The Night Tiger
By: Yangsze Choo
Grade: A
See this is one of those books that make me realize I could never be a book character because if I came into possession of a severed human finger I would toss it and run screaming not be like oh, mysterious! Let’s go digging!
Especially when you find out the last person that had it is dead. But that’s just me!
Unless the finger was Oscar Issacs but then he’s got more problems at that point than crazy fan girls so…
Book. Let’s concentrate on the book.
Ren’s dying master has asked him to find his finger and bury it with him in 49 days or he’s cursed to roam forever. (Which seems a lot of stress to put on a kid but okay.) Ji Lin meanwhile is a dance hall girl who should be in med school but it’s the 1930’s and China so everyone else just thinks she needs a husband. She finds said finger.
Our third POV is Ren’s newest “master” a foreign Doctor who has poor decision making skills to say the least but seems blessed by all his problems disappearing.
The Night Tiger has as really intriguing premise and a good start and then it felt a bit slow while it’s unfolding. We get the three main characters lives with a lot of strange happenings, family drama and a ton of fascinating folklore. Like a man-eating tiger possibly killing people.
It felt like a lot but I will say Choo is a beautiful writer and it’s not a time period or place that I have any knowledge of so for some people they may fly through this book from beginning to end. I appreciated the folklore and getting a chance to learn about it. I especially liked the information on the power of names and the whole 5 sibling idea that went down.
The other thing I will say is I wasn’t big on the unfolding romance at least not until the very end.
But the end and the reconciliation of all those threads did bring it together nicely and worked very well for me making the slower parts worth it.
So long story short:
Someone needs to take that damned brand away from Reese Witherspoon and stop marking up perfectly beautiful book covers.
Don’t keep body parts that don’t belong to you.
Give the dead what they want or need.
Totally give The Night Tiger a read.
Recommend: Yes.
haha loved this straight forward and funny review. I was on the fence about this one, but I’m inching toward a yes. And I so, so, so agree about that stupid branding! I’m glad her book club is generating a lot of interest in books but MY GOODNESS ENOUGH with that ugly logo ruining book covers.
And it seems like its everywhere! How many bookclub picks does the woman have? 🙂
Ha – love the opening to this review! Whenever I watch a horror movie I always think I would be the worst in those situations, I’d literally hide under a table and wait my death.
Me to! Or just plain freeze up. Running wouldn’t get me far at all 🙂
Yeah they need to keep logos like that off covers… ugh. So irritating. And glad this was good! The review certainly got my attention when I saw severed fingers lol. And I kinda like the sound of the 1930’s China setting and folklore…
hahaha I really relate- I could never be a book character either! 😉 This sounds like an absolutely beautiful book and it’s on my tbr- really looking forward to checking it out 🙂 Great review!
Literally there was no reason to put the Reese’s book reads (whatever it’s called) right in the middle of such a stunning book cover, there’s a whole four corners. 😂
There’s a Bollywood film called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai where an 8-year-old is sent a birthday letter from her dead mother (not from the grave, pre-planned for each birthday) asking her to reunite her single father with his former best friend and get them to fall in love with each other. An 8-year-old. She succeeded, but still… same energy. 😂
I hate those stickers! Everyone’s got a book club these days pretty soon they’ll probably cover the book title!