Chapter 7 Summary

"The Butcher"

Natalia describes how, in the days following Luka and Jovo's return from their tiger hunting expedition (Chapter 4), her grandfather wondered about Luka's wife and why she was in the smokehouse. She also describes what neither he nor the town knew - that in those same days, Luka assaulted his wife so hurtfully that she could not appear in public. Natalia then describes how Luka came to be the man he is.

"Because I am trying to understand now what my grandfather did not know then," she says, "it's ... important to be able to say 'Luka was a batterer, and here is why.'"

Natalia writes of Luka's childhood, during which he endured an abusive home life by dreaming of being a musician, and by enjoying (perhaps a little too much) the company of other young men as they bathed together. He...