Life of Pi in Mineola Library's 2012 FALL Reading Challenge

Jun 01, 2009 Suzanne Moore rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1001-2008, 1001-2006, beach-reads, east-texas-library-friends, winter-challenge-picks, 1001-2010, ashe-spring-challenge

I really enjoyed the way Yann Martel wove the story of Pi Molitor and differences in spiritual beliefs together. Pi is a young boy, living in India, whose family owns a zoo. In the beginning of the story he is questioning religions and after investigating several he decides to take what he likes from three; Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. He becomes a plural believer … one with many faiths. His faith is what keeps him alive when his life takes an unexpected twist.

As the story progresses, P I really enjoyed the way Yann Martel wove the story of Pi Molitor and differences in spiritual beliefs together. Pi is a young boy, living in India, whose family owns a zoo. In the beginning of the story he is questioning religions and after investigating several he decides to take what he likes from three; Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. He becomes a plural believer … one with many faiths. His faith is what keeps him alive when his life takes an unexpected twist.

As the story progresses, Pi and his family leave India for Canada. They set off on a voyage across the sea with some of the animals from their zoo to sell in America. When the ship meets disaster, Pi finds himself aboard a lifeboat with several surviving animals from the zoo, including a Bengal tiger. He has no time to waste grieving the loss of his family, although he is haunted by this reality. Instead he has to focus on survival and keeping the tiger at bay. For the next 227 days Pi miraculously beats the odds. The survival part of Pi's adventure can be extremely unbelievable, but somehow I was drawn to see how this could really happen. Martel wrote detailed descriptions that made me see things in a new light. Often too much description will lose me and requires rereading to process the plot, but the way I absorbed this story I felt like I was lost at sea myself. With limited to none entertainment … nothing but a survivor’s manual to read, I could completely understand how the buzzing of flies was so fascinating. The fear of sharks not to mention controlling a man-eating beast was certainly a challenge.
The story of the “meerkat island” and the chance meeting of someone else adrift at sea did have me blinking with disbelief, but I am a believer of coincidence so “what the hey.”

In the end when Pi is rescued and questioned about how he lived to tell his story. Martel leaves the reader to question the actuality of it all. Yes the story with the animals was seriously unbelievable, but when Pi retells the adventure without animals it becomes even more gruesome with cannibalistic detail. Which story do you prefer? That's the question left for examination.

The study of symbolism could lead readers to compare and interpret religious beliefs with the experiences Pi lives to tell about. Those who lean towards atheistic views may choose the theory that Pi's hallucinations while fighting for survival kept him alive and able to live with himself when faced with extreme instincts. Others may look at the impossible and believe otherwise … it only requires having faith. ...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Holly Morey rated it it was ok

I am so glad that I finally finished this book and I only did that because it is a book club read. I will describe this book as sitting in the middle of a deep ocean of boredom and viewing an occasional island of interesting color. I think the author used every big, descriptive word he knew. I have to admit that I prefer books that are plot driven and this is definitely not a plot driven novel. There are some interesting tidbits of information thrown out throughout the book but for the most part ...more

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