Life of Pi by Yann Martel Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Life of Pi
Book Review: "A story to make you believe in God."
Summary: 5 Stars
Life Of Pi could be considered the best book written in the 21st century, thus far. Our story starts off in a small town called Pondicherry on the coast of Tamil Nadu, south of Madras, which had been the capital of French India, with our protagonist Pi Patel. Pi is young man whose livelihood is cut short when he is shipwrecked and finds himself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat in the company of five zoo animals including a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. This book is the most fantastic story I've read in my entire life, and in this day and age where 90% of stories are easily predictable, Life of Pi is a refreshingly absorbing tale that never ceases to surprise you. Martel's writing style is unparalleled and is truly deserving of the awards this book received. Though I still don't quite understand how this is a story to make you believe in God, Life of Pi is unrivaled as my favorite book and I hope you will enjoy it as much I have time and time again.Book Review: "And so it goes with God."
Summary: 5 Stars
I've often been motivated to write reviews for books that I've read, but after looking at the comments of other reviewers, my own thoughts seemed fleeting and unimportant. However, I think that there is something in this book which many might have missed, and I will perhaps try to expand upon that now. I hasten to use Amazon.com as a book discussion forum; so, for those who want a simple "good" or "bad", suffice it to say that the experience of reading book is well worth its price. Whatever they are charging these days, and whatever better things you think you might have to do, do yourself a favor and read this one.In Yann Martel's "Life of Pi," we are presented with two starkly different accounts of what really happens to the young Pi Patel. One version of the story takes place over 90 chapters, and it is as filled with wonder and mystery as any works of fiction that I've ever read. The other is explained over the course of two, maybe three pages, and plainly stated, it is awful.
At the end, and in many ways throughout this story, the reader is forced to suspend his or her disbelief - to sacrifice the horrible obviousness of reality on an alter of pure imagination (to twist the author's words). Yet, even being a rather mathematical person, I had no troubles doing this, simply because I was aware that I was reading a book - a work of fiction, pure and simple.
In life, however, I am often not so forgiving. The terrible destructiveness of nature; the starvation of millions; the unquantifiable suffering that we all endure has, in some ways, lead me to reject the idea of God. Like Bertrand Russel, a mathematician and devout atheist, is said to have stated, "Why, God, [if you exist] do you give us so little evidence of your existence?"
Its hard to see how people can read this book and find the importance of religion completely irrelevant. The same reviewers who identify the importance of telling, even believing in the "better story" fail to extend that idea through the work itself. There are many of us who go through life doubting an underlying reason for the happenings of things. Random chance occurances - flips of the coin that trigger events - for most of my life I've always thought that this was the way of things.
I don't think I'm doubting that now, to be honest. A story of life with God watching down upon me would of course be a far "better story" than one of probability, of cause and effect, of divine independence. That doesn't mean that its entirely believable - and I don't know if this book has made me "believe in God" the way its author meant it to - but such an explanation of reality is, of course, a "better story."
In any event, I have tried to give words to vague ideas that flutter about in my mind, only minutes after finishing this work. For what its worth, I believe solemly that Pi Patel survived for several months with the company of a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. As for the rest of things - life itself - I remain skeptical.
Book Review: "I Have a Story that Will Make You Believe in God..."
Summary: 5 Stars
With a blurb that proclaims that this is a story that will make you believe in God, one thing can be said that "Life of Pi" certainly has big ambitions. The amazing thing about it however, is that (for me, anyway) it makes a pretty good case for this statement to be true.
Yann Martel begins the tale describing his own experiences as a writer with the dreaded writer's block. Taking a trip to India in order to bring his inspiration to life, he meets Mr Adirubasamy, a man who claims to know a story that will make you believe in God. Intrigued, Martel inquires further, gathers the relevant information and is soon knocking on Piscine Molitor Patel's door. Piscine Patel (strictly "Pi" for short) survived for over a year in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, relying his logic and reason, his animalistic instincts and above all, his abiding faith in God to help him do it.
Martel switches to Pi's story, telling it to us in first-person narrative, as Pi tells us of his life in India before his fateful voyage to Canada. He was the son of a zoo-owner, and happily spent his childhood studying the animals in the paradise-like Pondicherry Zoo, and following his own rather unorthodox religion of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, delighting and believing in all three.
But when the ship taking him and his family to Canada sinks, Pi finds himself adrift in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Fighting to stay alive in such conditions is Pi's task for the next two hundred and twenty seven days, as gradually he realises that the only way to survive Richard Parker is to learn to live with him. The domestication of the tiger begins as Pi becomes the ringleader, zookeeper and alpha male in the tiny world of the lifeboat.
On the way, Pi must deal with his own physical suffering and internal impulses, as well as a cannibalistic Frenchman, the tediousness of the days and an island that Jonathan Swift's Gulliver seems to have missed on his own voyage - an island holding a carnivorous secret.
It all sounds more than a little odd, but Martel grasps our suspension of disbelief and forces us to make us believe in what he's saying. It is not simply his attention to detail of the lifeboat's interior, the systematic taming of Richard Parker (rest assured, if you ever find yourself in a lifeboat with a tiger after reading this, you'll know exactly what to do), or the outside sources he quotes, such as the newspaper articles on Pi's ordeal or the transcript of the Japanese businessmen's discussion with Pi, but the utter conviction with which he speaks. I could not help but agree with whatever he said, whether it was the state of animals in zoos or the workings of God and mankind. The degree of wit and intelligence he writes with is intoxicating.
The third and final part of the book is perhaps the most fascinating, when Pi discusses his voyage with the two Japanese businessmen, and ends up telling them two stories: one that he claims is true, with the animals in tact, and a second one in which he replaces them with humans in a more realistic, though painfully dreadful version of events. He then poses the question: since it doesn't really make a difference which one you believe, then you have a choice on which one you decide see as the "true" one. In this lies the promising statement - that this story will make you believe in God, as Martel points out the advantages of faith far outweigh those found in atheism. And since there's a good chance it doesn't make a difference anyway, Martel's answer to "Why believe in God?" is:
Why not?
Book Review: "Life leaps over oblivion lightly..."
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the book I had been looking to read for a long time... and I am glad a friend pointed it out to me. I had read THE ALCHEMIST and then THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN hoping for such a read. FIVE PEOPLE was close - but Martel's handling of the truths we know and the lives we live through the story of PI was a perfect fit.
A sinking ship... a tiny life boat... a boy and a large cat. The exploration of cage and confines, isolation and companionship, preservation of freedoms and organized religion rocked gently on the ocean with Pi and Richard Parker.
Pi is a clear storyteller - his language investigating his thoughts carefully. His words and actions described fully - but nothing is ever overdone. Every sense of a leaping over of oblivion, social order, and fear versus danger are explored in the long ordeal of Pi at sea with the tiger.
At the end of the book - specifically the re-telling of the story - I was reminded not so much of God, but of the strength of human nature [or that of any living thing] - and its potential to surprise.
Book Review: "Lost" at sea.
Summary: 5 Stars
Like the "Lost" TV show...very creative and ingenious. Also very touching. Like no other book I've read.