I love when I stumble upon a theme! Over Thanksgiving I finished the book Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn and continued reading The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. Both have an underlying subplot featuring a tiger. As a result of reading these two books, I now have a new found respect for this animal! Fearsome indeed! I would not want to cross paths with one of these cats! In Dark Road, a man gives the protagonist a gun to take with her on her walks through the countryside because a tiger has recently killed a woman. She tells him she's not sure she'll be able take kill a tiger with just a pistol but he tells her it's not for the tiger, it's for herself. Should she be attacked, death would be slow and agonizing. In The Tiger's Wife, a man who goes after a tiger running loose in the countryside after escaping from a zoo is half-eaten by the tiger. Only his lower half is dragged off into the woods.
So as I said, I've gained a new found a respect for the animal. One that I intend to appreciate from the safety of my family room couch!
