By setting her story in an imaginary country with no precise date, Obreht highlights the folktale and fairytale elements from the beginning of the novel. Set adrift from exact facts and history, Obreht weaves together folktale and reality, tradition and modernity, creating a tapestry that underscores the impact of a destabilizing war followed by a restless peace. Echoes of the past constantly mirror the present. For example, Natalia’s grandfather’s war, WWII, nestles next to Natalia’s war, the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Both the grandfather and Natalia grow up enduring lengthy, country and village destroying wars. Folktales are one way to cope with the fear and ugliness of reality.

The novel’s echoing structure delineates two wars, two childhoods, two doctors, and two folktales: the tiger’s wife and the deathless man. These echoes serve to magnify the similarities between the time periods and narratives, but they also destabilize and confuse the reader about what time period is which, adding a constant element of unreality to the narrative.

The grandfather also lacks a first name, only referring to himself as Dr. Leandro in the first deathless man story. He is constantly referred to as “grandfather,” even in the narrative of his childhood.