Life Of Pi Review

Author – Yann Martel

Pages – 460

Genre – fiction

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Synopsis

Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, a Tamil boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

I had life of Pi on my TBR (to be read) for a year before I finally picked it up and I was really surprised by it. As the story was totally different to what I was expecting.

We follow the story of a boy named Pi as he tells us of this childhood living in India, owning a zoo and trying to survive in a boat with a tiger. I had known about the latter but everything else featured in the book was totally unexpected. I found it interesting how factual this book was, when Pi is talking about his life in the zoo I learned a lot about the animals temperament, up keep and the time and expense involved in running a zoo.

I was also surprised by how religion played a big role in the book. We see how Buddhist Pi stumbles upon a baker who mid conversation excuses himself and begins to pray. This sparks Pi’s interest and having learned more about what the man was doing and why he decides that he too will become a Muslim. This happens again when he walks into a church and speaks with a priest. After hearing Jesus’ story he thinks it is the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard, however after some thought it begins to make sense to him and so Pi adds Christianity to his group of religions. I found it fascinating to see how he called upon the different religions or all three during his time lost at sea and how they offered him some peace and hope.

I was also pleased by how the book didn’t become stagnant or boring when Pi was confined to the lifeboat. I’m not quite sure how it didn’t become tiring reading about a boy traped in a 16 foot boat, with nothing to see other than water and sky and nothing to talk about other the weather, food and the 400 pound tiger who happened to be on board. However the story somehow picked up and became very interesting, I learned many things that can save my life should I find myself in that position. Such as letting fish hang out to dry so you can eat them or drinking a turtles blood if you run out of water . . . sounds pleasant. There was also an island or meerkats that he found while floating in the sea which was really strange but gave a nice break from the constant that was the boat.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book much more than I thought I would. I found it extremely fascinating and I learned a lot about animals, religions and surviving at sea. I would definitely recommend this book, it is totally different to anything I have read before but wholly enjoyable.

If you want to pick up this book you can get it on book depo (free shipping)😍

https://www.bookdepository.com/Life-Pi-Yann-Martel/9780857865540?ref=grid-view&qid=1537200927984&sr=1-1=M1TL

Thanks for reading my review have a good day 💚