The Tiger And The Acrobat by Susanna Tamaro

The Tiger And The Acrobat by Susanna Tamaro
First published in Italian as La Tigre e l'Acrobata in Italy by La nave di Yeseo in 2016. English language translation by Nicoleugenia Prezzavento and Vicki Satlow published by Oneworld in 2017.

How I got this book: Borrowed from a friend

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository : unavailable
	Wordery : from £6.01 (PB)
	Waterstones : from £8.99 (PB)
	Amazon : from £2.77 (used PB)
Prices and availability may have changed since this post was written

Little Tiger is not like other tigers. She is curious about the world and always questions everything, not content to simply follow in her mother’s footsteps and spend her days hunting around their home in the snow forests of Siberia. Instead, she embarks on a remarkable journey, intent on discovering the secrets of the Earth and eventually finding the creature she has heard most about: man. 

This captivating story of a brave young tiger who refuses to give up on her dreams is a celebration of the power of nature and the beauty of innocence, and is a testament to the courage it takes to be true to ourselves. 

This is a lovely, gentle read whose ambience reminded me of Silk by Alessandro Baricco and  The Peculiar Life Of A Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault although the stories in each of these three books are very different. Little Tiger herself is a humanised creation so, while she does tiger-like things such as catching hares to eat, this isn't a realistic nature story. I felt it more as a philosophical imagining where the legendary power of tigers represents a facet of life, their isolation from each other is another facet, and their freedom a third. It's a meandering, thoughtful tale which I thought suited me well at the time I read time because I was in that kind of a mood, but I wonder if I might not have enjoyed it so much had I picked the 'wrong' time to read it. There are lessons on life and freedom, appreciating ourselves as we are and striving to fit where perhaps we weren't meant to be. The language is simple and the ideas are deep so this is a relatively quick read that lingers long after I finished the book.


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Books by Susanna Tamaro / Contemporary fiction / Books from Italy