Author: Yann Martel
This Is a fascinating book. There is so much fact in it that I kept checking that it was actually fiction.
Within the book is a treatise on the benefits of zoos and how, if they are created and maintained properly they are the best possible environment for the animals involved.
There is a discussion on comparative religions - Muslim, Hindu and Christianity. The main character gets involved and practices all three. He describes how they all benefit him in different ways.
Then there is the main part of the book - how to survive in a lifeboat at sea for seven months - especially if you are sharing the boat with a Bengal tiger. So there's a short treatise on how to train a tiger - how to let him know you are the alpha male and therefore he is not to dominate (aka eat) you.
Much of the book is matter of fact, and it is all beautifully written.
I HIGHLY recommend it.
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Comments: 9
Thank you for the review
I found the ending of the book... extraordinary. One that I had to listen to several times. For those of you who have read it: which story do you prefer/believe? Does it make a difference?
P.S. The Movie is supposed to be out next year.
P.P.S. Richard Parker lives.
It is a wonderful book, but I fear that putting it into the YA, or even children's section dilutes it a bit, and I'm worried about the movie, too. Not that YA or children's books can't be multilayered; I don't believe that for a second. But the whole tiger story is just so superficially entertaining on its own that the rest can be overlooked.
Kudos here to Yann Martel, for at this point I'd completely accepted Pi as a person.
Caught in this quandry, I think the author intends for us to further extrapolate to those faiths Pi practiced. How would we react if those principles that guide so many of us are revealed to have... less divine... natures? Would that make what we do and why we do it any less meaningful?
Religion & academics; fiction & non-fiction: I love the interplay!
I think Pi says "this is a book that will make you believe in God." I'm not a religious man, but I believe in Richard Parker (even though he may be "Schrodenger's Tiger"-- not one or the other, but both).
Enough of that-- I'd love to hear how you saw it.
I concur with your observations The Life of Pi in YA, but after chatting with some colleagues at Borders I've learned it's shelved in multiple areas. Apparently it's sold well in all areas. I don't mind expanding the reading audience (for a book like this) at all. As always: check out the audiobook. You'll bust out laughing when you hear Pi's academic review of Christianity; you'll sob during the final chapters. And, yep, bananas DO float!
I wish I could comment more fully, but it's been years since I read the book, and there have been oodles since then, so I can remember only the broadest of outlines. Perhaps one day, I will unearth the book from the storeroom and reread it, but until then I'm afraid that this is the best I can do. Sorry.