Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Meet Pi, a 16 year old boy with a hyena, zebra, a female orang utan and a Royal Bengal tiger for company, all of them sharing the same lifeboat after the cargo ship that was suppose to take him and his family to Canada sank. Needless to say, the hyena, orang utan and the zebra was no match for the Bengal tiger. So that left Pi and the tiger whose name is Richard Parker all alone on the lifeboat. Not a very comforting thought for any human being.
But Pi is no ordinary 16 year old boy. While he was growing up in Pondicherry, being the son of a zookeeper, he was exposed to the animal world, learning about the complexities of relationships among the different species. He understood what he needed to do in order to survive. He had to tame the tiger. In other words, he had to show Richard Parker who's "da man". Killing R.P or letting it die was out of the question. Loneliness is a far more deadlier partner than Richard Parker will ever be. And so they survive out in the open sea for more than 200 days.
Pi is also a boy who embraces God and spirituality wholeheartedly, so wholeheartedly that he is a Hindu, Muslim and Christian all at the same time. The part in the novel where all his religious teachers confronted him and each other was one of the funniest in the book!
The extraordinary adventure of Pi and Richard Parker comes to a close when they finally reach land...Mexico. And at the end, you are given a choice; either to choose to believe in the tale of a Bengal tiger and his mate, a 16 year old boy, or in another more plausible yet disturbing story. Which one would you choose to believe in?
I have to admit that I have my doubts about this book. Even though it had won the Man Booker Prize and was hugely popular at that time, if it were not for the Maruzen sale, I would not have bought this book.....at least not now anyway. So I was glad to have been proven wrong. Highly recommended...but then again, I have yet to come across a book that I really don't like. Hmmm...that should be my next mission.
But Pi is no ordinary 16 year old boy. While he was growing up in Pondicherry, being the son of a zookeeper, he was exposed to the animal world, learning about the complexities of relationships among the different species. He understood what he needed to do in order to survive. He had to tame the tiger. In other words, he had to show Richard Parker who's "da man". Killing R.P or letting it die was out of the question. Loneliness is a far more deadlier partner than Richard Parker will ever be. And so they survive out in the open sea for more than 200 days.
Pi is also a boy who embraces God and spirituality wholeheartedly, so wholeheartedly that he is a Hindu, Muslim and Christian all at the same time. The part in the novel where all his religious teachers confronted him and each other was one of the funniest in the book!
The extraordinary adventure of Pi and Richard Parker comes to a close when they finally reach land...Mexico. And at the end, you are given a choice; either to choose to believe in the tale of a Bengal tiger and his mate, a 16 year old boy, or in another more plausible yet disturbing story. Which one would you choose to believe in?
I have to admit that I have my doubts about this book. Even though it had won the Man Booker Prize and was hugely popular at that time, if it were not for the Maruzen sale, I would not have bought this book.....at least not now anyway. So I was glad to have been proven wrong. Highly recommended...but then again, I have yet to come across a book that I really don't like. Hmmm...that should be my next mission.
posted by AL LEE at 1:27 AM
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