Episode 14: ’The Tiger’s Wife’ and ’We Need to Talk About Kevin’

In their very last Writer and the Critic podcast for 2011, your hosts Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond ramble only briefly before leaping boldly forth into their discussion of the selected novels, both winners of the Orange Prize for Fiction in their respective years. As usual, there are significant plot spoilers for both books, so take heed of the timestamps if you wish to avoid them. Discussion of The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht begins at 05:15 and includes references to a review by Philip Hensher at The Telegraph as well as this one by Ruth Fowler at the Huffington Post. At the 35:15 mark, the two then move on to We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Kirstyn quotes from this Guardian article by Lionel Shriver and recommends the newly released film starring Tilda Swinton -- but only if you read the book first! If you've skipped ahead, please come back at for final remarks at 01:21:40. Next month -- next year! -- Ian has picked Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord while Kirstyn has chosen Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. Due to their hectic end of year schedules, neither of them have actually had a chance to read their own recommendations yet so they're each looking forward to finding out what they themselves think . . . Happy New Year!