Tigers in Red Weather

i thought we could read a book on line here..am i mistaken?

I found it quite difficult to rate this book, as my opinion of it changed continuously throughout the course of reading it. Told from the viewpoint of five different characters, and switching back and forth in time from 1945 to 1969, this novel explores the intricacies of human relationships and their consequences.

The story opens with a narrative told in the third person from the viewpoint of Nick, a strong independent young woman who is looking forward to her husband Hughes returning to her from active duty in Europe during WW2. Her cousin Helena’s husband has been killed in the war, and Nick is counting her lucky stars that she will soon be reunited with Hughes, whilst her cousin is rushing into marriage with another man who seems to be a poor match. The book then skips forward in time, and next we hear from Nick she is living with Hughes in Florida, and the relationship is far from happy. The man who has returned to her is not the same man who she had fallen in love with and married. To save her marriage, Nick must make choices and compromises, and perhaps sacrifice her own dreams and ambitions.

I really liked the character of Nick, and could strongly identify with her feelings of disillusion as her marriage does not turn out to be the great adventure she had hoped for, but rather a gilded cage where her wings are constantly being clipped. Trapped in the role of a housewife during the 1940’s and 50’s, Nick visibly wilts and loses some of her feisty spirit, but always manages to keep a little spark of defiance and personality – she will never be the typical housewife of the time, and I admired her for it. It was therefore with some disappointment to find the story skip forward twelve years: Nick and Hughes now have an adolescent daughter, Daisy, and she is taking over the narrative.

As the story continues, and switches its viewpoint between Daisy, Helena, Hughes and Helena’s son Ed, family secrets are exposed, and the dynamics of human relationships revealed. This is not a happy family, and I felt that although they share the same house, they all very much live in isolation of one another. Klaussmann’s very acute and insightful portrayal of human nature and the dark currents holding people together is what made me keep turning the pages as the family slowly unravels.

My biggest disappointment was that after the first chapter, where Nick is the main character, I never quite got close enough to any of the other characters to really understand them. Whilst the switching back and forth in time and between characters made the story move along, it also left a lot of questions unanswered. At times I really struggled to understand the motivation behind certain decisions or actions, when there seemed so many other choices and opportunities available to them. For example, the family seems to be quite well off financially, yet they are content to drift through their unhappy life without ever really DOING anything. And whilst the murder mystery thrown in around the middle of the book spices things up for a while, this soon fizzles out and is never really satisfactorily solved. I had also hoped to get a bit more of a feel for the novel’s setting – the “Tiger House” sounded very intriguing, but again stayed a remote concept rather than a vivid image in my mind.

Despite its problems, the novel held my interest as I was trying to understand the characters and watched with some fascination as they drifted through their unhappy lives like the stoned musicians at their party (it was the sixties, after all, so who knows). As I closed the book I was none the wiser, but instantly grateful for my relatively “normal” family and my life. As a debut novel, the author has done a good job in exploring the complexities of the human psyche and has produced a very unusual story about family relationships and their dark undercurrents.

Thank you to the Reading Room for providing me with a free copy of this book! :)

I have just finished reading TIGERS IN RED WEATHER and what a great read it was. The more you read the more hooked into the story you become. Liza -- congratulations on such a great debut novel.

TIGERS IN RED WEATHER is the story of a family spanning from 1944 at the end of WWII to 1967 told by five different characters, one for each person of the story.

The story begins with sisters Nick and Helena who both have dreams of wonderful marriages, healthy children and lives that are filled with cocktails, parties and happiness. It would seem from an outsider that this is the case but from the reader's point of view we get true insight into their stories and into their minds.

As you read each persons side and their participation in the story the plot builds. It will have you completely hooked and wanting to find out who murdered the seemingly lovely maid and what part did they have in it? Furthermore this story was not just about the murdered maid but about the 'glamorous' lives of these five characters. They are all so different and each have their own turmoil to deal with.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I found myself frustrated with the characters except Ed. I also had very mixed feelings towards Nick. She is truly a horrible person but then she also saved her sister Helena from a life of cruelty, loneliness and drugs. Hughes seemed like a much more strong person, especially surviving WWII so why did he put up with and ignore his wives infidelity over and over again? I understand his guilt got in the way but surely how much can you tolerate. Also why is Helena such a bunching bag. She obviously had very strong thoughts and yet she was a total push over. I can say this with some guilty pleasure that Ed was my favorite character of all. Ed is obviously very disturbed and a cruel person but he loved Daisy above everything and would do anything for her. He had a horrid father and a mother that was not there for him so I am not surprised he turned out the way he did. Ed could have been more thankful towards Hughes for giving him a good education. I just liked how he was the only true person in the whole situation. He never tried to be someone else or trying to impress people that he did not even like. I am keen to hear what other people thought as well.

I give it four stars. I thoroughly enjoying read.