Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Yann MartelEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-05-01
ISBN: 0156027321
Number of pages: 326
Publisher: Harvest Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780156027328
- Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
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Book Reviews of Life of Pi
Book Review: Leave my agnostic imagination alone!
Summary: 3 Stars
Yann Martel anticipated readers like me. He wrote, in Chapter 22, "Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self ... to the very end, lack[s] imagination and miss[es] the better story." That is where he was wrong. Just as an evolution biologist can better admire the intricate beauty and infinite possibilities (as well as statistical improbabilities) of the universe than a Bible-thumping creationist zealot, an agnostic can better appreciate the duality of humanism vs. supernaturalism.
Martel's treatment of the ending made light of the Japanese officials' interrogation of Pi and made the officials incompetent and irrelevant laughingstock. In spite of the otherwise well written novel (albeit having an excruciatingly slow Part One), I found myself thoroughly disappointed in Martel's reluctance to let alone the reader's imagination of what truly happened at sea.
Oh, don't even get me started on the reading group guide. If I were a lawyer, I would accuse this guide of leading the witness!
Summary of Life of Pi
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. 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 while 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?
Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."
An award winner in Canada, Life of Pi, Yann Martel's second novel, should prove to be a breakout book in the U.S. At one point in his journey, Pi recounts, "My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time." It's safe to say that the fabulous, fablelike Life of Pi is such a book. --Brad Thomas Parsons
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