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Man Tiger

Book / Novel


Man Tiger

by Eka Kurniawan
Translated by Labodalih Sembiring

Format: Paperback, English
192 page(s)
ISBN/ISBN13: /9781781688595
Published Sep 07, 2015 by Verso Books

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An extraordinarily beautiful, sly, ribald, and compulsively readable novel.

A slim, wry story set in an unnamed town near the Indian Ocean, Man Tiger tells the story of two interlinked and tormented families, and of Margio, an ordinary half-city, half-rural youngster who also happens to be half-man, half-supernatural female white tiger (in many parts of Indonesia, magical tigers protect good villages and families).1


  1. VersoBooks 


As seen as


If I were to consider my experience with Beauty is a Wound, then I have a lot to expect from Man Tiger.
Carl L. Batnag  in First Impression Friday: Man Tiger (Personal Blog, Jun 23, 2023)
Eka Kurniawan succeeded in presenting a drama wrapped in an unusual tragedy, relying on unique plot development and colorful language games.
Kayla Abigail Pitna  in Man Tiger, A New Perspective on Language and Flow (Personal Blog, Mar 24, 2023)
I read the and more sensually descriptive passages as Eka Kurniawan’s strategy of having the reader delve into the world of love and lovemaking and how this world of intense delight too, in the end, contributed to the end things: death of the lover mauled by a “man tiger”.
Azly Rahman  in A Close Reading Of Eka Kurniawan’s Suspense-Building In ‘Man Tiger’ (Eurasia Review, Jan 14, 2021)
By preserving the Indonesian words, there are values that bring along cultural and Indonesian unique characteristics. This preservation is important, especially if applied to Eka Kurniawan's work, as he represents picturesque Indonesia in his narration.
Annisa W F  in Cultural (Un)translatability in Kurniawan’s Man Tiger (Personal Blog, Jul 01, 2018)
Man Tiger takes a different approach, for whilst we are still immersed in Eka Kurniawan’s tropics overgrowing with palm trees, cassava and papaya, the magical and the supernatural always make way for reality and are pushed aside before it
Frank Jayne  in Eka Kurniawan’s Man Tiger: Fiction that Brings us Back to the World (Books and Bao, May 20, 2018)
The Indonesian author Eka Kurniawan reverts to old folk beliefs in the novel ‘Man Tiger’. It covers not only a psychological drama but also many layers of his native culture.
Geronimo Cristobal  in Man Tiger (Eka Kurniawan, 2015) (Manila Book Review, Oct 21, 2017)
In “Beauty Is a Wound” and “Man Tiger” — a slimmer work — his real subject is unruly, untameable and often unquenchable desires.
Jon Fasman  in Sunday Book Review: ‘Beauty Is a Wound’ and ‘Man Tiger’ by Eka Kurniawan (New York Times, Sep 09, 2015)


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