JANUARY 2010: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

[Novel Tea Book Club]

The Novel~Tea JANUARY 2010 book choice is:

The Life of Pi
by Yann Martel



Overall our book group was impressed with The Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

Initially, many of us found the novel difficult to get into. The complex intertwining of religion, zoology, politics, and Pi himself could at times be a bit dry. However, once we were over the first few chapters of the novel it opened up into an interesting and poignant story.

The Life of Pi seemed to have something wonderfully different to offer each member of the NTBC. Some of us really enjoyed the discussions surrounding animals and some liked the religious insights. Others reveled in the mixing of religion and zoology that made for very interesting insights.

All of us loved the portion of the novel when Pi was on the raft. The book became a very sweet, humourous, and honest text at this point and one really became wrapped up in the character. During this portion of the book we were able to understand Pi and get to know him better.

We would recommend this book to individuals and book groups.

Our rating: 4/5 stars.

Synopsis:
The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."

[Kokeshi]

Quite a good book. It was a little hard to get into, but eventually it was very enjoyable. I enjoyed the religious discussion. I also enjoyed how the book was initally very complicated (religion, zoology, familial) and then became very simplisitic (survival). A book with excellent writing and a great story line. The scene on acidic island with the tooth was brilliant. 4/5 stars.