Books: Life of Pi

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I’ve started reading this book without any prior notion about it nor had I read any reviews about it. I was glad because nothing prepared me for Martel’s way of writing. Captivating yet straight forward. He bedazzled me with his beautifully spun proses and blown me away with his storytelling.

The story is divided into three parts where the essence of it (the second part) is about the survival journey of a young Indian boy, Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi for short), trapped in a life boat at the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger for seven terrifying months!

The first part is mainly about Pi’s growing-up experience in Pondicherry, India. As a son of a zookeeper, he gave us some interesting insights about zookeeping and philosophized, at times hilariously, about its dwellers.

“In many ways, running a zoo is a hotelkeeper’s worst nightmare. Consider: the guests never leave their rooms; they expect not only lodging but full board; they receive a constant flow of visitors, some of whom are noisy and unruly.”~ Life of Pi

How about his take on the sexual habits of the zoo’s inmates?

“To speak frankly, many are sexual deviants, either terribly repressed and subject to explosions of frenzied lasciviousness or openly depraved, in either case regularly affronting management with gross outrages of free sex and incest. Are these the sorts of guests you would want to welcome to your inn?”~ Life of Pi

I was charmed and truly entertained by Pi’s reasoning on certain animals’ habits with a subtle touch of humour and his explanations on the science of zoology were eye-opening.

Pi’s days at the sea propels the story to another level. Not a moment monotonous considering such a survival story at the sea with nothing but a tiger as a companion and occasionally some sharks and plenty of sea life as passersby made only possible by Martel’s beautiful writing. However, Pi’s story explores the darker side, if not the more primitive side of human nature as well. How, for the sake of surviving one could be reduced to a level of barbarity you’d never imagine possible.

Life of Pi glued me to my seat and had me non-stop, turning its pages until the very end. At times, it made me burst out laughing, while there were times it sent goosebumps down my spine but more often than not, I was awed and I can’t stop pondering about the truth behind such wonderfully written statements like:

“For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart.” ~ Life of Pi

This is a novel that will tug at your heart and it’ll still linger long after you’ve put it down. An absolute must-read!