Not As Great As I'd Hopedreview by Maryom
Natalia is a doctor, visiting orphanages with vaccines in the wartorn Balkans. While on a trip away from home she receives news that her grandfather has died in a remote clinic, possibly on his way to visit her. In investigating what her grandfather was doing travelling in such a place, Natalia reminisces on his life-long fascination with tigers, stemming back to an incident in his childhood, and the tales he told of a 'deathless man', a supposedly immortal traveller he'd encountered several times.
This was a book I'd really been wanting to read. I'd heard a lot about it, seen it praised in various places, even before it won the Orange Prize. Unfortunately, when I came to read it, I was disappointed - I think because I'd read too much hype before hand and it was too difficult to live up to it. Some sections held me captivated, others dragged like ploughing through sludge. At times I felt that it should have held me spell-bound, but somehow was just missing the mark - for someone else it could be magical.
Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre - adult, fiction,
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