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==Story==
==Story==
''The Tiger's Wife'' is set in an unnamed Balkan country, in the present and half a century ago, and features a young doctor's relationship with her grandfather and the stories he tells her, primarily about the 'deathless man' who meets him several times in different places and never changes, and a deaf-mute girl from his childhood village who befriends a tiger that has escaped from a zoo. It was largely written while she was at Cornell,<ref>Flanagan, Mark. [http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/authorprofiles/p/Tea-Obreht.htm "Tea Obreht"]. ''Contemporary Literature''. About.com. Retrieved 28 March 2011.</ref> and excerpted in ''The New Yorker'' in June 2009.<ref>Lee, Stephan (4 March 2011). [http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/03/04/tea-obreht-interview "Téa Obreht, author of 'The Tiger's Wife,' on craft, age, and early success" (interview)]. ''Entertainment Weekly''. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.</ref> Asked to summarize it by a university journalist, Obreht replied, "It's a family saga that takes place in a fictionalized province of the Balkans. It’s about a female narrator and her relationship to her grandfather, who's a doctor. It's a saga about doctors and their relationships to death throughout all these wars in the Balkans."<ref name=Sun>Hamilton, Ted (25 March 2009). [http://web.archive.org/web/20120307133642/http://cornellsun.com/node/36204 "Student Artist Spotlight: Tea Bajraktarevic"]. ''Cornell Daily Sun''. Archived 7 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>
''The Tiger's Wife'' is set in an unnamed Balkan country, in the present and half a century ago, and features a young doctor's relationship with her grandfather and the stories he tells her, primarily about the 'deathless man' who meets him several times in different places and never changes, and a deaf-mute girl from his childhood village who befriends a tiger that has escaped from a zoo. It was largely written while she was at Cornell,<ref name=About>Flanagan, Mark. [http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/authorprofiles/p/Tea-Obreht.htm "Tea Obreht"]. ''Contemporary Literature''. About.com. Retrieved 28 March 2011.</ref> and excerpted in ''The New Yorker'' in June 2009.<ref>Lee, Stephan (4 March 2011). [http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/03/04/tea-obreht-interview "Téa Obreht, author of 'The Tiger's Wife,' on craft, age, and early success"] (interview). ''Entertainment Weekly''. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.</ref> Asked to summarize it by a university journalist, Obreht replied, "It's a family saga that takes place in a fictionalized province of the Balkans. It’s about a female narrator and her relationship to her grandfather, who's a doctor. It's a saga about doctors and their relationships to death throughout all these wars in the Balkans."<ref name=Sun>Hamilton, Ted (25 March 2009). [http://web.archive.org/web/20120307133642/http://cornellsun.com/node/36204 "Student Artist Spotlight: Tea Bajraktarevic"] (interview). ''Cornell Daily Sun''. Archived 7 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>


==Reception==
==Reception==
The press reception has been good. The poet [[Charles Simic]] wrote in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'' giving his endorsement to the view that "this is a remarkable first novel." He went on to say: "Téa Obreht is an extraordinarily talented writer, skilled at combining different types of narrative — from objective depiction of events to stories mixing the fabulous and the real — in a way that brings to mind the novels of [[Mikhail Bulgakov]], [[Gabriel García Márquez]], and [[Milorad Pavić (writer)|Milorad Pavić]], the Serbian author of ''[[Dictionary of the Khazars]]''.<ref>Simic, Charles (26 May 2011). [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/may/26/weird-beauty-well-told-tale/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=May+26+2011+issue&utm_content=May+26+2011+issue+CID_ce53b4c1cccb30d2e8e6564cc6 "The Weird Beauty of the Well-Told Tale"]. ''NYRB'' (nybooks.com). 26 May 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.</ref> According to the ''[[New Zealand Herald]]'', "Reviewers have praised Obreht's vibrant imagery and skilful interweaving of fact and folklore, ritual and superstition. British paper the ''[[Sunday Times]]'' dubbed her 'a compelling new voice'; its rival the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' 'a natural born storyteller'."<ref name="NZ_Herald_10723781">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10723781 |title=Introducing The Tiger's Wife |author=Sheehy, Christine |date=6 May 2011 |newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |accessdate=22 November 2011}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' reviewer Liesl Schillinger praised the novel, saying it was "filled with astonishing immediacy and presence, fleshed out with detail that seems firsthand."<ref>{{cite news |last=Schillinger|first=Liesl|title=A Mythic Novel of the Balkan Wars|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/books/review/book-review-the-tigers-wife-by-tea-obreht.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema2&pagewanted=all|accessdate=11 March 2011|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=11 March 2011}}</ref>
The press reception has been good. The poet [[Charles Simic]] wrote in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'' giving his endorsement to the view that "this is a remarkable first novel." He went on to say: "Téa Obreht is an extraordinarily talented writer, skilled at combining different types of narrative — from objective depiction of events to stories mixing the fabulous and the real — in a way that brings to mind the novels of [[Mikhail Bulgakov]], [[Gabriel García Márquez]], and [[Milorad Pavić (writer)|Milorad Pavić]], the Serbian author of ''[[Dictionary of the Khazars]]''.<ref name=simic>Simic, Charles (26 May 2011). [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/may/26/weird-beauty-well-told-tale/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=May+26+2011+issue&utm_content=May+26+2011+issue+CID_ce53b4c1cccb30d2e8e6564cc6 "The Weird Beauty of the Well-Told Tale"]. ''NYRB'' (nybooks.com). Retrieved 10 May 2011.</ref> According to the ''[[New Zealand Herald]]'', "Reviewers have praised Obreht's vibrant imagery and skilful interweaving of fact and folklore, ritual and superstition. British paper the ''[[Sunday Times]]'' dubbed her 'a compelling new voice'; its rival the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' 'a natural born storyteller'."<ref name=sheehy>{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10723781 |title=Fiction Addiction: Introducing The Tiger's Wife |author=Sheehy, Christine |date=6 May 2011 |newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |accessdate=22 November 2011}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' reviewer Liesl Schillinger praised the novel, saying it was "filled with astonishing immediacy and presence, fleshed out with detail that seems firsthand."<ref name=schillinger>{{cite news |last=Schillinger|first=Liesl|title=A Mythic Novel of the Balkan Wars|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/books/review/book-review-the-tigers-wife-by-tea-obreht.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema2&pagewanted=all|accessdate=11 March 2011|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=11 March 2011}}</ref>


''The Tiger's Wife'' won the prestigious British [[Orange Prize for Fiction]] in 2011. The annual prize, recognising "excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world", then included £30,000 cash and the "Bessie", a limited edition bronze figurine. At 25 years, 9 months when the prize was announced, Obreht was the youngest winner (1996–2012).<ref name=2011-orange/><ref name=2011-baileys/>
''The Tiger's Wife'' won the prestigious British [[Orange Prize for Fiction]] in 2011. The annual prize, recognising "excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world", then included £30,000 cash and the "Bessie", a limited edition bronze figurine. At 25 years, 9 months when the prize was announced, Obreht was the youngest winner (1996–2012).<ref name=2011-orange/><ref name=2011-baileys/>
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<!-- awards refs, likely to be expanded -->
<!-- awards refs, likely to be expanded -->
<ref name=2011-orange>
<ref name=2011-orange>
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130210023451/http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/archive2011.html "Téa Obreht wins 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction"] (2011 archive, contemporary). Orange Prize for Fiction (orangeprize.co.uk). Archived 2013-02-10. Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>
[http://web.archive.org/web/20130210023451/http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/archive2011.html "Téa Obreht wins 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction"] (2011 archive, contemporary). Orange Prize for Fiction (orangeprize.co.uk). Archived 10 February 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>
<ref name=2011-baileys>
<ref name=2011-baileys>
[http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/title/the-tigers-wife "2011 Winner: Tea Obreht"] (2011 archive, current sponsor from 2014). Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (womensprizeforfiction.co.uk). Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>
[http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/title/the-tigers-wife "2011 Winner: Tea Obreht"] (2011 archive, current sponsor). Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (womensprizeforfiction.co.uk). Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>
<ref name=nba2011>
<ref name=nba2011>
[http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2011.html "National Book Awards – 2011"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>
[http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2011.html "National Book Awards – 2011"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 12 April 2014.</ref>

Revision as of 00:57, 13 April 2014

The Tiger's Wife
Cover
Front cover of US edition
AuthorTéa Obreht
CountryUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherWeidenfeld & Nicolson[1]
Random House (US)
Publication date
2010
2011 (US)[2]
Media typePrint (hardcover), audiobook, eBook
Pages337 (first edition)
ISBN[[Special:BookSources/978-0-297-85901-7+%3Cbr%3EISBN+0-385-34383-3+%28US%29 |978-0-297-85901-7
ISBN 0-385-34383-3 (US)]] Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
OCLC629791302
LC ClassPS3615.B73 T54 2011[2]

The Tiger's Wife is the first novel by Téa Obreht, an American writer of Bosniak/Slovene origin. It was published in 2010 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, a British imprint of Orion Books, and in 2011 by Random House in America.[1][a]

Story

The Tiger's Wife is set in an unnamed Balkan country, in the present and half a century ago, and features a young doctor's relationship with her grandfather and the stories he tells her, primarily about the 'deathless man' who meets him several times in different places and never changes, and a deaf-mute girl from his childhood village who befriends a tiger that has escaped from a zoo. It was largely written while she was at Cornell,[3] and excerpted in The New Yorker in June 2009.[4] Asked to summarize it by a university journalist, Obreht replied, "It's a family saga that takes place in a fictionalized province of the Balkans. It’s about a female narrator and her relationship to her grandfather, who's a doctor. It's a saga about doctors and their relationships to death throughout all these wars in the Balkans."[5]

Reception

The press reception has been good. The poet Charles Simic wrote in The New York Review of Books giving his endorsement to the view that "this is a remarkable first novel." He went on to say: "Téa Obreht is an extraordinarily talented writer, skilled at combining different types of narrative — from objective depiction of events to stories mixing the fabulous and the real — in a way that brings to mind the novels of Mikhail Bulgakov, Gabriel García Márquez, and Milorad Pavić, the Serbian author of Dictionary of the Khazars.[6] According to the New Zealand Herald, "Reviewers have praised Obreht's vibrant imagery and skilful interweaving of fact and folklore, ritual and superstition. British paper the Sunday Times dubbed her 'a compelling new voice'; its rival the Daily Telegraph 'a natural born storyteller'."[7] New York Times reviewer Liesl Schillinger praised the novel, saying it was "filled with astonishing immediacy and presence, fleshed out with detail that seems firsthand."[8]

The Tiger's Wife won the prestigious British Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011. The annual prize, recognising "excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world", then included £30,000 cash and the "Bessie", a limited edition bronze figurine. At 25 years, 9 months when the prize was announced, Obreht was the youngest winner (1996–2012).[9][10]

Late in 2011 Obreht was a finalist for the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction[11] and the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize for English-language writers age 18 to 30.[12] The Tiger's Wife was a New York Times Bestseller that year.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ Tea Bajraktarevic (her real name) was interviewed by the Cornell Daily Sun in March 2009, then a 23-year-old graduate of its MFA Creative Writing program. According to the interview preface, she had "recently sold the rights to her first novel The Tiger's Daughter [sic] to Dial Press (to be published next year)".[5] Dial is and was one imprint of Random House, USA, but the novel was not released by RH until March 2011, evidently not by the Dial imprint.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Formats and Editions of Tiger's wife". WorldCat. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Tiger's wife" (US edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  3. ^ Flanagan, Mark. "Tea Obreht". Contemporary Literature. About.com. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  4. ^ Lee, Stephan (4 March 2011). "Téa Obreht, author of 'The Tiger's Wife,' on craft, age, and early success" (interview). Entertainment Weekly. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  5. ^ a b Hamilton, Ted (25 March 2009). "Student Artist Spotlight: Tea Bajraktarevic" (interview). Cornell Daily Sun. Archived 7 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  6. ^ Simic, Charles (26 May 2011). "The Weird Beauty of the Well-Told Tale". NYRB (nybooks.com). Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  7. ^ Sheehy, Christine (6 May 2011). "Fiction Addiction: Introducing The Tiger's Wife". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  8. ^ Schillinger, Liesl (11 March 2011). "A Mythic Novel of the Balkan Wars". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  9. ^ "Téa Obreht wins 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction" (2011 archive, contemporary). Orange Prize for Fiction (orangeprize.co.uk). Archived 10 February 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  10. ^ "2011 Winner: Tea Obreht" (2011 archive, current sponsor). Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (womensprizeforfiction.co.uk). Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  11. ^ "National Book Awards – 2011". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  12. ^ "Dylan Thomas Prize 2011 shortlist is announced". BBC News. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
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