Tiger, Tiger is the second story in the incredible Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy.
There isn’t a moment that flashes by when you don’t think to yourself that the creepy unnamed narrator is a little off-kilter. For a long time I thought this was a relationship between two men, but slowly this odd woman crept out from behind her boyfriend’s shadow to somehow control everything. She describes her boyfriend Brian and his father who has left Brian’s mother for another woman. Our narrator doesn’t tip her hand as to where she stands on this decision, she only reports the results, which gives you a good idea as to the outcome, and as its told from her point of view, a subtle commentary.
Van Booy loves to flashback. He digs the non linear thought process that boils in all of us. You might find many writers who’ll guide you through flashbacks carefully. Van Booy doesn’t. He cuts and slices into our narrator’s past, to years when she actually did bite someone when she was a child. I just read a Kevin Canty story that highlights a child biter, and suddenly it reflected in my own life. If you read this blog, then I’m boring you. Writers today generally don’t get away with tearing you from the storyline, but Van Booy has a great editor who doesn’t compromise anything and lets this original voice out into the open. This is a story about love. But it’s a story about a man and a woman who believe that their love is all that matters, they’re not going to extend it to a family, friends or anyone but themselves. Which begs the question, should love be shared? Or do you keep it to yourself? Our narrator discovers a “how to” book for raising kids, and questions Brian about it, and suddenly this story dips its toe into this wild creation and we find out what kids are thinking about when they think about love, parents, and growing up. We get inside the doctor’s head who wrote the book, deep inside his mind, and it’s not at all what you think. Van Booy weaves along a narrow plank and it’s impressive to watch. This writing soars, and this story is just another example of how completely in tune with his characters Van Booy is.
-JR
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