Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. 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 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 …
Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction
Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. 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 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?
Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.
I saw the movie first, and found it a visual feast, but I enjoyed the book a bit more. The lengthy first person narrative provides both a constant thread of humor and also an almost stream of consciousness philosophical musing. I read the critical reception in the wikipedia entry with the various philosophical messages attached to it (wikipedia calls it a "Canadian philosphical novel" which are three words I never thought I'd see together) but it is perhaps best enjoyed if you just read along and don't try to read too much into it.
Der erste Teil des Romans, das mit dem Ausprobieren des Glaubens, wirkt ein wenig wie ein Lückenfüller, um das Buch dicker zu machen. Die eigentliche Story ist dann aber packend erzählt. Der absolute Überlebenswille zählt! Und das gibt Mut und ist klasse!
I started off with a children's book. Now I'm done reading, half mesmerized and half shocked. The way the story was built up, caught me completely off-guard, with equal shares of pleasant surprises and bitter truths. It's all about hope and the perceiving the beauty around us. Now, to watch the movie.
Enjoyed reading this, although things kept getting stranger and more fantastical as it went along. Loved and was disappointed as things wrapped up, but made it worth having read all the way to the end.
An interesting adventure that took a little too long to get going. Prior to Pi arriving on the boat I felt the story dragged, but once the boat showed up so did the story. There were times I felt this story was too whimsical, too make believe, but everything made sense in the end and the conclusion left me satisfied. I didn't read this book seeking a deeper meaning, I enjoyed the tale and looked at the book as a story of human desire and will to live.
Opinions were all over the map, from "I loved it", to "Why did this win a Booker?". Some liked the religious philosophy in the first part, while others hated it. The suggestion was put forth that this book was really written for young adults, with a teenage protagonist and a final section that spelled out the allegories. Carolyn, who put much more thought into this book than I did, would wake up in the middle of the night to try to puzzle it out. Was Richard Parker God? Was he Nature, imperfectly subjugated by Man? Because having him be Pi's bestial alter-ego, who comes to the fore when disaster strikes and then disappears into the jungle when Pi reaches safety just isn't good enough.
This book is amazing. The story of Pi's "adventure" is at times sad, humorous, suspenseful, dramatic. All of this plus lots of wisdom among the many layered allegories.
