Life of Pi | Yann Martel

Life of Pi | Yann Martel | THE RIGHT BOOK AT THE RIGHT TIME

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Life of Pi

	Life of Pi Yann Martel Harvest Books, 2004 - 420 pages average customer review:based on 1836 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?

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A masterpiece

Wow, where did Yann Martel come from? This author has an extraordinary ability to use the English language to convey thought, emotion, and physical experiences in such a profound way. He turns words into music. The story is both gentle and shattering, both tragic and ecstatic, both carnal and spiritual. I felt as though I was having a firsthand experience right alongside the protagonist, Pi Patel, whose involuntary adventure is both uniquely original and subliminally familiar. I will remember this book fondly for many years to come.

THE RIGHT BOOK AT THE RIGHT TIME

Sometimes a reader is graced with what I like to call:

The right book at the right time.

LIFE OF PI is that book.

If you are in the appetite for a plot driven tale of survival you will find that here.

And if you hunger for a spiritual journey revealing the inner workings of human nature... that's also available at this banquet of fiction.

I read a few reviews of LIFE OF PI... and I am thinking that some of the reviewers did not read the whole book.

Truly.

What a shame.

I love books like this one.

You are taken on a journey, you enter the world of the author, and putting the book down is difficult because you do not want to leave that world.

And the best is yet to come...

I found this to be one of those books that changed me.

His words resonated in my soul.

In a few sentences, Martel gave voice to things I sensed in my life, but could not place into words.

When we read for something beyond mere entertainment...

isn't that what we hunger for?

A chance to see life from a new point of view.

To feel renewed.

A book that will follow you after you have finished it.

A book that MUST stay with you on your bookshelf.

LIFE OF PI is my silent friend now, on a shelf of honor in my book collection.

A new friend who will be there with me on this life's journey...

ready to speak to my heart any time I lift it from the shelf, open the pages, and invite the author to speak to me, yet again.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Yann Martel

Here is an excellent resource about the birth of this novel written by Yann Martel (and just fascinating in general to any writer about the process of preparing oneself to create a work of fiction). If you plan on reading LIFE OF PI, read the author's notes AFTER completing the book:

http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html

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Great Fable

This book rates in my top 5 right next to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. What you need to keep in mind is that it is a STORY, a FABLE, not meant to be perceived as reality. Although, I found a lot of it believable. Maybe not the meerkat island, but even that bit of the story was intriguiing. I wish he had stayed on the island a little longer.
I absolutely loved the meshing of three religions, the way he believed that God is everywhere. I loved the part where he thanks the Hindu diety for introducing him to Jesus. I think the main point in that part of the book is to say that there are many paths to God.
The castaway part was very intense, despite his being on a lifeboat alone with a tiger for so long.
In the end, you get to choose between the unrealistic story and one that is more beleiveable. Personally, I liked the animal story better. The second one is really sad. Again, keep in mind that the story is just that... a STORY. Otherwise you'll get caught up in all the mistakes and unrealistic details.
Overall, a wonderful story about God, survival, and self-preservation.

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Leaves you thinking about it long after you are finished

This is a totally different kind of book than I've ever read. As many others have said, this book is written in three parts.

Part One is explaining how the author came upon the story and the childhood of the main character. It gives you insights into Pi Patels life that help you understand the rest of the book. This part is interesting and is helpful in setting up part two.

Part Two tells us how he and his family are on a cargo ship that sinks and he ends up a lone human in a boat with a Bengal tiger, a hyena, an orangatan and a zebra with a broken leg. After the hyena has attacked the zebra and the orangatan, the tiger attacks the hyena. The rest is an adventure of how this teenage boy survives 227 floating in the ocean. Though I must admit parts of this section does tend to drag on, it is not too horrible to keep reading. Especially since you are dying to know how it ends.

Part three offers a second more probable story, that makes you rethink the whole book and will leave you thinking about the book long after you are finished and searching for anyone who has also read it so you can discuss it with them.

This is a great book to read in a book club (and I highly suggest it.) As for it making you believe in God, that is up to the reader to decided!

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