The Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Harriet Doerr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

The first collection of short stories and anecdotal essays by the National Book Award-winning author of Stones for Ibarra features the title story, which explores the magical power of memory over experience. Reprint. PW.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First collection of short fiction by National Book Award winner Doerr.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

As she recounts in the moving opening piece of this collection, Doerr published her first novel at the age of 74. Now 85, she looks back on the intervening years of marriage, children, and her years spent living in Mexico as an exercise in memory for her grown children. This and the final reminiscence frame the incandescent stories at the center, many of which are set in Mexico. Fans of Stones for Ibarra (1984) will be happily reunited with Richard and Sara Everton and their colorful neighbors and villagers. The closing piece, "Edie: A Life," tells of the woman who came to work as a housekeeper for the author's family after her mother's death, lived with them until the children were grown, and remained a fixture in their lives until her own death. Written with great tenderness and understanding, these stories and "inventions" are perfectly evocative of a long life well lived.
-?Barbara Love, Kingston P.L., Ontario
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 199 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Pub Inc (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568953585
• ISBN-13: 978-1568953588
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,723,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional reading, December 8, 1999

By 

Kgosh (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions (Paperback)

This book reads like poetry. It's been a while since I read it, but am thinking of reading it again...such a beautiful, if not sad look back on a long and rich life centered in a dry and dusty old Mexico.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ten stars. Absolutely wonderful., April 14, 2004

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions (Paperback)

Superlatives aren't powerful enough to describe this book by Harriet Doerr. I read Stones for Ibarra, liked it a lot, so rented The Tiger in the Grass from the library as an audio-book to listen to during a long car trip. Halfway thru, I was exclaiming out loud (all by myself in the car), `OMG, this is soooo good!' I liked it light years more than the Ibarra book, even. As soon as I got home, I bought a used copy on Amazon for 50 cents plus the usual postage, etc.
The first section of this lyrical, oh-so-beautifully written book is a loose memoir, a collection of impassioned memories that she wrote down for her children. She was already old when she published Ibarra, and I believe she was in late 70s or maybe her 80s when she wrote this one.
The rest of the book is composed of short pieces that are ethereal essays or somewhat longer semi-autobiographical short stories, vignettes of people she knew while living in Mexico - but all of them rise so far above the usual stuff we read that it's difficult to describe how powerful they all are, once gathered together. It's like, the individual parts are terrific, but put together, the whole is 100x greater than the sum of its part.
There's one story, I think it's called Low Tide, and it's a lovely memory of a day at the beach in 1939. The author is an adult with young children, but there's a hint of evil somewhere lurking - then we realize it's the rise of Nazism when the hamburger seller comments about bad times coming and `that German paperhanger.' At the end of the story, Doerr comments that she wanted time to stand still long enough for her to paint and frame Low Tide, a metaphor for peace and innocence. Lord, I get goosebumps all over again, just trying to paraphrase it for this review.
Buy it. Read it. Give it as a gift. Then read it again yourself, and again.
Wow.

5.0 out of 5 stars Short Stories, October 30, 2010

By 

Garden Bird "garden bird" (Newberg, OR) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions (Paperback)

I have enjoyed all of Harriet Doerr's books. Her personal history is also interesting. she has her own special style.