Life of Pi by Yann Martel
4/5 stars ****
Courtesy: Amazon
Premise- (3.5/5) On one hand, this book is a winner of the Booker Prize and was huge for a while oh, I don’t know, maybe five-ish years ago, when the movie came out. On the other hand, I was a little skeptical and thought it might be pretty boring. How long can you string out a shipwreck survival story? But oh, what a story. Stuck in a lifeboat with an adult tiger for over 200 days? I was definitely intrigued.
Characters- (4.5/5) Our main character is Pi Patel, and his character and voice were extremely compelling. Practitioner of three different religions, son of a zookeeper, and shipwreck survivor. Pi’s beliefs, his honesty, and his tenacity make him endearing. As for his cast of supporting characters, it’s hard to say. On one hand, there are the human characters who appear at the beginning and end of the novel, who we don’t see much of. Pi’s family felt real enough, but we really don’t see too much of them. And then of course, there are his fellow lifeboat passengers, most notably, Richard Parker. I have to say, I loved the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. If you’re looking for a human-pet bonding story, or expecting domestication and cuddles, you won’t find that in this book. That’s part of what made it so different for me. The continued reminders of Richard Parker’s ultimate wildness and animal-ness put things in perspective constantly, and that was really interesting. Of course, when you consider the ‘alternate ending’ of sorts, the characters are a little different, so let me just say (trying not to spoil anything), that those characters also felt totally plausible and almost unsettlingly real.
Plot- (4/5) For a lot of this book, the plot didn’t impress me a ton. The thing about survival stories is that they are necessarily filled with a lot of exact details about that survival was maintained. And while Life of Pi certainly didn’t swamp you with those the way some other novels in this genre do, they were definitely there. And that’s not super interesting to me (although hopefully I absorbed some of it in case I ever need those details). There isn’t a ton of plot, and the pacing of the novel is very strange, echoing Pi’s confusion and loss of sense of time during his ordeal. But the ending–the ending really elevated the plot rating for me. It provided an alternate version of events, one that was grim, disturbing, and confusing. It totally threw me for a loop and made me doubt the whole story–I’m still not sure how I feel.
World- (4/5) The world of this novel encompasses a couple settings, but I’ll focus on those in part two: the lifeboat and the island. Those both felt…real but not real. The writing (see below) was vivid and full of details that made the world come alive. The story’s unbelievable aspects coupled with the starkly realistic details of Pi’s daily life created a world that felt at once real and fictional, some sort of alternate universe that was still within our plane of reality. In summary, it was trippy. But I liked it a lot.
Writing- (3.5/5) The writing could be a little dense at points. But it was also honest, heart-breaking, and made an impossible story totally believable for me. Not the most beautiful or elegant writing I’ve ever read, but full of emotion, touched with humor, and ultimately engaging.
Overall- (3.9/5) Though I struggled with the middle of this book a little, it ended up being an excellent read. I didn’t realize how excellent until after I finished it, and I cannot stress enough how thought-provoking this book was for me. An incredible story and good writing made Life of Pi a definite win for me. It’ll definitely stick with me for quite some time to come, raising important and sometimes unsettling questions about human nature and belief. Though I had some doubts about this book, it really sucked me in.
Trigger Warnings: cannibalism, starvation