Unpacking the obscurities in The Tiger's Wife

As usually opinions in book group ranged pretty wide regarding Tea Obreht's novel, "The Tiger's Wife," with L leading the voices in support - said it was of Nobel quality - hey, I wouldn't wish that on any 26-year-old writer, Nobels come at the end of a career and with very few exceptions mark not the pinnacle of a writer but a much-belated recognition of a writer in decline - in any case, maybe she'll earn the Nobel or some other prize someday because she's obviously a writer a great talent, rich imagination, and blessed with a complex and unconventional history and background that has provided her with, if anything, too much material. I like the book, but probably less than most in the group, by the time I finished the novel. We spent a lot of time trying to unravel not only the meaning of her many fables but of the specific facts on the ground: some thought that the narrator, Natalia, follows the "deathless man" away from the crossroads at the end of the novel, some thought the "deathless man" married the sister of the tiger's wife - but we really couldn't be sure whether these were facts, implications, or mis-readings. Just two examples of the obscurities of The Tiger's Wife. I think allusion is fine, complexity is fine, indirection is fine - but willful obscurity is not really fair to the reader and can verge on confusion and chaos - at some point you begin to wonder whether the writer has control over her material. This may well be a book that demands a second reading, or at least improves on a 2nd reading - many of the great works of literature do need at least two readings to get anywhere near their full import - but to ask that much of a reader you have to really make us believe that the payoff will be profound, the the end is worth the journey. I'd say our discussion did illuminate some points but did not really resolve the central mysteries. For example, T pointed out that The Jungle Book, which the grandfather carries with him throughout his life and loses in a wager to the deathless man, is his connection to life and civilization - yes, maybe so, but why? why that book in particular? and why would the Deathless Man (whom we late in the book learn is like the Angel of Death) want the book? and in fact did he get it? Too many questions left unresolved - or even unexplored. Despite all this - some really wonderful scenes, and some of the fables are great on their own, regardless of their loose connection to the plot - she's like a modern-day Chaucer. I particularly the names of the songs sung by Luka the guslar player: e.g., "Now that the rain has stopped (should we rebuild the village?)"