The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (Vintage Departures)

As a reader who appreciates learning new information and being intellectually stimulated, I appreciated the author's in-depth resesrch on a multitude of subjects relating to the central story: Russian history, culture of that particular area in the Far East, ecoligical and environmental issues, and political issues.The author is an exceptionally gifted wordsmith whose writing style I admired and enjoyed enormously. I have recommended him, ordered this book as a gift, and look forward to reading other books of his.Thanks to the author for a compelling story!

The Tiger, by John Vaillant had been on my list of books to read for a while, but because of travel and work, I hadn't got to it yet. I have now read it. It didn't take me very long, which is a good sign. This is non-fiction, but Vaillant is fairly good at creating an interesting narrative out of a true story. In Far East Russia, an Amur (Siberian) tiger has been shot at and wounded by a logger and poacher. The tiger stalks him, kills him and eats him. This sends the Primorye region into turmoil, because in spite of the bitter cold, its inhabitants have to go into the Taiga to make a living. There are a number of tigers living there, but they normally don't attack people. This tiger, however, proved it can be different. Because he was wounded (and indeed many times) he found it hard to hunt, and was starving as a result. After killing and eating his first man, he turned to others and killed a second person from the same village as the first one. This is not new - many similar stories have happened and still happen in India. A search mission was instigated, and the tiger killed. This is all that happens in the book (and not just quite enough for my liking), but Vaillant excels at describing the region, its people, and their drastic living conditions. He also distils very interesting information about Amur tigers, which is why I found the book fascinating. Having said that, after reading the story you don't really want to go there - if you forget about the beauty of the Taiga, the living conditions and the poverty of the people are just staggering. I have always been fascinated by this part of the world and this is one of the reasons why I picked up this book. I'm less sure now, but come to think of it, I'd still go at the drop of a hat. I know the other side of the border, Chinese Manchuria, and as too often happens in China, not much of the original natural environment remains (and forget about tigers or any kind of animal!). Russia is a different story. Vaillant's descriptions of the living conditions and unemployment remind me of a few stays I had to make in Moscow in the years 1989-1990. These were tough times, and I do not have great memories of the place. I just couldn't find anything decent to eat or drink. Quite an experience, but not one I was looking forward to at the time. I understand things are different today. If you are interested in discovering Far East Russia (North West of Vladivostok) and want to know more about the fascinating Amur tiger, then this book is for you. Amur tigers (like most tigers) are heavily poached and their numbers are ever decreasing - this is partly due to the interest and beliefs of the Chinese in regard to the potency of Tiger organs, meat, paws, claws etc. They are ready to pay a fortune for them. This is bad news for the tiger, just as shark fin soup is bad news for sharks. I won't delve more into the lack of environment protection in China - we're all aware of it - but as far as tigers are concerned, The Tiger is a great book.

Right from the start, this account of man versus nature reads like the very best fiction novels, drawing you in through visceral, powerful prose. Not simply a recount of the hunt for a rogue, man-eating Amur ('siberian') tiger in the Russian Far East, John Vaillant's exceptional work weaves a much more far reaching study of human existence and survival in and with nature, wildlife and nature conservation from this one isolated incidence of tiger predation upon humans and the subsequent hunt to exterminate the noble killer. With this second effort, Vaillant has shown the ability to tell a true story about the real world around us that rivals the spellbinding writing of John Krakauer and Mark Kurlansky.Furthermore, this book is extremely personal for me - I KNEW these people in this book. Not so much the hunter/poachers, per se, but the Russian Federal anti-poaching rangers, such as Yuri Trush, who are the main protagonists in this true story. Between March 1996 and October 1997 I made five trips to the Russian Far East, using U.S. wildlife law enforcement special agents to provide training to Department Tiger of the former Ministry of Environment's Primorsky Krai Ecology Committee, headed by the venerable Vladimir Schetinin. My last contact with Trush, Schetinin and the other Operation Amba (another moniker the Department Tiger rangers went by) was just two months before the events chronicled here in late 1997. Vaillant's exhaustive research delves deep into the backgrounds of everyone involved here - not just the heroes but also the ostensible villains - and gives a more than fair account of how everyone came to this place at this time in this condition, including the man-eating tiger itself, bringing in geopolitics, human and feline evolution, genetics, and contemporary economics that makes what could have been just a 10-page treatment in OUTSIDE magazine into a dazzling, can't-put-down, 329-page classic of man versus animal, and more.The cast of an Amur tiger paw you see here was given to me by the park manager of Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve in eastern Primorskiy region. The book is a trade paperback, 8" long by 5" wide, which gives you some idea just how HUGE the paws of these largest of all cats can be. While walking with US & Russian rangers in Lazovsky zapovednik that October of 1997, one of my US colleagues was talking into his video camera as he and I brought up the rear of our small group trampling through tiger terrain, narrating how he "didn't need to outrun the tiger, he just had to outrun me." Seems from Vaillant's grand account that if a tiger is pissed off enough, shot at far too often, and hungry enough, he or she has the awesome physical prowess, the cerebral brain power and the indomitable will to devour all in it's way. The competition for scarce resources may yet see the total extinction of this species within a very short time if we cannot find alternative lifestyles and economic opportunities for all of our citizens, whether they are city or rural dwellers. The tigers' very life depends on it. As does ours, because if there's not enough room for both top-line predators, man and cat, how much longer before the earth overturns our unhappy little apple cart...? One of the very best written books on nature conservation and the connections between human civilization and our fellow earthlings. A must-read book.

I bought this book in 2016 and thought it was brilliant then but forgot to review it. I am reading it again now and want to put this right as it’s such a brilliant book by a brilliant writer. I am enjoying it even more the second time round. I have read two more by John and both excellent especially The Golden Spruce. He can make fact read like an engaging novel and is expert at this. I highly recommend this book - buy it and enjoy. You won’t be disappointed - it’s a page turner. I also learned so much about tigers and the Russian people and culture.

The first 100 pages or so were informative and interesting. As the narrative continued, however, it became increasingly verbose and tedious.