READ THIS: TIGERS IN RED WEATHER by Liza Klaussmann Our Coverage Sponsored by The Cutler Salon
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A beautifully written and thoughtfully constructed novel, Tigers In Red Weather is a suspenseful thriller that follows the story of a privileged family coming apart at the seams while trying to maintain a front of normalcy. Centered around cousins Nick and Helena, who grew up together in Tiger House, the family home in Martha's Vineyard, and their families, this book kept me turning pages into the wee small hours of the morning, eager to find out how everything was going to play out. Spanning from the end of World War II to the end of the 1960's, the story is told in five sections, each one from the point of view of a different character. With this technique, we are able to see different characters' interpretations of the same events, which is fascinating. Readers are able to empathize with each of the characters in turn, and to develop a more well-rounded view of the specific circumstances in each of their lives that led to actions which, viewed through another characters eyes, may seem questionable, immoral, or even downright cruel. Author Liza Klaussmann (the great-great-great granddaughter of Herman Melville) does an exemplary job of creating well-rounded, three-dimensional characters - all of whom are flawed, yet, in their own ways, sympathetic. While many pieces of the family's complicated story are connected in the final chapter, certain things are deliberately left ambiguous, letting the readers fill in the blanks for themselves as best they can. Slow-burning and intriguing, Tigers In Red Weather will keep readers riveted through the very last page. Highly recommended by this panelist!
There are touches of Fitzgerald and his lost generation in Tigers in Red Weather. Not taking place in the Jazz Age, though, puts this book into its own time frame. One in which twenty years or so go by, and we learn to never understand the whys and wherefores of disillusion, isolation, and other symptoms of the typical atypical family, post WWII. With members of this family sleepwalking through their own private points of view, the story unfolds, and folds back in on itself as the past gingerly pokes it's head into the present. A Present spent at country clubs, summer houses inhabited by generations of sameness. If there is a main character, it's Nick, the female of the tale who is never able to connect, and I mean this in the most severe sense, with the needs of her family. Her husband, Hughes, may be the bulwark of the novel, and his passages during his one romantic getaway in London bombed, may be the most succinct moment of war torn civilization keeping a stiff upper lip. The underlying thread of danger is presented through young Ed, the son of an improbably marriage brought up in the home of Nick, Hughes, and dear Daisy, the daughter. Ed, oddly enough, is a serial killer, living in his own suspended moment. With Ed's Mother filling out the roster of completely unbalanced characters, this tale of summer loves, betrayals, murder and general martini mayhem will keep you reading until you get to the point at the end where you almost understand these people. You may even know people like this, attending the best Ivy League schools, and swanning their summers away on a sunburnt deck in the Northeast. Hopefully, these characters are in the author's mind, and not roaming around, lost, with no sense of grounding. Save us from the Mid-Century unfettered, indulgent, and lost. Liza Klaussman has done a brilliant writing job of conveying their lost-ness, inherited from a War that left America reeling with possibility, and divided between those who went off to fight , and those who remained at home. She brings small important flicks of light to each character's moments of clarity, and allows them to move forward, within their own bubbles. Her prose is poetic, and she delights in well-done research , using sight, sound and smell, to convey mood in concise prose.
I am so happy that I am finally making time to read things that I want to read again. For a while, after I had my son, my reading-for-pleasure fell by the wayside. I truly missed it and am so glad to be able to add it back into my routine! That being said, I was thrilled to read "Tigers in Red Weather", the debut novel of Liza Klaussmann. Written from the point of view of five characters, this novel is sure to draw you in and not let you go. Intriguing, captivating, riveting are just a few of the words I would use to describe this mystery thriller. "Tigers in Red Weather" spans several decades and tells a story of love, relationships, deception, friendships and yes, even murder. I really enjoyed the story being told from five different view points; it was very effective. Telling the story of Nick and her cousin, Helena, "Tigers in Red Weather" is a must-read for summer. You won't be disappointed in this book...in fact, you will most likely find it very hard to put down. Without giving away the plot, suffice it to say Nick, Helena, their respective children, Ed and Daisy, and Nick's husband, Hughes will keep you on your toes and wanting more. Pick up your copy of "Tigers in Red Weather" by Liza Klaussmann and don't put it down until you're done...it won't be hard to do!
This novel has a great story line that I dove right into. Set in the final stages of WWII, Tigers in Red Weather follows five lead characters. It tells their story over a period of 25 years. Each of the five characters go through emotional turmoil on varying levels of despair. The characters are intriguing and developed well so that you can understand and like them even with their major flaws. They are human and written so that you can relate to them each and they feel real in their own respect. You learn that Tiger House is where the socialites spend their summers frolicking. Full of secrets, the social climbing and betrayal make for a great novel. This is the perfect read for this summer in Newport, Nantucket, the Hamptons, other parts of the Atlantic coast and of course Martha's Vineyard! Be sure to put it in your beach bag.
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TIGERS IN RED WEATHER is a riveting, Gatsby-esque debut novel about a murder that disrupts a family’s life on mid-twentieth-century Martha’s Vineyard, by the great-great-great-granddaughter of Herman Melville. Liza Klaussmann grew up spending her summers on the Vineyard, and her memories helped knit together the setting, tastes, smells, sounds, and feelings that create the almost tangible beauty permeating TIGERS IN RED WEATHER.
Nick and her cousin, Helena, came of age in the glow of good fortune at Tiger House, the family’s rambling home on Martha’s Vineyard. On the brink of the 1960s, Helena and Nick are back at Tiger House as adults, with their respective children, Ed and Daisy, and Nick’s husband, Hughes. Daisy has inherited all of Nick’s fire, if not more, and is obsessed with becoming a champion at tennis. Ed seems to be obsessed with Daisy. Then Daisy and Ed discover the victim of a brutal murder—and everything starts to unravel. As the members of the family spin out of their accustomed orbits, secrets come to light, and nothing about their lives will ever be the same.
With multiple points of view and characters that recall those of John Cheever and F. Scott Fitzgerald, TIGERS IN RED WEATHER is an irresistible story about a high-society New England family forced to reckon with what lies just under the skin. Readers will fall in love with the dark beauty and sublime atmosphere of this compelling tale.
Liza Klaussmann worked as a journalist for the New York Times for over a decade. She received a BA in creative writing from Barnard College and was awarded its Howard M. Teichmann Prize for Prose. She lived in Paris for ten years and now resides in London, where she recently completed an MA with distinction in creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Herman Melville.
Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann
Back Bay Books | June 18, 2013
Trade Paperback | 384 pages | ISBN: 978-0-316-21132-1
