Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction
Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional-but is it more true?
Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
ReplyDeletePart survival fiction, part mind-bending psychological thriller, Yann Martel’s ‘Life of Pi’ is wholly a profound literary meditation on the soul sustaining power of Faith.
The basic story, as told to the Narrator, is the account of Piscine Molitor Patel’s horrific seven-month ordeal at sea, after the ship that he’s traveling on sinks in the Pacific. Pi, with his twin majors in Zoology and Religious studies, is a compelling hero – vulnerable and invincible, gentle and savage.
Caught between the cusps of his spiritual leanings on the one side and the animalistic instinct for survival on the other, Pi, like his namesake number, defies easy definition.
I could see parallels between William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ and R.K. Narayan’s ‘A Tiger for Malgudi’. Whatever the author’s inspiration, his voice is uniquely his own. And, if he makes a few missteps in his writing, it’s all the more surprising, because he’s so surefooted everywhere else. Though the latter end of the book seemed to lag a little, and appeared to become a bit too surreal for comfort; in the final chapters, he had me floored, and with an immediate urge to start reading from the beginning all over again.
In Pi’s shoes, what would we do? More to the point, what would we not do? And once we’ve done the unthinkable, how do we reclaim our humanity again? Yet, Pi emerges through his trial, his soul intact - a survivor in every sense of the word.
Is this a “story that will make you believe in God”? Well, the proof of that pudding is in the ‘Life of Pi’. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever had any curiosity about the divine human animal that is Man.
"Piscine Molitor Patel is fiction. You won't find him outside of "Life of Pi". But Martel packs such a realistic punch in his portrayal of Pi, that it makes you wonder and wish he were real.
ReplyDeleteThe book is about Pi's ordeal at sea, adrift in the Pacific while he struggles against the elements, a
more insidious battle is on - the struggle for his soul.
With his faith in God and cherished religious convictions taxed to its limits, this book distills the
essence of faith and the role of God in our lives.
Allegories and symbolism abound in Pi, and kudos to the author - the interpretation of events is only limited by one's imagination.
One quibble I had was his exposition on zoos. Interesting as it was, what's the relevance?
Whimsical yet touching, crisp but meandering at times this book which both soothes and stimulates is a keeper.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, this book can be considered a modern folk lore with a deeply spiritual connotation and immensely entertaining and uplifting tale of the survival of Pi Patel the castaway, in the Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, the book makes you look deeper into its characters (animal and human), the setting, the plot, and presents several insights and interpretations to the story. Is it one’s journey through the ocean of life and basic instincts to survive, is it the search of our identity- our real self, or is it the path to spiritual enlightenment?
The power of story telling unfolds when it seems easier to accept life's lessons from a fictitious version with animals rather than humans in their place. A very interesting choice of animals and situations to draw parallels between human-animal behaviors and psychology wrapped around the "elusive Pi" whose personality is an intelligent combination of love for animals, religious tolerance rather unity and affinity to water!
The book is an easy read and a treat to ones imagination and visualization of the beauty and brutality of nature, in its elemental and life forms. The engineer, however, struggled with the descriptions of the design and orientation of the lifeboat and raft in the rough ocean.
Pi and his relationship with Richard Parker keep growing on you. This is one of those books that is not easily forgotten and love to recommend.