I'm halfway finished reading Yann Martel's Life of Pi. It has already exceeded my expecatations of a supposed sophomore level read. The basic premise (so far) is: young Indian boy grows up in Pondicherry, India where his family owns and runs a zoo. Piscine (Pi) is an extremely observant young man who wants to wholeheartedly be a Muslim, Hindu, and Christian simultaneously. He sees absolutely no reason why such a feat isn't possible until his innocent ideals are almost thwarted by grown ups from every direction. When he is 16 his family attempts to move out of India, during the time of Ghandi, to Canada in search of a better life, of course. On the nautical journey, the ship sinks, and Pi is the only human survivor stuck on a life boat with a zebra, Bengal tiger, male hyena, and female Orangu-tan named Orange Juice. (You must read to find out who's left, or just wait until I do, and I'll post it:)) Survival, faith, love, trust, confusion, this book paints with them all.
Yann's prose equally succeed at conveying both the breathtaking beauty of human and animal spirits and irrefutable gore of life's harsh realities. Pi is telling the story to the writer (and part-time narrator) as an old man, thinking back to his life altering sea expedition with the in-depth, profound, and meaningful insight that hindsight can provide. I have to remind myself of that because at times I question whether a young boy could formulate such thoughts and connections about and to the world around him, so keep that in mind if you give this one a try!
I am only halfway through, and I'll pick it up again as soon as I'm through here, but I haven't read a book in a while that I've connected so quickly and deeply with. I've smiled and nodded my head, "yes", but I have also cringed and even gotten sick to my stomach as life and death and the thin line between are so regularly explored. The strength of the human spirit screams to be recognized in this novel, and I can't wait to finish the rest...
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2 comments:
I like your explanation because I once was emailed long portions of "Pi" and I just could not get into that way. I think that's a terrible way to read a book.
So keep sharing - very interesting premise.
BTW I love your Mark Twain quote.
Please post when you finish the book. I love to hear what others think of the ending!
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