Wednesday 4 August 2010

Yann Martel: Life of Pi

This is the second time I read this book. Since I read it for the first time a few years ago I only remembered that it was about an Indian boy stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger as his only companion. Oh, and I also remembered I loved it.

It was a pleasure to go back to this book and read it again. The first part of it feels a little long at times, which is probably why I didn’t remember it at all but I guess in a way it gives you lots of insight into understanding what happened on that boat later on. The life of young Piscine, his experience as being the son of a zoo keeper, his religious interests and his life as an adult later on – in a way it is all linked to his time on the lifeboat.

Pi spent 227 days on that lifeboat after the ship that was taking him and his family to Canada sunk in the Pacific Ocean and he was the only one to survive. Well, not quite the only one. He had a company of a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi only survived as he respected the tiger and taught him to respect him back.

Even though this book is classified as fantasy in some reviews don’t expect anything fantasy-like to happen like Pi getting friendly with the tiger, them becoming best friends or the animals talking. No, it’s all a very real story and every day on the boat teaches us something about the human and animal nature. Especially when in the end Pi tells another version of the story to the Japanese maritime officers who are investigating reasons for the ship sinking and who find it hard to believe the story with the animals on the boat.

A really special book, again, unique and original in the story it tells (even though Martel was initially accused of plagiarism by a Brazilian writer who claimed to have published a similar story over 10 years before). A great book to reach for and enjoy!

My rating: YYYYY

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