In the interest of complete disclosure, it took me two attempts to finish this book, and I still did not love it. I know that this is not the same opinion of many, but I just could not get into it. Now with that being said, this book has given a great number of exceptional reviews from experts and lay persons alike. The author, Tea Obreht, made the New York Time's list of "20 under 40" exceptional writers. Most people love the interweaving of two stories, mythical and contemporary, but I just found it confusing. With that, I will give you the review and summary of others, and give you chance to read it and make your own decision! Feel free to comment below.
Booklist starred (February 15, 2011 (Vol. 107, No. 12))
Drawing on the former Yugoslavia’s fabled past and recent
bloodshed, Belgrade-born Obreht portrays two besieged doctors. Natalia
is on an ill-advised “good will” medical mission at an orphanage on what
is suddenly the “other side,” now that war has broken out, when she
learns that her grandfather, a distinguished doctor forced out of his
practice by ethnic divides, has died far from home. She is beset by
memories, particularly of her grandfather taking her to the zoo to see
the tigers. We learn the source of his fascination in mesmerizing
flashbacks, meeting the village butcher, the deaf-mute Muslim woman he
married, and a tiger who escaped the city zoo after it was bombed by the
Germans. Of equal mythic mystery is the story of the “deathless man.”
Moments of breathtaking magic, wildness, and beauty are paired with
chilling episodes in which superstition overrides reason; fear and
hatred smother compassion; and inexplicable horror rules. Every word,
every scene, every thought is blazingly alive in this many-faceted,
spellbinding, and rending novel of death, succor, and remembrance.
