[Book Review] Life of Pi (2001) by Yann Martel
Plot Summary: Life of Pi is a Canadian fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor ″Pi″ Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
Author: Yann Martel
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Genre: Fiction
Review: by Lee
I watched the movie first. I confess it. I am notorious for uttering the words "the book was far better," and I wanted to see the movie with a blank slate, tabula rasa. I regret it immensely. Everything I read in the book was colored by what I saw in the movie. I was constantly making comparisons, and, worst of all, I knew everything that would happen. This is one of those books are difficult to get through when you already know their plots.
What I liked:
Yann Martel has a way with words that is unlike any author’s I’ve previously read. He had me fooled for a moment with the foreword, because it was a part of the story itself, written by the author in the book not Martel himself. The manner in which the story is told is simple but captivating, the subtle nuances of which could not be captured by the movie.
The story was very informative. I learned more about animal behavior and zoos than I ever would have in my life had I not read the book. I also now know explicitly how to catch, kill, and dismember a turtle all from the vantage point of a boat, something the book describes as amazingly difficult at first since turtles are quite strong and heavy.
The novel poses some serious philosophical questions about faith and religion, and it is done in a way that is not condescending or confrontational. Usually, when a novel takes on religion, attempting to debate which is correct or why people choose to believe, it begins to attack believers or the principles of the religions themselves, but that is definitely not the case with Life of Pi.
The chapters are short. This may not mean much to others, but I hate to stop reading in the middle of a chapter. Also, the book was meticulously planned to be exactly 100 chapters.
The characterization was fantastic, but of course the reader really gets to know the characters when there are so few.
What I didn’t like:
The novel was very descriptive, and I do mean very descriptive. It would probably be counted as a positive thing if I had not seen the movie, but, alas, I had. When you already know what is happening but the book is taking forever to get to the point, it can be extraordinarily frustrating. I usually breeze through novels of this length in a day or two, but it took me weeks. There was no drive to pick it back up since I already knew the plot. That was my fault though.
It was graphic. There was definitely and “ick” factor at play there. Every kill was detailed. This goes back to the description. I could have lived without having the taste of turtle blood described to me. I did not need the description of precisely how the hyena ate the zebra alive. That kind of thing does not interest me.
There was no romance. The movie adds a girl who simply does not exist in the novel. I understand that it is a novel about an adolescent boy being shipwrecked, but I always enjoy a romance. That is just a personal preference.
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Rating for Those Who Have Seen the Movie
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Rating for Those Who Haven't Seen the Movie
Summary
The novel Life of Pi is intricate and beautiful, and it makes me wish I had not seen the movie first. It is not for the squeamish, certainly, as there is a fair bit of cannibalism, but it is tastefully done. I am glad to have read it; although, I do not believe I will go for a second read.
You can purchase a copy of Life of Pi from Amazon here:
Author Bio:
Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.
Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963 of peripatetic Canadian parents. He grew up in Alaska, British Columbia, Costa Rica, France, Ontario and Mexico, and has continued travelling as an adult, spending time in Iran, Turkey and India. Martel refers to his travels as, “seeing the same play on a whole lot of different stages.”
After studying philosophy at Trent University and while doing various odd jobs — tree planting, dishwashing, working as a security guard — he began to write. In addition to Life of Pi, Martel is the prize-winning author of The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, a collection of short stories, and of Self, a novel, both published internationally. Yann has been living from his writing since the age of 27. He divides his time between yoga, writing and volunteering in a palliative care unit. Yann Martel lives in Montreal.
Author Links: Facebook | Goodreads
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