation about putting through our next book this month, so we start at the beginning of each month with one book.

So I shifted the rest of the books discussion from 9th March and am changing the next book to start 15th, ending end March, then one book per month... as the next book is minimalist.

 

[KP the nut]

I should finish it over the next 2 days.

I don't know what it says about my personality but I was more upset by the zoo animals dying in such terror than the children/orphans.

I'm up to the bit where Natalia and Grandfather are keeping vigil at the zoo and he is just about to start telling his last deathless man story.