When Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, was first published, it garnered a lot of attention – a story of a boy stranded for months in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger!? Whoever would have imagined such a novel could become a bestseller?
But Martel’s novel is much more than the story of a boy and a tiger on a boat. And it is more than mere fantasy or elusive modern parable. Life of Pi is more complex than many reviewers want to acknowledge.
There are some reviewers who deride the ending (which I will not give away) as transparently predictable and, therefore, they claim the novel is not worth reading. However, that would be like saying traffic in Los Angeles was frustrating and, therefore, the cross-country road trip was a mistake.
The point of reading Life of Pi is not to get to the end and find a definitive “This story was about X” answer. The point of the Life of Pi is in its title – it is Pi’s life as a whole: beginning with his childhood as son of the owner of India’s Pondicherry Zoo, and ending with his post-rescue interrogation by the Japanese Ministry of Transport.
While the background that precedes the shipwreck moves a bit slowly, it is all very precisely paced to help the reader “learn” how to listen to the ambling voice of Pi, full of the spiritual indecisiveness that feeds his intellectual musings. Pi’s justifications for the ethics of establishing zoos are also quite compelling, as are his thought-provoking monologues on the nature of animals and instinct.
Do not pick up Life of Pi if you think this is a book to change your life. It is a character-driven novel full of intellectual paths that diverge and converge. But the journey is worthwhile. Read it to enjoy the ride.
319 pgs.
