A Tiger for Malgudi [Hardcover]

R. K. Narayan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 1983

A venerable tiger, old and toothless now, looks back over his life from cubhood and early days roaming wild in the Indian jungle. Trapped into a miserable circus career as 'Raja the magnificent', he is then sold into films (co-starring with a beefy Tarzan in a leopard skin) until, finding the human world too brutish and bewildering, he makes a dramatic bid for freedom. R. K. Narayan's story combines Hindu mysticism with ripe Malgudi comedy, viewing human absurdities through the eyes of a wild animal and revealing how, quite unexpectedly, Raja finds sweet companionship and peace.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 175 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First edition. edition (August 4, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670712604
• ISBN-13: 978-0670712601
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,985,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's wrong with being a beast?, January 24, 2003

By 

Anita Wokhlu (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Tiger for Malgudi (Paperback)

The protagonist of this story is a tiger! He is young and ferocious (as we all fancy we are), he faces the cruelties of the world (being made into a show animal), he reacts through murder and carnage (as might be natural for a tiger), and he evolves into a philosophical and detached being, no longer quite " a beast."

The story of his evolution into an enlightened soul is uplifting.
The message, I think, is that every soul, not just human, has a consciousness, and strives for something.

The proof in the power of Narayan's crystal clear narrative is that the reader feels for the tiger, respects him, and admires him for the soul he has become. (Few lucky folks can attain the state of this smart cat!) Like many Narayan stories, he tackles a challenging premise and makes it appear effortless.

READ THIS! READ THIS!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid piece of work, July 5, 2007

By 

Stella Navaratnam - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Tiger for Malgudi (Paperback)

This book is a gem, it has very witty sentence structures that make you laugh out loud. It equally articulates the many phases that man goes through in life very aptly, using the tiger as a fine metaphor. A treasure that you can revisit and pass on from one generation to the next. For me it's R.K. Narayan's most profound book- indeed one must have lived fully, in order to write it down this succintly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A different kind of classic, September 7, 2002

By 

Vijay Krishna (Chennai, TN, India) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Tiger for Malgudi (Paperback)

Is it true than only human beings can think? Do not animals have the ability to think? Well, never mind; but what if they did? Well, if animals did think, then you get a classic book, 'A Tiger for Malgudi' by name.

I picked this book up because R.K. Narayan is my favorite author. And when I read the title, I thought the story was about how a man-eater or something enters Malgudi and terrifies the townsfolk and the like. But the blurb bemused me. Wait a minute, this book is different, I thought.

And it really was. The entire story is narrated by a tiger. It recounts its younger days, how it gets caught and is made to perform in a circus, how it escapes only to be captivated by the magical powers of a saint who leads it into the forest. An entertaining philosophical discourse follows, and finally the saint entreats the tiger to enter the protection of a zoo.

The entire novel can be completed in a couple of hours, but when one recounts the tale, one will break into fits of laughter. The humor and sarcasm are so very characteristic of Narayan. And there is no better scene in the story as the one when the tiger enters a local school. If anything, you'll discover India in that one scene.