Book Review: Life of Pi

Hi Ladies! For those of you that could not attend Book Club this month I will give you a quick review of the book for July which was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. We all agreed that this book was very difficult to get into, but if you could reach Part 2 it definitely picked up and got interesting.

It was about an Indian boy named Pi who was very spiritual and tried to find direction in his life. He and his family move to Canada on a boat, along with many zoo animals since this was their family business, and the boat sinks. Most of the book was about Pi's struggles to survive 227 days on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with his only companion Richard Parker, a tiger. Initially there was a zebra, hyena, orangutan, and tiger on the boat with Pi. The other animals did not have a fighting chance with a tiger on board. Pi had to make sure Richard Parker knew that he was "alpha". They learn to survive together; without each other they surely would be dead.

We discussed the many things Pi had to do to survive...some of them rather disgusting! How far would you go to survive? One very intriguing scene was the "living" island that consumed life. We determined this to relate to how Pi's humanity was being sucked out of him on his journey to find land. Eventually they stumble upon Mexico.

Part 3 was about an interview Pi had with maritime inspectors who wanted Pi to tell his story of his journey. Unfortunately, for some, this was where the twist happened in the book...yes, you have to read this far! The interviewers did not believe his story with the animals and wanted him to tell the "real" story. So, Pi told them another story where Pi was Richard Parker, the tiger; the orangutan was his mother; the hyena was a butchering cook; and the zebra was a sailor. Pi told them to choose which story they liked; they chose the story with the animals. Pi related this to God, having faith, and believing in the unbelievable.

I had everyone rate the book from 1 to 5. I actually gave it a 2! But after discussion I liked the book better. I was told to read this book by some coworkers and that it would be a good "book club" book. I hope you were one who enjoyed the "adventure" and if you didn't, that's ok too :)

Happy Reading!

Lisa