I am struggling hard to finish this book. I am telling everyone not to bother finishing the books they don’t enjoy… yet, being somewhat OCD myself, i do tend to finish those i started reading, albeit oftentimes it feels like something has been persistently and obstinately sucking my blood, that’s how tedious and draining it gets.
That’s why i love the times i spend in Moscow – long, boring rides in the tube are the best way to make progress with the books that give you this feeling… The thing is that right now i am home in Montenegro, there is no tube and you get more or less everywhere you need to be in fifteen minutes or so. On foot, that is.
There is no bloody way i’d ever finish Llosa’s The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta wasn’t it for 1h long rides from Yugo-Zapadnaya tube stop, where i live, to the downtown Moscow’s Kabbalah Center… 1h each way, that is.
Also, there is no bloody way that Mario Vargas Llosa would ever win a Nobel, was he such a lousy writer as he comes across in Serbian translation… The thing is that the text is so full of bad grammatical mistakes and the choice of words – so awful, that it made me decide never again to read translations… unless they are made by fellow writers with a keen ear for wording.
Anyway, back to The Tiger’s Wife. Amazingly, the book was received greatly in US and somewhat mildly in Serbia, where Tea Olbreht is originally from.
Here is the NY Times review:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/books/review/book-review-the-tigers-wife-by-tea-obreht.html?pagewanted=all
The book won the prestigious (?) Orange prize. Some say it’s too politicized, which i tend to believe, as most prizes indeed are, including the very Nobel (or at least that’s how the saying goes.)
The Guardian quotes AS Byatt:”The Orange prize is a sexist prize […] You couldn’t found a prize for male writers. The Orange prize assumes there is a feminine subject matter – which I don’t believe in. It’s honourable to believe that – there are fine critics and writers who do – but I don’t.” (By the way, neither do i.)
To me personally ‘no-men-allowed’ award is silly, as if women writers aren’t good enough to compete alongside their male counterparts for… for a Booker, let’s say.
(Promise to translate my own interview for Montenegrin “Vijesti” newspaper, where i expand on the topic.)
But, i digress.
Tea Obreht‘s writing style does have all the political correctness it takes, at least from the “foreign” (to Balkans) point of view.Here is one of the harsher reviews, by mr Aleksandra Djuricic: http://www.kisobranblog.org/?p=3855
Actually, the above review is one of the very few in Serbian media where the critic made an effort to come up with a genuine review – most of the others is mere translating of reviews published in US magazines.
Now, some may sense between the lines the resentment that exceeds by far a critical reception of somebody’s first novel – it’s a way bigger implication and it’s (veiled, by still) critic aimed at US foreign policies and the infamous, un-sanctioned 1999 bombing of ex-Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war.
Mr (denoting the academic title here) Djuricic points out that Tea Obreht starts with assumption of how the West sees Balkans and that the very literature pattern is borrowed from Hispano-American writers, on which i tend to agree.
I disagree that Obreht mocks things considered holy in Balkans – her putting the words of a patriotic song to parrot’s ‘mouth’ to me is simply yet another ‘trick’ borrowed from Hispano-Americans…
But the truth is that Obreht doesn’t know Balkans and that is strongly felt by anyone native to the area who reads her book… the names, the toponyms, the descriptions of local landscape, the foods, the transport of humanitarian aid – those have hardly anything to do with Balkans, the latter sounding more as an recount of a documentary on Darfur, as seen on tv, than anything that was actually happening here… or could have happened.
What bothers me personally is not even the dirty laundry that’s being capitalized on, it’s been done many times before, the thing is that others who did it at least wore that laundry for a while, if you know what i mean.
As much as Marina Abramovic or Emir Kusturica get criticized for mocking Balkan traditions and believes – at least they are doing it from ‘first-hand’ experience so to say, at least it’s their own tradition they ridicule or scrutinize, at least they lived here and were part of it for quite some time… Tea Obreht has not, and it’s painfully obvious from her writing.
Don’t get me wrong, i am more than happy for anyone who makes it in the big world – or here per that matter, i really am.
The book is certainly of value, as all those people praising it are obviously neither insane nor illiterate.
Personally, i think it is awesome writing for the first novel – but…
What bothers me is that i am stuck on page 136 of ‘The Tiger’s Wife’ and to me it’s boring to death… In that view, all of the above is merely my own excuse to my own self that, as OCD as i am, i am going to let go this book and won’t bother finishing it.
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I just downloaded that one for my Kindle! Had my eyes on it some time, it looks really interesting. Hope I don’t get stuck, like you :-p
I been reading some pretty horrible young adult books lately myself and actually tortured myself to finish them, only cause I set up a reading goal for 100 books in 2012.
One book I tried to read many many times but never could get past the first few chapters is ‘On the road’ by Kerouac.
Fingers crossed, Jema! Some people i hold in highest possible respect – did love it, hope it will be the case with you too!
p.s. As per Kerouac’s ‘On the road’… not sure is it the translation or what, but i’ve been struggling with it too and the same – few times that i started re-reading it – couldn’t get by first couple of chapters 😦 At the same time, i ADORE many of his Amrican contemporaries, so it’s not the cultural thing in this case… Dunno 😦
Lena, this is just bizarre! I bought the book for my kindle months and months ago, based on the reviews that were on Amazon. I was not aware that her descriptions of Balkan details were not correct, but I had this overwhelming sense of drudgery while reading it. I also gave up fairly soon. I’ll have to go back and check, but I quit the book when they two women were staying at the home where the gyps by Julie Orringer.y sort of people were digging up the vineyards looking for someone’s bones or something. There was no reason to keep reading, because none of the characters were really formed, and it was taking an incredible effort to read it. Another book I was really excited about and had to stop reading was “The Invisible Bridge”
Goodness, dare i say i am GLAD i am not the only one?! It’s all, like, stereotypes – even the surrealist bits, it’s universal myths – nothing like bare-wolf stories or some Pagan-past inspired (amazing and genuine to the area) legends that we do have here… I couldn’t connect to the characters either, as if they were zombies – no life in them… She is young, only 26 – my own writing was worse i believe when i was her age, but still, i do think all this praise is not really deserved – at least not by the writing style.
So bizarre, Lena! I gave up on the book while the two women were staying at the home where the people were digging up the vineyards. It seemed there was no reason to keep reading and I almost never give up on a book. However, I also found that I had to stop reading “The Invisible Bridge” by Julie Orringer. I plan to finish it, but it’s like real work. There is such a brittle sense to it, and it feels like nothing ever moves forward at all. I was so excited before I got Tiger’s Wife, and so disappointed.
Oy, i googled that one… As acclaimed as the author is (Paris Review’s Discovery Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, The Yale Review Editors’ Prize, Ploughshares’ Cohen Award, the Northern California Book Award, and the Anne and Robert Cowan Award from the Jewish Community Endowment Fund), i think she makes the same mistake as Obreht is – it’s almost impossible to shapeshift from her frame of mind to 1930’s Austrian-Hungary… it’s another century, all another minds, all another civilization when compared to nowadays free world. My late grandmother was born 1912 in former Austrian-Hungary and it’s only from her accounts – and the fact that i felt her pain as my own, that i could at least imagine what those people went through and how complex it all was… Thumbs up for her being so brave to explore those words, but i don’t think- in terms of literature – it is a good idea.
I cannot bring myself to continue with a book if I am not enjoying it. There are so many excellent books out there that deserve to be read, it seems a crime to persevere with something that is not a) entertaining me or b)educating me.
The last book that I simply gave up on was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I just couldn’t get along with it at all. This worked out rather well, because it means I don’t need to read the others in the series!
I do love finding quirky little books though!
As far as book awards go, I agree – men and women should be able to compete on the same pitch, writing knows no restrictions of sex!
Ali x
True Ali! There isn’t division on male and female writers, only on good and lousy ones – and the latter has nothing to do with the gender!
Note to self: skip the ‘Girl with dragon tatoo’ … and thanks for the heads up! Life is to short to waste it on people and books that don’t really move us. 😉
I wanna tell the truth and shame the devil – many of the today’s award winning books are all stuff and nonsense! Anyway, when I do not like the book and want to get rid of it, I read it like a bat out of hell! Thank you, Lena, for this case in point!
Thank you for commenting, dear Tanja! Much appreciated! And, as usually, i fully agree with you! xxxx