The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

I found my reaction to The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht more interesting than the book itself.  I’ll explain later, but first I’ll tell you about the The Tiger’s Wife, which isn’t about a tiger’s wife.

Set in 1990's Serbia, the story vaguely reflects Obreht's childhood that was impacted somewhat by the Yugoslavian civil war. An observation about the book that apparently resonated with lots of readers, as it appeared over and over again in reviews, goes something like this: “The Tiger’s Wife is about the stories we tell ourselves to help us understand death.” I’m not sure if that statement is so much an accurate theme of the book as it is just a catchy phrase.

Natalia, a young doctor, is notified that her grandfather, with whom she had a very close relationship, has died “mysteriously.” The story weaves in and out of the present and the past as Natalia looks for clues as to her grandfather’s death.  In the process, she relates her grandfather’s tale about a man he met who would not die, and that of an escaped zoo tiger that haunted the grandfather's childhood village.  And that is pretty much the book, which is #1 of the several reasons I found my reaction to The Tiger's Wife more interesting than the book.

#2 – It seems that once a book wins one award, more fall like dominos. As if critics don’t want to be the one to not recognize brilliance. I, and half the world, fell for the lavish praise of Obreht and her book. But when you look at the average Jane’s reviews, they are all over the place with lots of comments indicating that the reviews and recommendations were misleading. I too spent most of the book looking for the promise of “channeled genius,” “astonishing intimacy” and a “searing” novel. Click On Read More Below...

East Side Queens, Sue This! and LMurder-ith Rollin With The Homies

If Lynn Meredith and I joined the Hell Marys roller derby team, we might take up monikers like “Sue This!” and “LMurder-ith” to join team members Barbara Ambush, Lucille Brawl, Olivia Shootin’ John and The Killa Sal Monella.  Lynn had said that she wanted to go to a Texas Rollergirls game some day. Last night that day arrived, and so did we.

The first thing I noticed when we walked into the Austin Convention Center was that it was way too quiet. No chants of “Texas, Texas, Kill, Kill, Kill!” No loud horns or slap sticks creating the usual Texas Rollergirl bouts’ cacophony. What was going on? Well after a few inquires, we found out that this weekend wasn’t a regular season game, but rather a tournament including teams from Austin (Texecutioners), New York (Gotham City Rollers), San Francisco (Bay Area Roller Girls), and Chicago (Windy City Rollers). The teams skating the first bout when we arrived at 6:30 were Chicago and New York, so not a lot of home-team fans there to make a ruckus.

My rare trips to watch the Texas Rollergirls usually consists of watching people and being clueless about what is going on. Well, that changed last night when Lynn sat down, opened up her tournament program and set out to educate us both on what the heck was going on on the track. Between Lynn’s  research, and with a little help from the gal sitting in front of us, I learned more about roller derby last night than I’d gleaned from several other trips to bouts. Gotham City pretty much blew the Windy City Rollers off the track in the first round, but when the Texecutioners and the Bay Area Rollers bout began, it was much more competitive and fun. Lynn and I yelled and clapped for the Texas team, and yelled over the din at each other about this and that and everything else.

Lynn kept checking her phone as her daughter is expecting to deliver Lynn’s first grandbaby any day. I kept checking my phone worried about my “home alone” husband, who although mostly recovered at this point, had suffered two strokes in May. Suddenly I realized it was two hours past my bedtime, 9:30 pm, and we hadn’t even started the second half of our adventure – a trip to the Liberty Bar in East Austin. Click On Read More Below...

Grammar Humor for the Literally Challenged

For those of us who glanced at the cover of East, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss, and assumed it was a book about pandas, here are some pretty funny grammar jokes.

A Texan professor and an Oxford professor are chilling at a conference bar. The Texan professor, bored, looks to the Oxford professor and strikes up a conversation. "So there partner, where y'all from?" Oxford prof. replies, pushing his glasses to his nose: "Well, in reply to your query, I hail from Oxford. In addition, where I come from, we never end our sentences in a preposition." The Texan prof. blinks once, shrugs his shoulders and drawls, "My apologies! What I mean to say is 'where y'all from, asshole?'"

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. "In English," he said, "A double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."  A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."

Harry is getting along in years and finds that he is unable to perform sexually. He finally goes to his doctor who tries a few things, but nothing seems to work. So the doctor refers him to an American Indian medicine man. The medicine man says, "I can cure this." That said, he throws a white powder in a flame, and there is a flash with billowing blue smoke. Then he says, "This is powerful medicine. You can only use it once a year. All you have to do is say '123,' and it will rise for as long as you wish" The guy asks, "What happens when I don't want to continue?" The medicine man replies: "All you or your partner has to say is 1234, and it will go down. But be warned - it will not work again for another year."

Harry rushes home, eager to try out his new powers and prowess. That night he is ready to surprise Joyce. He showers, shaves, and puts on his most exotic shaving lotion. He gets into bed, and lying next to her says, "123." He suddenly becomes more aroused than any previous time in his life - just as the medicine man had promised. Joyce, who had been facing away, turns over and asks, "What did you say 123 for?"

 (And now you know why you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition.)