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To end a person's life is one thing; to eradicate him from the face of the earth is another. The latter is far more difficult to do, and yet the tiger had done it, had transported this young man beyond death to a kind of carnal oblivion."
This book chronicles author Valmik Thapar’s experiences in Ranthambore National Park. Thapar has observed about 200 tigers over the past 40 years, each of which has its own unique traits. In the course of this account, Mr. Vaillant colors the local characters and the poverty in the Primorski province of the Russian Far East, and makes one contemplate who is more danger to man (Panthera tigris altaica or Hominis corrupti regimen).
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The tiger in this book was much less mellow than this tiger I saw at the Saint Louis Zoo, pain-maddened by an encounter with a human poacher. I felt 9 again reading this. S.F Said combines mythology, religion, poetry, history, cryptic mystery, and the power of nature and the beauty of animals over and over again to create something that is just like nothing else. There is nothing I can ever recall that makes me feel the same child-like joy and curiosity that Tyger and Varjak Paw did.
It was adapted into a feature film directed by Ang Lee in 2012. The Life of Pi movie won four Oscars, notably the Academy Award for Best Directing. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. After the fall of the Soviet Union exacerbated poaching and habitat loss in Russia, a team of Russian scientists and American wildlife biologists collaborated to prevent the extinction of the Siberian tiger. In April 2022, it was recognized on the Big Jubilee Read list of 70 works by Commonwealth authors to commemorate Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee. Our list includes several books that draw attention to the uncertain future that tigers face and the humans who risk their lives to protect them. Tyger reminds me a lot of Varjak Paw, a previous novel by Said that I adored, mostly for its feline focus and chapter lessons in opening up the mind to achieve remarkable things. However, the rest of this novel seems like a very timely reminder that more unites us than we think and that the real threat comes from pale, well-dressed men who lure the needy into insurmountable debt and in-fighting.I was also blown away by the beautiful imagery. The entire book is written with such powerful and stunning imagery - I can see the book very well in my mind. Particularly the descriptions of the tyger and the doors, as Albraham discovers his power were just breathtaking to read. Stepping gingerly over the ice and plowing through the drifts, there was in its progress something relentless and mechanical: the clouds of steam chugging, engine like, from its nostrils, translucent whiskers laced with hoarfrost from its own hot breath." In hunting societies, such as the Udeghe, the !Kung, the Haida, or the Sioux, animals were not merely food, they were seen as blood relatives, spiritual companions, hunting guides, and sources of power and connection to the surrounding world. The boundaries between the umwelten of humans and animals were, of necessity, much less rigidly defined.”
Ultimately, the problem comes down to umwelt; we are such prisoners of our subjective experience that it is only by force of will and imagination that we are able to take leave of it at all and consider the experience and essence of another creature—or even another person." It isn't surprising that the reflections pertaining to the tiger's umwelt herein are in general accordance with those expressed in the book "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" by Frans de Waal, even those in the book "The Elephant Whisperer" by Lawrence Anthony, and no doubt others. We are all cut from the same cloth, and the ‘all too human’ behavior of man is ‘all too animal.’ Vaillant's book is in part true life animal story, part love poem to the dangerous cat in the world. On one level, Vaillant presents the natural history of the tiger. On the next level, Vaillant discusses the history of tiger resuce and Russia's far East. On the last level, Vaillant tells the story of a tiger's search for vengeance. In London, Adam delivers for his parents' business, dreaming of being an artist but forbidden from such dreams. Accidentally meeting a strange animal, an unknown 'tyger' hiding in the city from hunters, the possibilities of the world are opened up to him. Until he finds that the wounded animal is wanted by Maldehyde. He knows he must protect his new mentor/friend, and neighbour Zadie, herself the daughter of immigrants becomes his co-conspirator and partner as they brave the dangers of the enemy, society's prejudice and their position in the world to help the Tyger.
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It also won the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. In 2004, it received the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in Best Adult Fiction for 2001-2003. That being said I wasn't convinced by the villain reveal at the end. Without giving too much away, I felt that there should be two baddies in this narrative: one being earthbound to maintain the theme of humanity's capacity for cruelty. Also the epilogue seemed to close the door on a sequel which I think Tyger deserves. The final fight with the tiger is pretty tense, especially considering it probably took less than a few minutes. I liked the epilogue, most notably the fact that many of the people in Trush's region think he has the taint of the tiger on him now and won't sleep under the same roof.
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