Life of Pi, Yann Martel

I was all sorts of tickled by this book. It started with the Author’s Note. Martel’s candid story of how this book came to be was engaging. First his remark about fiction – “That’s what fiction is abut, isn’t it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its essence?” And then he talks about the struggles to write, to create SOMETHING, something complete. He says, “It’s a misery peculiar to would-be writers. Your theme is good, as are your sentences. Your characters are so ruddy with life, they practically need birth certificates. The plot you’ve mapped out for them is grand, simple and gripping. You’ve done your research, gathering the facts – historical, social, climatic, culinary – that will give your story its feel of authenticity. The dialogue zips along, crackling with tension. The descriptions burst with color, contrast and telling detail. Really, your story can only be great.” While I myself am no author (yet) these aspects seem to be the EXACT components of a good book, a wonderful checklist, of sorts, items necessary for a good book, a good read. It’s something I’d use to describe several books I’ve read, or could pinpoint exactly which items not so good book does NOT have.

Mattel goes on, though, and names one other KEY element needed: “But it all adds up to nothing in spite of the obvious, shining promise of it; there comes a moment when you realize that the whisper that has been pestering you all along from the back of your mind is speaking the flat awful truth; it won’t work. An element is missing, that spark that brings to life a real story, regardless of whether the history or the food is right. Your story is emotionally dead, and that’s the crux of it.” A lovely description of what makes a book, a book. So I started out already enjoying the author.

The book is based off a true story, but while he writes in the first person narrative, still, it’s a fiction piece, with some liberties or nuances made by the author.

I first heard about this book from PCT Tim, who was reading it during training. I mentioned I hadn’t heard of it and Tim, in a very Tim-like manner, said “Really? You’re one of the few who hasn’t, most people seem to know it.” So at that point I figured I was missing out on something and wanted to catch up to everyone else. I didn’t need much more prompting, because of what Tim told me, it was an interesting story – a guy named Pi on a lifeboat with wild animals – very cool. HOW did they get on the life boat? WHAT animals are on there with him? Is it a Noah’s ark sort of thing, where the animals live peacefully with each other? How long are they all on the life boat? My curiosity had to be quenched. I found the book (unfortunately, a long line of people were attached to Tim’s books) at Y Public Library, another surprising delight.

The story pulled me right in on the first couple pages with his anecdotes about sloths. We learn that Pi had two majors – Zoology and Religious Studies; the book revolves around these two subjects. He grew up in a zoo – his father’s a zookeeper - and from an early age was interested in religion. His first religious experience was with Hindu. Though, he, too, became enthralled by Christianity and then Islam, practicing all 3. He was 14 when he “met Jesus Christ on holiday.” His perspective on Christianity and how he compares it to Hinduism is very original. Though the idea of Jesus and his death greatly perplexes him, he gets pulled in. “I couldn’t get Him out of my head. Still can’t. I spent three solid days thinking about Him. The more He bothered me, the less I could forget Him. And the more I learned about Him the less I wanted to leave Him.”

After becoming a Christian, he raced to the Hindu temple “-to offer thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus of Nazareth, whose humanity I found so compelling, in my way.” His first encounter and reaction to Islam and their prayers, the thought “Why, Islam is nothing but an easy sort of exercise.” He does go on to say, “I challenge anyone to understand Islam, its spirit and not to love it. It’s a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion.” It is an interesting and slightly humorous scene when the Pandit, Priest and Imam, along with Pi’s parents, discover his tribunal religious affiliations. “I just want to love God,” he says. Chapter 25 (there are 100 chapters in all. Some as brief as a paragraph) is an intelligent comment on religion. An interesting sentence from that chapter – “To me, religion is about our dignity, not our depravity.”

The lifeboat doesn’t come until Chapter 37, though the entire book, jumps around in the events of his life. The second main character of the story is Richard Parker, though it takes awhile to figure out who he is – or more like what. Their relationship was very deliberate and unique. The tidbits about zoos and zoology, as well as religion, life at sea, survival and other matters are all told in an open way, very frank (or modest, even) to the point of humorous, almost. Martel makes the physical elements of the story jump off the page to the reader. Very creative, engaging, full of strong ideas, conclusions, not all pleasant or agreeable, but still. The detail in which Martel (Pi) describes killing and eating is quite vivid. Definitely a worthwhile read, it’s something that gives you new things to think about. A couple other good quotes: “It’s not atheists who get stuck in my caw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for awhile. We all must pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we… But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as means of transportation.”

“The reason death strikes so closely to life isn’t biological necessity – it’s envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive loge that grabs at what it can.”