Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Yann MartelEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-05-01
ISBN: 0156027321
Number of pages: 326
Publisher: Mariner Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780156027328
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Book Reviews of Life of Pi
Book Review: An Allegorical Tale About the Joys, Sorrows, Challenges, Triumphs and Disappointments of Life
Summary: 5 Stars
My son read the Life of Pi by Yann Martel back when he was a senior in high school. He thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommended I read it. The book opens with the Author's Notes, or what is usually referred to as the Preface or Prologue, where Martel sets up the the book by letting the reader know why and under what circumstances he came to write this tale about a family named Patel who live in Pondicherry, India during the mid-1970s and who own and manage the local zoo. They have two sons, Ravi and his younger brother Piscine. Martel says he usually writes fictional stories, but because of the amazing circumstances surrounding what he calls this unbelievably gripping, true-life journey of the Patel family, especially the younger brother Piscine, he decided to chronicle their amazing life and death adventure.
Having lived in Calcutta, India myself for a short period in the early 1980s, I found this intriguing story irresistible. Little did I know the twists and turns that awaited me. It didn't take long before it became clear the author had written more of an allegorical tale than a true life story. Unlike quite a number of those who posted book reviews, I was only reading Life of Pi for the pure enjoyment of the story. Some reviewers decided to wax philosophical about the story which led to a number of pretty hotly contested arguments over the author's obvious symbolic illustrations as to what was the true, deeper meaning of Martel's tale. However, please pardon me for saying so, I didn't read the Life of Pi as a school assignment or for a group discussion; I simply read it for the pleasure of the tale. So there will be very few, if any, dynamic and unwavering opinions in my review. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure with the numerous reviews on the Life of Pi to choose from, this shouldn't be a disappointment to anyone.
As most authors do, Martel spends the first part of the book introducing the reader to the key characters. In one part, he adds a very clever and humorous story on how the main character, younger brother Piscine Molitor Patel, came to be called Pi. At times Martel seemed to intentionally provide the reader with an over abundance of detailed information about individuals and any particular subject. He does this early on concerning the management of the family zoo, especially a number pages specifically on animal husbandry. He also adds a fairly humorous defense and the benefits of wild animals living in a zoo environment rather than out in their natural habitat. This style of detailed dialogue would be repeated on several different subjects throughout the book, which is what gave me my first inkling that this was not going to be your typical adventure story. I found the detailed discussion informing, and later on in the story very helpful, whereas a number of other reviewers clearly found them boring and pure agony.
As a result of the poor political and economic conditions in India in the 1970s under Mrs. Gandhi's administration, Mr. Patel, Pi's father, decides to sell the zoo and move his family of four to Toronto, Canada. Their adventure begins when they book passage on a Japanese-owned cargo ship so they can accompany a number of their zoo animals while they are being relocated. For reasons never clearly explained, the ship sinks not long after their stop in Manila. As a result of some pretty unusual events, Pi finds himself in danger in one of the ship's large, 26-foot lifeboats, along with some less than welcome company--a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, an injured zebra, a viscous hyena, an agitated orangutan, a rat and a band of cockroaches. Pi, a now terrified 16-year-old, occupies one end of the metal lifeboat, while all of the animals occupy the other end. Through a series of very explicitly barbarous scenes, Pi is forced to watch while all of the animals are systematically exterminated, except for the tiger, realizing his own life will likely soon come to a similar end.
Pi spends the rest of this nightmarish journey doing everything he can to stave off his own death. Through his intelligent use of what he learned and observed at the family zoo (see, I told you it was important), a detailed survival book, a cleverly devised makeshift raft and the food and water already stored on the lifeboat, as well as an peculiar eclectic system of religious beliefs, Pi is able to not only delay his own demise during the 227-day journey, but he even begins to establish himself as the alpha male on board; well, almost anyway.
The book moves along as a pretty tightly organized story. That is, until near the end when the hinges seem to loosen on the storyline and, in my opinion, some very bizarre events begin to take place; events that honestly don't seem to fit into this story at all. At one point, both Pi and the tiger are each clearly losing their battles against dehydration and starvation. In the process, Pi loses his eyesight and...inexplicably their boat bumps into the lifeboat of blind survivor from another shipwreck. The survivor and Pi have a nice little blind-person chat, after which Richard Parker suddenly leaps over and makes a meal out of the blind stranger.
Later, and with his vision now restored, Pi and Richard Parker land on a carnivorous algae island inhabited by thousands of meerkat-like animals. After discovering what the island is doing (slowly eating everyone--I told it was getting bizarre), Pi and the tiger leave the island and eventually land on a nice sandy beach in Mexico. Then suddenly Richard Parker bolts and runs into the nearby forest, never to be seen again. Pi is rescued by a group of locals on the beach and is nursed back to health in a hospital. The book begins drawing to a rather rapid and abrupt ending at this point with a question and answer session in the hospital between Pi and representatives from the Japanese freight company who are investigating the sinking of their cargo ship. He finds out at this point what he has suspected all along...that he is the only survivor from the ship disaster and is now a 17-year-old orphan. After Pi tells the two investigators his wild story the two investigators bluntly tell him his story is too far fetched and they don't believe it's what really happened (just as I don't believe the author's entire story is true). Pi angrily makes up a slimmed down, secular and less exciting version of the story, which curiously the two investigators don't seem to believe either. Interestingly, the two wind up filing the initial wild, faith-based version of Pi's story in their formal report, though I'm not really sure why. Their conversation is definitely an unusual and humorous exchange (spoken partly in English, partly in Japanese...well, sort of!) that you really need to read for yourself.
Like my son, I too thoroughly enjoyed this definitely unusual, exciting and often barbarous tale of savagery on the open sea. There is nothing common, routine or typical about the Life of Pi, which is probably the reason it has been so widely read, discussed and even debated. Martel skillfully cuts trough some of the gut-wrenching horror by carefully interjecting humor and humorous situations at key points, giving the reader a mental and emotional recess from all the chaotic action and anguish. My son thinks this book would make a good movie. I would agree only if the tediously slow parts and the 8-month voyage could be tightened up some without losing the book's storyline.
Finally, there was one statement early on in the book that was curiously never answered; at least not to my satisfaction anyway. Considering all that happened during Pi's nearly 8-month ocean voyage there is a statement either by Martel in his Author's Notes or possibly in chapter one assuring the reader that the story would have "a happy ending." Well, I'm still searching for that part. I guess maybe I must have a few pages missing from my book. Oh well, it was definitely an interesting read anyway.
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?
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 (and winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize), 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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