The Life of Pi
What a great book. These Canadian authors are continually surprising
me.
This book is about Pi (Piscine Patel) and his adventure with
living with a tiger on a boat and that he has a story that will make you
believe in God. Pretty broad hey?
For serious though. It
starts out with the introduction of Pi’s life in India and introduces us to how
he got his name and how he perfected giving oneself their own nickname. Throughout
his early years you can see that he is a smart kid; like in his thirst for
knowledge in the 3 main religions (Hindu, Catholicsm and Islam). I thought it
was great that both his parents accepted in a sense that he should be able to
go around, learning about all the different aspects of religion and then choose
what one he’d want to believe in. The
beginning of the book also shows how his family owned a zoo. It is from this
experience that Pi understands animals. He understands that they are wild and not
to anthromorphise them. This is an
important lesson that Pi faces everyday while stuck at sea. With the continual downward spiral of India’s
economy his family, in hopes of a better life want to relocated to
Canada (Winnipeg of all places!) . It is the eventual sale of the zoo and the
relocation of all the animals to American/Canadian zoos that leads them on a
Japanese cargo ship, Tsimtsum
destined across the Pacific.
The unthinkable happens and the
ship sinks. Pi finds himself on a life
boat, along with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and Richard Parker. Richard Parker is a male tiger. Undoubtedly,
all the animals are afraid, as they just about drowned, most likely in a drugged
out state from being in the cargo hold and then are thrown into another very unusual
situation.. Eventually nature takes it
course and the hyena goes crazy (aka-he’s just a hungry little shit). This is
when Richard Parker makes his debut. I
loved this part of the book. The orang part especially (shocker!). Martel did a very good job describing the situation;
he made you feel like you were there in the boat as well
Pi survives with Richard Parker for 227 days. He plays the
alpha role with Richard Parker, training him like a circus animal, respecting
territories, respecting the need that a full grown tiger needs to eat and drink
a lot, and if Richard Parker wasn’t full enough a little Indian boy was there
for picking. He never forgets the lesson
he learnt at the zoo, which I believed aided in his survival. I don’t think Pi
fully trusted Richard Parker and there were many times he spent scared shitless
on his raft. He became a master of
surviving, collecting water, catching and eating fish (or anything else that).
A strict vegetarian turned into a scavenger. It’s hard to imagine what you
would or would not do in order to survive, and until you actually get put into
that position, especially at 16 years old. I don’t think you can truthfully
answer it. I mean I would like to say I
would never eat tiger feces, but....
“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in
strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part
and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.”
Throughout the time on the boat he never loses his faith in
his religions, constantly calling out to all 3 big players. There
were times when you could tell he wanted to give up, but those were the times
he also told himself to buck up and keep going.
I like how in the end Pi gives two stories to the Japanese
officials. The one with the tiger and another less subdue, more believable
story. As much as you want to believe in the tiger story, there is always the
possibility that Pi did make it up, because hell, 200+ days at sea I’m sure you
would come up with a shit ton of imaginative stories. I guess it goes to show that there are always
2 sides of a story, and most likely more people will take the one that they can
understand, believe. So was it a story to make you believe in God? I don’t know. But something had to be going right for you if you can survive a 227 day journey with a tiger.
“If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is
hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God
is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to
believe?”
5 stars. Go pick it up, or if anything go download the
movie. They did it justice. You won’t
regret it.
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