Life of Pi

A great book bust read

This book is one of my favourite stories. Martel blends reality and fantasy so well that I had to keep examining the book jacket to see if it said "based on a true story" anywhere.

Tertemiz ve elime hızlı ulaştı teşekkürler

delivered as promised

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi raises a question that no other novel has ever done before. In proper paradox, the author catalogs the tale that Pi tells of his voyage and one in which one in which replaces the barbaric animals with human beings, seemingly questioning both the Japanese officials and reader’s faith one token. 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? The son of a zookeeper, Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. 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 while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. Much in the story is left up to the reader’s imagination as it leaves out key details that prove to be crucial to the story such as the sinking of the Tsimtsum and the disappearance of Richard Parker. In part one of the book, Yann Martel sets up the theme of religion by establishing Pi’s poly-religious worshipping preferences: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. More so, Martel’s introduction and analysis of the zoo give the reader thoughtful insight into his purpose for the book. Martel hopes to inspire readers’ thoughts by using animals to symbolize how similar people are in fact to other species. In part two of the book, the reader is unaware of the significance of the novel (which could be perceived as ineffective by some at this point), and what Yann Martel is trying to bring to his or her attention. At this point in the novel, Martel relies on his extremely gifted storytelling abilities, giving the reader the impression that Life of Pi is just another entertaining modern survival novel. However, the author makes sure to give subliminal messages throughout the novel, almost all of which carry a heavier significance by part three of the book. There are times when Martel pushes the didactic agenda of his story too hard. One episode involving a bizarre ''Gandhian'' island of carnivorous seaweed -- populated by an enormous herd of South African meerkats -- struck as a little too baldly allegorical, however magical in its imagery. Despite this Martel is able to keep his feet on the ground by focusing on the physical and logistical details of his hero's predicament. Moreover, in the book's final chapters Martel gives Life of Pi an intriguing twist. After the lifeboat comes safely to shore in Mexico (and Richard Parker disappears without ceremony into the jungle), Pi finds that his wild narrative is not believed by the officials sent to debrief him. And he knows exactly why: ''You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. Urged to provide a more credible explanation for his survival, Pi placates the officials with a story that contains just the kind of ''dry, yeastless factuality'' they're looking for. But is this more straightforward (and tigerless) version of events actually closer to the deeper truth of his adventure? It's a testimony to Martel's achievement that few readers will be tempted to think so. Whether the first or second story is accurate is left up to the reader to decipher. Perhaps the best indication of Life of Pi as a contemporary Postmodern novel is its theological destitution: instead of being interested in the theological basis of Pi’s soul, it is really interested only in the theological basis of storytelling. The former is or could be a day to day, lived reality; the latter is only a piquant but now familiar contemporary abstraction. Yann Martel’s prose leads the reader to believe Pi’s abstract story as told with conviction and establishes a bridge between religion and the moral of the story being hope: without hope the situation seems helpless and barbaric but with hope the situation is romanticized and tells the tale of love and admiration. The novel leaves the reader desiring more of the story and will leave him with a better understanding of animals, the barbarity of the human race and will leave much to ponder about the story of a young man and his journey with a Bengal Tiger.

Recommend fir those who seek unexpected adventure!