Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
A couple of camping trips and an adventure in the creek at the park are about as far as I've come to roughing it. I'm not that outdoorsy, and like a lot of people I've lived my life without ever having to survive. To be honest, I don't find survival stories that exciting. And it took me an obscenely long time to read Life of Pi, but don't fret, I absolutely loved it.
The story is about Pi Patel, an Indian boy who is a Christian, a Hindu, and a Muslim. His family owns a small zoo in India, but they're moving themselves and the zoo to Canada via cargo ship. On the voyage there, however, their boat sinks, and Pi finds himself in a small lifeboat with an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and an enormous Bengal tiger. The story is the story of his survival.
Some of my favorite stories are stories about stories, and this is one of those stories. The beginning of the book is very pretty. Pi has a pretty cool life. His family owns a beautiful zoo, and there are beautiful descriptions of all of the animals in it. He holds three faiths, and you get a little bit of insight into each. The first part of the book is very full and colorful and chock-full of gorgeous descriptions of faiths and animals.
That really contrasts with the second part of the book, the main portion, I suppose, where Pi is drifting along the sea with Richard Parker the tiger. The sea is not something that I like necessarily to read about, and I have to admit, that was what chewed up most of the time I spent reading it.
When I'm reading a book that's slow-paced or about a topic doesn't really interest me, I have to ask myself, is it worth it? Is the end good enough to justify reading all of the rest of the book? In the case of Life of Pi, I don't think it's possible to be disappointed by the ending. The last hundred or so pages are absolutely phenomenal, and it's one of those books that you can just think about forever, even when you've finished reading.
Something I especially loved was that the story wasn't laid out, like, here is the story, now here are the themes, now here is the end. Martel leaves almost the entire book up to your interpretation. How do you read the story? And if you have read it, which do you believe?
Absolutely amazing book, fantastic ending, so so so worth it.
The story is about Pi Patel, an Indian boy who is a Christian, a Hindu, and a Muslim. His family owns a small zoo in India, but they're moving themselves and the zoo to Canada via cargo ship. On the voyage there, however, their boat sinks, and Pi finds himself in a small lifeboat with an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and an enormous Bengal tiger. The story is the story of his survival.
Some of my favorite stories are stories about stories, and this is one of those stories. The beginning of the book is very pretty. Pi has a pretty cool life. His family owns a beautiful zoo, and there are beautiful descriptions of all of the animals in it. He holds three faiths, and you get a little bit of insight into each. The first part of the book is very full and colorful and chock-full of gorgeous descriptions of faiths and animals.
That really contrasts with the second part of the book, the main portion, I suppose, where Pi is drifting along the sea with Richard Parker the tiger. The sea is not something that I like necessarily to read about, and I have to admit, that was what chewed up most of the time I spent reading it.
When I'm reading a book that's slow-paced or about a topic doesn't really interest me, I have to ask myself, is it worth it? Is the end good enough to justify reading all of the rest of the book? In the case of Life of Pi, I don't think it's possible to be disappointed by the ending. The last hundred or so pages are absolutely phenomenal, and it's one of those books that you can just think about forever, even when you've finished reading.
Something I especially loved was that the story wasn't laid out, like, here is the story, now here are the themes, now here is the end. Martel leaves almost the entire book up to your interpretation. How do you read the story? And if you have read it, which do you believe?
Absolutely amazing book, fantastic ending, so so so worth it.
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