Martel, Yann - Life of Pi

[oyceter]

Pi Patel is stranded at sea one day when the ship carrying his family and an assortment of zoo animals sinks. He's left on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and a very large tiger, and soon, it's just down to him and the tiger (Richard Parker). Various extremely strange experiences ensue as Pi attempts to stay alive, and there are many interesting digressions into the nature of story, zookeeping, animal behavior, and religion.

I'm not quite sure why this is a story that is supposed to make me believe in God, but then, I'm rather cynical about that to begin with. It's a very interesting book, definitely, and Pi has a sort of wide-eyed yet pragmatic narrative voice that makes for quite compulsive reading. I personally really liked the digressions, which branch into some very assorted topics (the swimming pools of Paris being one), but I suppose it could feel a little too exposition-y for others. I especially liked reading about Pi's attempts to train Richard Parker in an effort to stay alive. While it's a fun book, I'm still a bit confused as to why it won the Booker. I suppose it's because of the ending. But to be honest, I didn't think the ending was quite as mind-blowing as the author intended it to be.

Spoilers for the ending here:

I talked to a friend who read the book as well, and we both thought that the entire elaborate story of the zoo animals and the improbable survival was just that -- a story. My friend commented that we're both too cynical ;). I suppose there are people who read the book and who do think that the zoo thing happened, but from the way I read it, it didn't, and it's just a way to cover the brutal ugliness of humanity that comes out during the months at sea. And I can see how belief is a big part of the story -- the author has some chapters previously on how things like religion occur because people want to believe in something better, in something beyond the ugly facts of life. Alas, I returned the book so I don't remember the exact wording.

So while I think the metafiction part of the story is interesting, part of me doesn't like the fact that all the parallels are quite distinctly spelled out. And I think that maybe other people were much more impressed with the twist at the end than I was.

So, entertaining, but not stupendously mindblowing.

Links:
- minnow1212's review

Comments

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I also thought this book was hugely overrated. The treatment of religion seemed way too facile (actually, no, you can't believe in three religions at once without conflict), and the ending really didn't work for me.

[oyceter]

Well, in those three religions at least. I suppose it's much easier when it's a mix of Shinto/Buddhism/Confucianism. Not that Confucianism is actually a religion per se.

While I found Pi's interest in various religions believable, I think it wasn't explored to the depth it could have been. It seems more a set piece to make Pi stand out more as a character than an actual belief, if that makes any sense. The issue was more tossed out in the open and then pushed aside during the giant ocean adventure.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I personally thought the meta at the end seemed tacked on, whether it was crucial to the themes of the story or not. Also, it's been done much better before. Normal Again, anyone? ;-)

[oyceter]

Heh, yeah ;). The meta seemed like it was there for the sake of having meta, not for actually exploring what it meant.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

I loved the first part (with the comparative religions), liked the lifeboat and tiger stuff except that I felt it got too long, and hated the ending. "Frodo woke up; it had all been a dream." I don't agree with rilina above that you can't believe in three religions at once without conflict. Whether or not you can believe in those three religions without conflict is a deeper question, but Martel actually made me think about it. (I don't believe in any religions, myself.)

*sigh* The book won England's coveted Booker Prize, but a friend of mine who sits on a similar Canadian jury says they ruled it out way before the finals as too precious and contrived.

[oyceter]

I think my favorite bits were actually the ones on the animals -- how to run a zoo, animal traits, how to train a tiger, etc. I actually mentally skimmed a bit through the religious questions to get to more animal stuff ;).

I definitely agree with your friend on the Canadian jury!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

author has some chapters previously on how things like religion occur because people want to believe in something better, in something beyond the ugly facts of life

This is why it's meant to make you believe in God. You're meant to want to believe the animal story. Didn't work on me, either. ;-)

I liked it, but I didn't love it. Though I am looking forward to the film, with M Night Shyamalan directing...

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

The idea of a movie sounds intriguing (particularly directed by M. Night), but I'm not completely sure I'd want to see it. The tiger's devouring of the other animals, particularly if they show the zebra's slowly being eaten alive over the course of a few days, seems like it would be far too disturbing to watch. I had trouble reading those parts.

[oyceter]

I think I would be ok with it if they didn't film it very close up. Otherwise, yeah, I'm very squeamish. I suppose they could do lots of cuts with implied action?

[oyceter]

LOL! I suppose I'm entirely too cynical for that to have worked.

It's being turned into a movie?? Now that will be interesting with the right director...

[graygirl.livejournal.com]

I found the book entertaining, too, and agree with you on the ending.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I think I would have found it much more entertaining without the ending.

[kchew.livejournal.com]

I saw what happened in the first part of the book as being the truth, and the story at the end what he thought people would believe since they didn't believe the first part. A "You'll believe the ugly, but not the fantastical, so here's some ugly."

I like this interpretation, but maybe not everyone will. I can't say if the text will back me up: I read an advance proof, and haven't reread it.

[oyceter]

Oh that's interesting! My impression is that Martel left it up in the air so that people could decide either way.