"The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival" by John Vaillant is an excellent book that chronicles the hunt for a man-eating tiger in a remote village in eastern Russia. The book was nominated for many Canadian literary awards (as was the author's impressive debut "The Golden Spruce") and I would highly recommend it. There is a lot of historical information about Russia since the fall of Communism and the birth of Democracy, which will interest those who have a passion for such subjects, but the focus is always on Amur tigers throughout the non-fiction story. It was intriguing to read about the different reactions of rural Russians to tigers, from treating the cats as minor gods to regarding them as vermin. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Tiger-Vengeance-Survival-Departures/dp/0307389049/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338429938&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (Vintage Departures) (9780307389046): John Vaillant: Books[/ame]
I had mixed feelings. Here is a copy and paste of my review on Amazon.com: This tale of a man-eating siberian tiger in the 1990's is fascinating - when the author stays on track. The book is divided into three parts, dealing with three successive events in the search for the tiger. Parts two and three are much shorter than part one because the author stays on track and sticks to the actual story. Part one is so much longer because the actual story is interwoven with excrutiatingly long sidetracks. These are so tedious they are almost painful. The story itself is extremely interesting and the author has a great writing style. He really makes the reader feel like they are part of the story. This is why it is hard to understand that such a talented author would insert endless pages of distantly related fluff on Russian history and human-carnivore psychology. I mean, there is a long section about two German WWII refugees living in the wild desert of Namibia. What does that have to do with the hunt for a siberian tiger in Russia? If the publisher came out with an abridged version that actually stuck to the story, this would be a real winner and a definite five star rating. But because the sidetracks are so annoying, I am only giving three stars. I am very serious about the abridged version - would improve this book 100%.
@AD: Thanks for the review, and I fully understand your thoughts. I too felt that the second portion of the book (particularly the last 100 pages) was excellent but there were moments when the tale was bogged down in historical details in the first half. Since I minored in History when I was at university I didn't mind the asides and various tangents, but I can comprehend how that would frustrate a cat lover such as yourself!
