 and I realize even though I have not known it that when it comes to my uncle all their fears are the same and all their fears are terrible. Welcome to Church of the Chair where we love stories within stories. I'm your host E and today we're marrying a tiger. Today we're talking about The Tiger's Wife by Tia O'Brett. If I got that name pronunciation wrong I do apologize. The Tiger's Wife takes place over quite a long timeline but it is told in a first person close narrative about this woman who has become a doctor whose grandfather took her to the zoo all the time, shared loads of stories with her who he also was a doctor. There is so much to love about this book but I want to preface this with this is probably not going to be most of my viewers cup of tea. The reason for that is not much happens in the book it's very heavy on theme and it's kind of light on character. I didn't get much of a feel for the characters inner workings their inner thoughts it was more of and they weren't caricatures that's not what I'm getting at. What I'm trying to say is that she doesn't go deep into character development no one really changes throughout the course of the story and while we do follow the grandfather from nine years old all the way up until the point of his death we still don't have a good feel for him other than the way he interacted with other people and I like to get a little more about people than just what other people feel about them so it's not really a criticism for me I'm not taking off any stars it didn't hinder my enjoyment I absolutely love the book I'm going to give it five stars for those of you that don't want to hang around for the rest of the review but it is definitely literary fiction it won the national sorry it was a national book award finalist shortlisted back in 2011 um and it's just one of those books that I'm continuing my journey trying to read all of the national book awards finalists and winners this one this one feels like something special and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get that across if you're a fan of books like The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson and you love books with stories inside stories inside stories books that are basically a Russian nesting doll of stories you're going to love this book the reason I say that is not only do we get a first person narrative from the main character Natalia but we also get her grandfather's the flashbacks to her grandfather's uh early childhood his coming of age all the way up until the point of his death and on top of that we get the stories from the other villagers that were in the same little community as the grandfather you have multiple different perspectives but all told by that first person narrator which I really loved it gave this sense that I was just listening to someone tell a story about a story and I love stuff like that I'm a big Stephen King fan I'm a huge fan of The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson and if you're into those kind of things definitely check this one out now I want to talk a little bit about what happens in the book right out the jump it opens up with Natalia going with her grandfather to the zoo and they see a tiger the tiger becomes a staple of the I don't want to say plot but the but the story revolves around the tiger and it's one point in time the tiger's wife which is not exactly it's not literal there is a woman who is married to a man and it is assumed that that man is killed by a tiger and the tiger hangs around after that so the villagers start calling her the tiger's wife there is also and this is the more important one throughout the entire story we're told about the deathless man a person that Natalia's grandfather had bumped into numerous times in his life they made a bet for a certain item and it's it's one of those things where it feels like death is is following this character and just waiting for its moment now I'm not saying that's exactly what happens but that's what it feels like it feels throughout the book like we are just counting down to the grandfather's death and of course he does pass away that's in the description of the book and that's also right where the book begins after the cold open with the flashback to the zoo that they went to and you the introduction to the tiger we flash forward into the grandfather's death and how no one knows no one knew that he was dying no one knew right off the bat where he had died and we are told through his life story what might have happened to him I really loved and enjoyed the concept and the execution of the death the deathless man I love the way he was put into the story but there's something I need to bring up don't expect too many twists and turns or or too many explanations this one is very much like night film it's going to leave you questioning quite a bit toward the end you can I love stories like this because then you can form your own opinion of what happened and that's what I believe tia o'bret did so well in this one was give you just enough information to put the puzzle pieces together but at the same time not everyone is going to come to the same conclusion as maybe I did or anyone else has I love books like that and that's one of the main reasons I'm giving this one five stars other than the story within a story aspect my personal favorite story within this story is the story of the blacksmith in fact I have a note in the back of the book that says chapter a chapter for the death of the blacksmith lol now even though I just told you that that character dies you're not going to see it coming I promise you that that's why I decided to say it right up front it was very very funny I got a kick out of it and there is a lot of subtle humor in this book especially in the dialogue between the deathless man and Natalia's grandfather crossroads are where the paths of life meet where life changes now while there isn't a lot of character development in this book there there is no growth of the characters it's pretty much a static image of these characters what they've been through stated plainly there is an awful lot of description of people places all of that especially when we enter a new place you get the entire painting of that area while sometimes I'm not in the mood for that type of thing I was definitely in the mood for this this time it's one of those stories that felt magical even though it is rooted in in realism while also having awesome themes and ideas like the deathless man and the tiger's wife at one point in time the villagers think of the tiger as the devil so we're jumping into superstition and all that and by the end of the book you are questioning what is real what is real and what is fable what is what is fiction and I love books like that also this one fired on all cylinders for me and I would love for you guys to read it but at the same time I would completely understand if all of you absolutely hated this book because it is slow there's not a lot of action but the themes are on point and I love a good message and this one had one that it was just chef's kiss in the end all you want is for someone to long for you when it comes time to put you in the ground what we don't get much of in this book is the reflection or the mourning of the grandfather after the main character finds out that the grandfather has passed away again it's not a spoiler it happens it's the it's the second chapter in the book and it's also mentioned in the back of the book so we don't get a whole lot as far as the character's feelings how the characters react to certain things and everyone in the book was rather dry and some some are combative some are you know just pacify the people they are talking to there is also a lot of odd interactions especially between the grandfather and the deathless man my favorite interaction in that vein was the deathless man is imprisoned at one point in time and the grandfather is talking to him through a door and I got I got a kick out of that just their dialogue back and forth so another thing I would say is if you love good dialogue this is this is definitely a book to pick up I loved the diggers every chapter with them in it was what it was very interesting and the little story there about the body that they're trying to find that was another high point for me and the more I think about it the more I talk about it the more once again this book is special to me it is that magic of storytelling when an author can make nothing happening interesting when they can make a story around no action no drama no real character development and kind of iffy pacing when you can keep my attention even though you have none of those things I gotta give the author credit but again I I completely understand if you guys read this book and are mad at me become mad at me because you know I told you to read it but just go in knowing what I have said go in for the themes go in for the mystery and magic of it all and just have a good time well that's all the time I have for you today sorry this review was a little all over the place but when I enjoy a book this much I don't know what to say without just giving you loads of spoilers if you're interested in a spoiler talk for this book I would love to do that for you but only if you guys want it so have you read the tiger's wife by Tia O'bret if you have let me know what you thought of it down there in the doobly-doo but until next time I'll hail the chair