Customer Reviews
Really Incredible - By: Hazy Daisy, 02 Jan 2008 
I always loved the cover of this book & got it out of the library with every intention of reading three or four times before I actuallly did read it. Thank goodness I did, is alll I can say!
Claudia's 'kaleidoscopic history' is beautifully recounted by the dying woman, loved & hated by those around her, slipping seamlessly between past & present. Every character feels human & alive, & even though there are aspects of Claudia's story that we know (without being told) pretty much from the outset, you can't help wishing that things would be different. Despite this, I just know that this story would be half as good if any detail was changed. I think the thing that makes it the most poignant is that this is such a vibrant life, & yet the nurse has to ask the doctor 'Was she somebody?' It's as though Claudia has already died, & I felt to a large extent that she had, because the reallly vital Claudia was left behind with the characters who died before her, & it's just a shadow lying in the hospital bed.
This is a beautiful story of life & love, my favourite book of alll time (which is certainly saying something). Try Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier if you like this, I thought there were a few similarities.
QUITE SIMPLY, THE BEST.... - By: Val De Beer, 20 Dec 2007 It's been a while since I re-read 'Moon Tiger' & this new edition with the introduction by Anthony Thwaite, interested me & made me want to read it again.
It is quite simply the best book I've ever read.
Through the mind & voice of Claudia Hampton, who says that she is writing a history of the world- 'the whole triumphant unstoppable chute' we are introduced to a history of her world, & of the world of her beloved brother, Gordon, of her mother, who 'retired from history', of her lover & of their daughter, & then most of alll, of Tom, the man she loved above alll.
As she begins to tell of her experiences as she lies dying in hospital, she explores the power of words & of language - she a famous journalist who went to Egypt during the war to report home on the course of events.
It is there that she sees the Moon Tiger, 'a green coil that slowly burns alll night' which become the title of the book & a recurring metaphor.
As her own Moon Tiger burns down she remembers the faces & the characters whom she met.
She is not always liked by us the readers, especiallly when she tells of the growing up of her daughter,Lisa. Claudia was a self-obsessed, narcissistic woman alll her life & there was no room in her life for a baby daughter, so Lisa was looked after by her grandmothers.
Some of her actions in her formative years may shock us, but this is Claudia who went her way regardless of opposition & opprobrium, & is quite prepared to accept blame & criticism.
We are also given the points of view of the characters whom she discusses, so the novel is not one-sided with one authorial voice or the views of only one character.
Claudia faces her death with the courage & the eccentricity which we come to expect from her & we admire her for her attitude.
She tells us of the man, Tom Southern , whom she loved so much that it takes some time before she alllows herself to indulge in memories of their time together. Theirs was a great love...
This is a fine book, winner of the Booker Prize & an example of the best writing of one of our best novelists.
Do buy it - it is one of the greats.
