Life of Pi by Yann Martel
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Book Reviews of Life of Pi
Book Review: "And so it goes with God."
Summary: 5 Stars
I've often been motivated to write reviews for books that I've read, but after looking at the comments of other reviewers, my own thoughts seemed fleeting and unimportant. However, I think that there is something in this book which many might have missed, and I will perhaps try to expand upon that now. I hasten to use Amazon.com as a book discussion forum; so, for those who want a simple "good" or "bad", suffice it to say that the experience of reading book is well worth its price. Whatever they are charging these days, and whatever better things you think you might have to do, do yourself a favor and read this one.In Yann Martel's "Life of Pi," we are presented with two starkly different accounts of what really happens to the young Pi Patel. One version of the story takes place over 90 chapters, and it is as filled with wonder and mystery as any works of fiction that I've ever read. The other is explained over the course of two, maybe three pages, and plainly stated, it is awful.
At the end, and in many ways throughout this story, the reader is forced to suspend his or her disbelief - to sacrifice the horrible obviousness of reality on an alter of pure imagination (to twist the author's words). Yet, even being a rather mathematical person, I had no troubles doing this, simply because I was aware that I was reading a book - a work of fiction, pure and simple.
In life, however, I am often not so forgiving. The terrible destructiveness of nature; the starvation of millions; the unquantifiable suffering that we all endure has, in some ways, lead me to reject the idea of God. Like Bertrand Russel, a mathematician and devout atheist, is said to have stated, "Why, God, [if you exist] do you give us so little evidence of your existence?"
Its hard to see how people can read this book and find the importance of religion completely irrelevant. The same reviewers who identify the importance of telling, even believing in the "better story" fail to extend that idea through the work itself. There are many of us who go through life doubting an underlying reason for the happenings of things. Random chance occurances - flips of the coin that trigger events - for most of my life I've always thought that this was the way of things.
I don't think I'm doubting that now, to be honest. A story of life with God watching down upon me would of course be a far "better story" than one of probability, of cause and effect, of divine independence. That doesn't mean that its entirely believable - and I don't know if this book has made me "believe in God" the way its author meant it to - but such an explanation of reality is, of course, a "better story."
In any event, I have tried to give words to vague ideas that flutter about in my mind, only minutes after finishing this work. For what its worth, I believe solemly that Pi Patel survived for several months with the company of a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. As for the rest of things - life itself - I remain skeptical.
Book Review: An amazingly complex book, written with the skill of Gatsby
Summary: 5 Stars
First, I've read a few reviews that did not like this book, but I haven't read one negative review yet that seems to have understood it. Several people have commented that the early religious part of the book was better than the later part, and others complained that the religious part was not connected to the rest. They completely misunderstood the book. The entire work is a whole, not a series of stories.
This book is one of the most intricately and cleverly constructed books I've read since The Great Gatsby, and in some ways is more intricate. With Gatsby, the intricacy was in the plot and the characters, with Pi the intricacy goes into the metaphor the book creates. It IS a book which proves the existence of God, even though the proof is as "ontological" as that of Anselm of Bec, and even if one considers the God it proves to be a metaphorical God.
The entire book is a clever tale of an intriguing, innocent boy on a spiritual journey. That journey is interupted by a tragic shipwreck and a horrifying ordeal of survival. Pi, a kind-hearted vegetarian, is forced to live off the animals of the sea, while sharing his small raft with a viscious tiger whom he has to please, until he eventually is saved (Not a spoiler--you know this from the beginning of the book).
The tale itself is intriguing and excitingly told, but there are jarring moments that defy reality. The only reason these jarring moments work is because Jann Martel creates a writer's trust in the early stages of the book-- a trust built on his impeccable dexterity with language. A careful reader will even catch the hints throughout the book which justify these moments.
By the end of the tale, all fits perfectly into a whole that is not only a meaningful spiritual journey (even for an atheist like myself) and an ordeal of survival, but also a metaphor--perhaps one could call it an allegory-- for... Well, read it, and decide for yourself.
I, too, read the book as a straightforward story until I reached the end, and a whole new story opened up. I reread the book, searching for clues, trying to understand what Martel was saying. I could reread it several more times and learn more each time, I have no doubt. The book haunted me for months as I worked on the subtleties, on the metaphors, and each time I grasped one point, another seemed to be lying just beyond, slippery but waiting for the attempt to grab it, too.
I'm not claiming this is a book to change your life or alter your spiritual views, but it is a book that--if you understand it--will tickle those spiritual views, even if you aren't aware you have any. Ignore anyone who tells you this is a shallow book, or a simple book--they missed it. And if you aren't in the mood to be challenged, you may as well skip it, as well, until you are in the mood. This is not a simple book, and it is more than a story about a boy and a tiger in a lifeboat. It is very much more.
Book Review: Life of Pie; The Experience
Summary: 5 Stars
The book "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, a graduate of Trent University in philosophy, is an excellent read, telling about a young Indian boy's adventures. The book delves into religious affairs, while also staying exiting for the younger readers as Pi's journey on the Pacific Ocean is told. Told from Pi's perspective, this book explores Pi's mind, and how he deals with his situation.
When I first heard of this book, it seemed to be a very ridiculous plot - to be trapped on a boat with a tiger, and survive for even a day seems implausible. Just the bit on the back of the book makes it seem outlandish, saying "Pi Patel finds himself stranded in a lifeboat with a menacing 450-pound Bengal tiger for company." It seemed to me that the tiger would devour Pi the second that he felt the least bit hungry, but when I read this book, I found that this situation turned out to be believable. The way Martel describes Pi's circumstances and how Pi deals with them makes it seem very plausible that survival in harmony with this large Bengal tiger is possible.
Another main reason I enjoyed this book was to be able to see the religious outlook of a young innocent boy, as he explored different religions with an open mind. Near the beginning of this novel, Pi looks into two religions other than his own, and is criticized for it by his family and the religions. After a debate between the heads of the religions in the area and Pi's parents the come to a conclusion saying, "He can't be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim It's impossible. He must choose." Pi's innocent outlook can be seen when he is told to choose a single religion to practice, saying "Bapu Gandhi said, `All religions are true.' I just want to love God." It brings up the question, why can't religions exist in harmony; a young child seems to have no problem intertwining multiple religions. It is relieving to see read something like this with all the religious conflict in the world currently.
I felt that the one main weakness of this book was sometimes Pi's situation in the lifeboat was a bit confusing to me. Just the way his physical surrounding and the positioning of the lifeboat was described left me with some questions, but once I got a good picture in my mind of his surrounding on this lifeboat, I understood.
The only other bad part of this book would be the introduction. The reading of facts about animals does not interest me, but once I got through the first few chapters, I couldn't stop reading. I would say that struggling through the first little bit of this book to get to the rest of it was definitely worth my time.
I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting and explorative adventure. This book seems to be targeted at just about any audience. Younger children would most likely have problems reading this book because of its advanced nature. I would have to rate this book a twelve out of thirteen. I would definitely buy this book.
Book Review: One of the best I've read
Summary: 5 Stars
Yann Martel has, as far as I'm concerned, written a fine story in Life of Pi. So much of it rings true: the way it is presented (an author stumbles on a story while in India), the details, the conversations, the factual zoological elements, the humanness of the characters.
I was intrigued by the life of the teenaged Pi Patel in India and his fascination with religion. While no particularly deep or new theological epiphanies came out of it for the reader, from the view of a boy of sixteen or less, it seemed quite normal. My aunt spent 35 years as a missionary in India, and the story's background rings true, from what she told me about the land.
The family life was interesting, and all members were well-developed human beings so that there was nothing to detract from the reader's gullibility (or should we say,"acceptance?"): this might be non-fiction--a REAL story of a REAL human-being.
It is my belief that humans are naturally gullible creatures: if someone races into a cafe and shouts, "There's been a terrible accident down the street!" everyone believes them with no other evidence than their word , and wants to know more. Only incongruous details destroy our gullibility. And we test our gullibility regularly through our troubadors--our storytellers--laughing with relief only when we see through their deception. We are mental creatures, and like other carnivores sharpening their claws and establishing their territorial claims on trees, we sharpen our skills by relating to stories.
I was enthralled with the adventure on the high seas--all very believable. Ships DO vanish. I've been there, and the ocean is indeed vast and has many moods, all of which seem to be captured here. The plight with the zoo animals aboard the lifeboat seemed to me to be perfectly plausible and well-described. The animal reactions between Richard Parker and Pi Patel even seemed extremely plausible. In short, Yann Martel had me in the palm of his hand. The universe loves a story, and a storyteller is God's gift.
The implausiblility that finally led me to the inescapable conclusion that this was fiction, and not non-fiction posing as fiction, was the carnivorous floating island! Such a phenomenon would certainly have been discovered--probably centuries ago-- and would by now be overrun by zoologists, anthropologists, botanists, and others. It would be better known than the Seychelles. But it was this very implausibility that demonstrated the author's imagination, and proved beyond doubt his rank as a troubador.
Without the island sequence, the book might well have been accepted widely as non-fiction--simply an extraordinary tale recounted to the author as it was described in the beginning, which would have been a sad thing. A great talent would have been short-changed.
Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom--their care and maintenance
and other books
Book Review: The Deeper Meanings of Shipwreck & Life's Choices
Summary: 5 Stars
I was at first put off by the hype, which made it sound like THE CELESTINE PROPHECY, and I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading it and liking it, and after reading it a second time, it soars in my estimation.The protagonist is handicapped by his name, as well as by a physical inferiority and a speech impediment, all of which typecast him into a pecking order he longs to escape.
He studies pecking orders, and I enjoyed what he says about them, and then he takes charge of his own destiny, finding a way out of the pecking order, or at least, finding a way to stay off the lower rung of it.
Then Pi looks within the circle of being to achieve a higher state of awareness than those around him. There is no God but God, as the Muslims say, and he agrees, accepts all religions, even if the leaders of such reject him, for, he reasons, if there is no God but God, then he belongs to them all and they are--or rather should be if purely practiced--all the same.
He becomes religious in the best sense of the word, which is to say, not really a member of any one religion, but a member of them all, a believer in universal goodness, a non-secular Walt Whitman.
I enjoyed the first part of the novel much more than the second part, although the bit with the tiger was very good too. It says something about power and pecking orders and faith (or, hope, optimism, be-of-good-cheerfulness) and the reciprocal nature of goodness.
The reader is given a choice of endings, and I think that's the point. The stories are equally true, and the stories are equally fiction. The answer to the koan is, when given the choice between glass half-empty and glass half-full, we should choose the latter.
Back when Pi was caught in the pecking order, he saw himself as reflected in the eyes of others. He was trapped in the identity box where others defined him. He steps out of the box by achieving a higher sense of awareness. Then when he practices religion, he refuses to let others define his religion for him. He lives by his own definition.
Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be, as Lincoln said. Some things are beyond our control--we get cancer or involved in carwrecks or are stranded by shipwrecks--things which are the responsibility of Chance and Time--but we can achieve a better control on reality by taking control of the life of the mind and by directing ourselves in a positive way, living with a sense of goodness and personal responsibility.
I am reminded of the movie, GROUNDHOG DAY.
Yann Martel says that his choice of Richard Parker as the tiger's name was no coincidence. In fact, it's the result of a triple historical coincidence, two historical Richard Parker's having been involved in shipwrecks and cannibalism, and Edgar Allan Poe's novel, entitled THE ADVENTURES OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM, also features a Richard Parker and coincidentally in an ironic role.