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Tiger Tiger
176pages. 18x12x1cm. Poche.
149 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Melvin Burgess
68 books435 followersMelvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the trendy and controversial idea of heroin-addicted teenagers. Junk soon became, at least in Britain, one of the best-known children's books of the decade.
Burgess again courted predictable controversy in 2003, with the publication of Doing It, which dealt with underage sex. America created a show based on the book, Life As We Know It. In his other books, such as Bloodtide and The Ghost Behind the Wall, Burgess has dealt with less realist and sometimes fantastic themes. In 2001 Burgess wrote the novelisation of the film Billy Elliot, based on Lee Hall's screenplay. Polyphony is typical for his most famous novels.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/melvin...
Burgess again courted predictable controversy in 2003, with the publication of Doing It, which dealt with underage sex. America created a show based on the book, Life As We Know It. In his other books, such as Bloodtide and The Ghost Behind the Wall, Burgess has dealt with less realist and sometimes fantastic themes. In 2001 Burgess wrote the novelisation of the film Billy Elliot, based on Lee Hall's screenplay. Polyphony is typical for his most famous novels.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/melvin...
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 1, 2017
It’s hard to criticise a book only 150ish pages long, but it’s probably a good thing it is only that length for it kept the pace swift.
It’s an interesting read, one I remember vividly when I first read this book more about fifteen years ago (I feel old!), and it gets more surreal and strange as it goes on.
I’d say this is a book aimed more for the 9yrs-Teens due to the content: Lila almost has a slasher-horror flavour to her and I shall not go too much into something that happened towards the end of the book that was a real ‘WTF?’ moment *awkward cough cough*, not wanting to spoil anything.
But I would recommend this book. It’s only a quick 150pages that you could probably read in a day, what’s to lose!
It’s an interesting read, one I remember vividly when I first read this book more about fifteen years ago (I feel old!), and it gets more surreal and strange as it goes on.
I’d say this is a book aimed more for the 9yrs-Teens due to the content: Lila almost has a slasher-horror flavour to her and I shall not go too much into something that happened towards the end of the book that was a real ‘WTF?’ moment *awkward cough cough*, not wanting to spoil anything.
But I would recommend this book. It’s only a quick 150pages that you could probably read in a day, what’s to lose!
October 29, 2020
Not my cup of tea
June 10, 2024
Gross
June 30, 2025
Ewww Gross!
July 6, 2015
As the book is not even 200 pages long did it only take me a couple of bus rides to finish it. The chapter structure is quite unusual as the different narration strands switch within the chapter so that one part can be what Steve experiences, the next the hunters and the last one being the tigers.
And yes there were parts that depicted the doings and some of the thoughts of the tigers, which was in a way pretty cool, but also quite strange as the thought-process was described in a different writing style as the one for humans. Of course animals think differently, but it felt like a break of style whenever Burgess wrote from the tigers perspective.
I can’t remember ever reading how old Steve is, but my guess would be he is between 14-16 (still in school but already attracted to girls). He has a strange obsession with the tigers – especially Lila – which makes him an unintentional ally of the fled big cats. In a way is he quite simple minded and that’s what makes reading about him quite difficult for me as I prefer character with a certain spark to them.
Lila on the other hand had at least the abilities aspect with her. Quite soon it was clear that she isn’t a normal tiger, the term “magical” was even mentioned a couple of times, which was fitting for what she was able to do. Still, she was still an animal that thought in an animal-way and as I wrote before was it hard to fully grasp her thought-process. I don’t think writing this was easy either, therefore this is an interesting choice for the narrative. Still, the magical tiger wasn’t that much tiger-like, but that comes with the abilities I suppose.
There are three things that bug me the most about this story:
#1: The term “magical” tiger is used so often, but it is nether explained what it even means. How such a tiger can exist/How it comes to being. What else can she do? Would her powers be passed on to others (offspring, human)? I would have liked a little more insight on that, but instead I had to just accept the fact that she is a magical tiger, whose abilities include being able to let clothes vanish…
#2: The ending is pretty open. We don’t know what will happen to the tiger park, to the remaining tigers and so forth. As it is not a continued story this is something I consider to be quite annoying – though open ends in a series can be worse…
#3: I know Lila wants to preserve her race, but was THAT (I don’t want to spoiler it, but if you read it I am pretty sure you will know what I mean) really necessary for doing so? And was it necessary to describe it in young adult fiction? That is really something I do not want to read in a book like that, even if I’m way beyond the target audience.
Other than that was it an ok read. Nothing special, but still interesting enough to continue.
Full Review: Tiger Tiger
And yes there were parts that depicted the doings and some of the thoughts of the tigers, which was in a way pretty cool, but also quite strange as the thought-process was described in a different writing style as the one for humans. Of course animals think differently, but it felt like a break of style whenever Burgess wrote from the tigers perspective.
I can’t remember ever reading how old Steve is, but my guess would be he is between 14-16 (still in school but already attracted to girls). He has a strange obsession with the tigers – especially Lila – which makes him an unintentional ally of the fled big cats. In a way is he quite simple minded and that’s what makes reading about him quite difficult for me as I prefer character with a certain spark to them.
Lila on the other hand had at least the abilities aspect with her. Quite soon it was clear that she isn’t a normal tiger, the term “magical” was even mentioned a couple of times, which was fitting for what she was able to do. Still, she was still an animal that thought in an animal-way and as I wrote before was it hard to fully grasp her thought-process. I don’t think writing this was easy either, therefore this is an interesting choice for the narrative. Still, the magical tiger wasn’t that much tiger-like, but that comes with the abilities I suppose.
There are three things that bug me the most about this story:
#1: The term “magical” tiger is used so often, but it is nether explained what it even means. How such a tiger can exist/How it comes to being. What else can she do? Would her powers be passed on to others (offspring, human)? I would have liked a little more insight on that, but instead I had to just accept the fact that she is a magical tiger, whose abilities include being able to let clothes vanish…
#2: The ending is pretty open. We don’t know what will happen to the tiger park, to the remaining tigers and so forth. As it is not a continued story this is something I consider to be quite annoying – though open ends in a series can be worse…
#3: I know Lila wants to preserve her race, but was THAT (I don’t want to spoiler it, but if you read it I am pretty sure you will know what I mean) really necessary for doing so? And was it necessary to describe it in young adult fiction? That is really something I do not want to read in a book like that, even if I’m way beyond the target audience.
Other than that was it an ok read. Nothing special, but still interesting enough to continue.
Full Review: Tiger Tiger
July 23, 2014
Love this book, the blurb does not do it justice. such vivid characters and a heart breaking story. I'd like a clearer, more solid ending or to know what happened to the park. if you like books like watership down and black beauty you should read this.
Description: Lee young is willing to pay a lot of money for the tigers of Malham Tiger Park. He believes Lila can save his life, but the spirit tiger is not so easy to kill. And aslong as she lives, she is dedicated to exterminating everyone who was involved in the massacre of her kind.
Description: Lee young is willing to pay a lot of money for the tigers of Malham Tiger Park. He believes Lila can save his life, but the spirit tiger is not so easy to kill. And aslong as she lives, she is dedicated to exterminating everyone who was involved in the massacre of her kind.
October 30, 2014
I admit I only picked up this book because I liked tigers. Tiger, tiger has multiple narrators, including Lila the tigress and it was her perspective I enjoyed the most, she showed the power and beauty of the creature, as David Attenborough’s Life Story series is currently showing on TV.
May 19, 2017
I love how Burgess can write about animals, his personifications of them are frightfully realistic from the humans' point of view.
September 27, 2012
Lifted it from the school book cupboard, read it at a sitting and put it back.
June 17, 2014
A really good book! Absolutely loved it but I was a bit disappointed by the ending
September 7, 2021
strange
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews