- Hardcover: 315 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH); Ill edition (Oct 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0151013837
- ISBN-13: 978-0151013838
- Product Dimensions: 25.3 x 19.2 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,075,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel was the Man Booker Prize winner in 2002. It is a story of Piscine Molitor Patel, son of the local zookeeper, who resides in Pondicherry, India in the late 1970s. The reader wonders right off the bat how his parents could come up with such an unusual name. The narrator, Piscine reveals that he was named after a swimming pool in Paris; this name led to much ridicule in school because his name was always mistakenly mispronounced Piss Ing!
It was tough on Piscine and he was relieved when a new nickname of sorts (Pi) caught on in school; yes...it has something to do with 3.14! The novel is so imaginative that it is no wonder that it has hooked readers around the world since it was published in 2002.
As much as Pi is one of the major characters; a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker shares the spotlight and the honors as one of the most interesting animal characters in literature. How Pi finds himself fighting for survival at sea on a lifeboat with Richard Parker, a hyena, an orangutan and a wounded zebra is one of the most imaginative journeys of survival that I have read.
Martel has written that the idea for his novel came from a book review that John Updike did of a novel titled "Max and the Cats' which was not well received. The author was intrigued with India, its animals and religion and all three are woven into the fabric of the novel. Martel purposely chose an animal local to India for the selection of Richard Parker; the Royal Bengal Tiger and the author visited India multiple times interviewing local Indian zoo keepers.
There is much humor in the novel including the segments dealing with Pi's birth name, how Pi found religion (in fact three religions all at once) as well as the origin of Richard Parker's name. Some readers may find that the book seems very religious to them and in fact Pi is very religious; he joins three (3) religions at the same time (Hindu, Christian, Muslem) and there is a very funny scene at the zoo where the three (3) various heads of the local churches converge on Pi's parents to tell them how devout their boy is.
The narrator, Pi, reveals much concerning his spirituality as he discusses life, death, love, fear, despair and hope. As this bright and resourceful 16 year old Indian boy digs down and finds enough grit to survive at sea for over 200+ days, the reader is rooting for him and for Richard Parker the entire time. There are many shocking elements of survival which are described for the reader which may upset some; but the horrible event of the sinking of the Japanese cargo ship carrying his family to Canada and many of the animals overshadows anything that Pi had to do to survive at sea.
There are many beautiful and thought provoking lines in the novel which deal with the many facets of life, the broad spectrum and rainbow of human emotions, and death itself; but one that moved me was when Pi reflected, "Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can." The emotional power of love is what gets Pi through his ordeal.
To tell you more would spoil the imaginative journey that the reader will have traveling with Pi and his small ark on his path of survival and growth. It may take the reader a while to get into the novel at first; but once on the lifeboat...it is a heck of a ride.
Very worthwhile read.
Bentley/2007
It was tough on Piscine and he was relieved when a new nickname of sorts (Pi) caught on in school; yes...it has something to do with 3.14! The novel is so imaginative that it is no wonder that it has hooked readers around the world since it was published in 2002.
As much as Pi is one of the major characters; a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker shares the spotlight and the honors as one of the most interesting animal characters in literature. How Pi finds himself fighting for survival at sea on a lifeboat with Richard Parker, a hyena, an orangutan and a wounded zebra is one of the most imaginative journeys of survival that I have read.
Martel has written that the idea for his novel came from a book review that John Updike did of a novel titled "Max and the Cats' which was not well received. The author was intrigued with India, its animals and religion and all three are woven into the fabric of the novel. Martel purposely chose an animal local to India for the selection of Richard Parker; the Royal Bengal Tiger and the author visited India multiple times interviewing local Indian zoo keepers.
There is much humor in the novel including the segments dealing with Pi's birth name, how Pi found religion (in fact three religions all at once) as well as the origin of Richard Parker's name. Some readers may find that the book seems very religious to them and in fact Pi is very religious; he joins three (3) religions at the same time (Hindu, Christian, Muslem) and there is a very funny scene at the zoo where the three (3) various heads of the local churches converge on Pi's parents to tell them how devout their boy is.
The narrator, Pi, reveals much concerning his spirituality as he discusses life, death, love, fear, despair and hope. As this bright and resourceful 16 year old Indian boy digs down and finds enough grit to survive at sea for over 200+ days, the reader is rooting for him and for Richard Parker the entire time. There are many shocking elements of survival which are described for the reader which may upset some; but the horrible event of the sinking of the Japanese cargo ship carrying his family to Canada and many of the animals overshadows anything that Pi had to do to survive at sea.
There are many beautiful and thought provoking lines in the novel which deal with the many facets of life, the broad spectrum and rainbow of human emotions, and death itself; but one that moved me was when Pi reflected, "Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can." The emotional power of love is what gets Pi through his ordeal.
To tell you more would spoil the imaginative journey that the reader will have traveling with Pi and his small ark on his path of survival and growth. It may take the reader a while to get into the novel at first; but once on the lifeboat...it is a heck of a ride.
Very worthwhile read.
Bentley/2007
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
63 reviews
49 of 52 people found the following review helpful
the deluxe Life of Pi
7 Oct 2007
Format:Hardcover
If you haven't read the Life of Pi you are in for a treat. Originally published in 2002, this is a new illustrated edition and it is simply wonderful.
A teenaged boy is shipwrecked and set adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with some unusual companions; a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a fierce Bengal tiger. They drift together for a long time as this savage and philosophical tale plays out.
The addition of 40 illustrations by Tomaslav Torjanac is an incredible enhancement to the book. His pictures are brilliant and colorful. Some seem almost photographic.
Re-reading the book was an absolute pleasure. I caught things I missed the first time through.
A teenaged boy is shipwrecked and set adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with some unusual companions; a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a fierce Bengal tiger. They drift together for a long time as this savage and philosophical tale plays out.
The addition of 40 illustrations by Tomaslav Torjanac is an incredible enhancement to the book. His pictures are brilliant and colorful. Some seem almost photographic.
Re-reading the book was an absolute pleasure. I caught things I missed the first time through.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
A Mirror Held Up to the Reader
22 May 2008
Format:Hardcover
Life of Pi was a fairly engaging story in terms of plot and character, but what made it such a memorable book, for me at least, was its thematic concerns. Basically, this is one of the most thematically interesting and thought-provoking books I've read in a while, even though it's a fairly simple story. Is it a "story that will make you believe in God," as Pi claims? I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I would say that many people who enjoy thinking about the nature of reality and the possibility of God would find this a compelling read.
To me, the entire thrust of the book [SPOILER ALERT] is aimed at the idea that reality is a story, and therefore we can choose our own story (as the author himself put it). So if life is a story, that leaves us two basic choices: we can limit ourselves only to what we can know for sure - that is, to "dry, yeastless factuality" - or we can choose "the better story." I suppose in Pi's world the "better story" includes God, but he doesn't suggest that this is the only meaningful possibility. In fact, Pi calls atheists his "brothers and sisters of a different faith," because, like Pi, atheists "go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap."
Pi's point, in my opinion, is that human experience always involves interpretation, that our knowledge is necessarily limited, that both religious belief and atheism require a leap of faith of one kind or another. It's not that you must believe in God to be happy (even though Pi clearly finds peace in his beliefs); rather, the important thing is that you make a choice to bring meaning and richness to your life, that you look beyond pure, uninterpreted fact and find a better reality, that you exercise faith and strive for ideals (whatever the object of your faith and whatever those ideals might be ). Or as Pi himself puts it: "To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."
In the end, I didn't necessarily read this book as an invitation to believe in God, but rather as a mirror held up to the reader, a test to see what kind of worldview the reader holds. [SPOILER ALERT] That is, as Pi himself says, since "it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without the animals?" Or, as I took it: Is it my nature to reach for and believe the better but less likely story? Or do I tend to believe the more likely but less lovely story? What view of reality do I generally adhere to?
Another equally important question is this: How did I come by my view of reality? Do I view the world primarily through the lens of reason? Or do I view it through the lens of emotion? For Pi, I think it's safe to say his belief comes by way of emotion. He has, as one reviewer noted, a certain scepticism about reason (in fact, Pi calls it "fool's gold for the bright"). Pi also has what I would call a subtle but real basis for his belief in God, namely, "an intellect confounded yet a trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." But belief still isn't easy for him. Despite his trusting sense of purpose, Pi acknowledges that "Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer." So it's not that a life of faith is easier, in Pi's opinion, it's that for him belief is ultimately more worthwhile.
This is not to say, however, that Pi holds a completely postmodern view of God or that he believes in God as a matter of art rather than in a sincere way. [SPOILER ALERT] True, Pi suggests that whether you believe his story has a tiger in it is also a reflection of your ability to believe in something higher. And of course it's easy to read Pi's entire story as an attempt to put an acceptable gloss on a horrific experience. Still...there are a number of clues throughout the book that give the reader at least some reason to believe that Pi's story DID have a tiger in it (for instance, the floating banana and the meerkat bones). As such, Pi's two stories could be seen as an acknowledgement that both atheism and belief in God require some faith, and therefore it's up to each of us to choose the way of life that makes us the happiest. He's not necessarily saying that the truth is what you make it, he's saying we don't have unadulturated access to the truth: our imagination, personalities, and experiences unavoidably influence the way we interact with the world. But that's not the same as saying whatever we imagine is true. I think Pi, for instance, knows which of his stories is true. It's not Pi but the reader who is left with uncertainty and who therefore has to throw her hands up and say "I don't know," or else choose one story or the other. And to me, this isn't too far off from the predicament we all find ourselves in.
[SPOILER ALERT] And that's what makes Life of Pi such a challenge to the reader: Pi's first story is fantastic, wonderful, but hard to believe. Yet there's some evidence that it happened just the way he said it did. And Pi's second story is brutal, terrible, but much easier to accept as true. Yet it's not entirely plausible either, and it leaves no room for the meerkat bones or Pi's "trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." If the reader personally dismisses the tiger story out of hand, I suppose that's another way of saying the reader, by nature, tends to believe the more likely but less lovely story. In the same way, if the reader gets to the story's payoff and still believes there was a tiger in the boat, the reader is probably inclined to believe the more emotionally satisfying story. But it should be born in mind that Pi doesn't definitively state which story was true, something which only he can know for sure. All we can really be sure of, in Pi's universe, is that he was stuck on a lifeboat for a while before making it to shore. [SPOILER ALERT] So which story do I believe? I struggled with that question for a long time. But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I'll end this review with the final lines from the book: "Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal Tiger."
To me, the entire thrust of the book [SPOILER ALERT] is aimed at the idea that reality is a story, and therefore we can choose our own story (as the author himself put it). So if life is a story, that leaves us two basic choices: we can limit ourselves only to what we can know for sure - that is, to "dry, yeastless factuality" - or we can choose "the better story." I suppose in Pi's world the "better story" includes God, but he doesn't suggest that this is the only meaningful possibility. In fact, Pi calls atheists his "brothers and sisters of a different faith," because, like Pi, atheists "go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap."
Pi's point, in my opinion, is that human experience always involves interpretation, that our knowledge is necessarily limited, that both religious belief and atheism require a leap of faith of one kind or another. It's not that you must believe in God to be happy (even though Pi clearly finds peace in his beliefs); rather, the important thing is that you make a choice to bring meaning and richness to your life, that you look beyond pure, uninterpreted fact and find a better reality, that you exercise faith and strive for ideals (whatever the object of your faith and whatever those ideals might be ). Or as Pi himself puts it: "To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."
In the end, I didn't necessarily read this book as an invitation to believe in God, but rather as a mirror held up to the reader, a test to see what kind of worldview the reader holds. [SPOILER ALERT] That is, as Pi himself says, since "it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without the animals?" Or, as I took it: Is it my nature to reach for and believe the better but less likely story? Or do I tend to believe the more likely but less lovely story? What view of reality do I generally adhere to?
Another equally important question is this: How did I come by my view of reality? Do I view the world primarily through the lens of reason? Or do I view it through the lens of emotion? For Pi, I think it's safe to say his belief comes by way of emotion. He has, as one reviewer noted, a certain scepticism about reason (in fact, Pi calls it "fool's gold for the bright"). Pi also has what I would call a subtle but real basis for his belief in God, namely, "an intellect confounded yet a trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." But belief still isn't easy for him. Despite his trusting sense of purpose, Pi acknowledges that "Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer." So it's not that a life of faith is easier, in Pi's opinion, it's that for him belief is ultimately more worthwhile.
This is not to say, however, that Pi holds a completely postmodern view of God or that he believes in God as a matter of art rather than in a sincere way. [SPOILER ALERT] True, Pi suggests that whether you believe his story has a tiger in it is also a reflection of your ability to believe in something higher. And of course it's easy to read Pi's entire story as an attempt to put an acceptable gloss on a horrific experience. Still...there are a number of clues throughout the book that give the reader at least some reason to believe that Pi's story DID have a tiger in it (for instance, the floating banana and the meerkat bones). As such, Pi's two stories could be seen as an acknowledgement that both atheism and belief in God require some faith, and therefore it's up to each of us to choose the way of life that makes us the happiest. He's not necessarily saying that the truth is what you make it, he's saying we don't have unadulturated access to the truth: our imagination, personalities, and experiences unavoidably influence the way we interact with the world. But that's not the same as saying whatever we imagine is true. I think Pi, for instance, knows which of his stories is true. It's not Pi but the reader who is left with uncertainty and who therefore has to throw her hands up and say "I don't know," or else choose one story or the other. And to me, this isn't too far off from the predicament we all find ourselves in.
[SPOILER ALERT] And that's what makes Life of Pi such a challenge to the reader: Pi's first story is fantastic, wonderful, but hard to believe. Yet there's some evidence that it happened just the way he said it did. And Pi's second story is brutal, terrible, but much easier to accept as true. Yet it's not entirely plausible either, and it leaves no room for the meerkat bones or Pi's "trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." If the reader personally dismisses the tiger story out of hand, I suppose that's another way of saying the reader, by nature, tends to believe the more likely but less lovely story. In the same way, if the reader gets to the story's payoff and still believes there was a tiger in the boat, the reader is probably inclined to believe the more emotionally satisfying story. But it should be born in mind that Pi doesn't definitively state which story was true, something which only he can know for sure. All we can really be sure of, in Pi's universe, is that he was stuck on a lifeboat for a while before making it to shore. [SPOILER ALERT] So which story do I believe? I struggled with that question for a long time. But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I'll end this review with the final lines from the book: "Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal Tiger."
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A top pick not just for library holdings, but for gift-giving.
2 Dec 2007
Format:Hardcover
After the sinking of a cargo ship only one lifeboat remains on the Pacific - housing a teen named Pi, a hyena, a zebra and a Royal Bengal tiger. Their survival and journeys makes for a winning book which transcends children's or young adult fiction to provide all ages with a gorgeous, winning contemporary folk story, and this deluxe edition is the perfect gift for capturing it all, using lovely drawings by Croatian artist Tomislav Torjanac to capture key scenes in Martel's drama. A top pick not just for library holdings, but for gift-giving.
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