A Review of "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

I first heard about this book many years ago, and scraped it aside assuming it was a bore, this was due to my lack of insight and passion for novels with deep well written imagination. It didn't occur to me to give the book a read until the movie adaptation was being promoted. I learned that the background of the main characters and his family were from Pondicherry, India. A district on the eastern landscape of Tamil Nadu. I am not of an Indian background but having a Tamil family who were born and raised in Sri Lanka allows to to grasp interest in the novel. My father did many travels during his youth away from Sri Lanka and before settling in England, Pondicherry was one of his visits and the story of its cultural mix of the French and the Indian intrigues and excites me. Hence finally coming to reading "Life of Pi".

Yann Martel is very clever. Writing a novel so drifted from his own culture and beliefs marks the talent of a true author. It is marked by the sentiment of the fact that a movie was adapted, as mentioned, in 2012. Before I read the book I wondered what the story held that was so "vivid and entrancing"[1]. The back cover in itself starts as "ONE BOY, ONE BOAT, ONE TIGER". It seems so outrageous and unreal that I questioned the point, and how a 300+ page novel could be produced. However I put my questions on hold while I read the book. And I was blown away...

The chapters were very short, yet very concise. The literary concepts of the opening chapter is what I believe to be the magical opening to your curiosity. The opening concepts and connotations of death and life, captures the readers to find themselves curious to the character's life story. The opening sentence consists of seven words. "suffering", "sad" and "gloomy" are only but three of these words, what possible story could lead to such a character feeling so melancholy when a story had not yet begun? This already in itself showed me the beauty of what this novel was soon to present. And it was true. For 100 chapters, some short some long, I was shown what it was like to find an interest in nature. Part two of this book is the longest and most dreary part to some extent. However its still the BEST part of the book. Martel manages to entice the reader with presenting emotions within a fierce, aggressively presented Bengali Tiger and a young boy. He presents a realistic relationship of love and friendship among the two of which is not thought out to be real in reality. But while your in the world of your imagination, it can feel so real. 

Whilst reading this book I was so impressed by the level of scientific and psychological knowledge that was integrated into the story line. During the part of the story where Pi's character marks his territory he trains the Bengal Tiger with conditioning. He teaches the tiger by association of a whistle ringing. There was also a great wealth of knowledge in marine biology to survival meaning showing how the author really had presented a wide scope of knowledge and research when it came to writing this novel. 

The story of "Life of Pi" is definitely a must read, for it enraptures the mentality of the mind and the subconscious care for another creature. The presentation of friendship and love by two parties and also the theme of adventure, suffering and nature. The book is full of ideas and concepts which can really enrich the mind for everyone. "A terrific book, It's fresh, original, smart, devious, and crammed with absorbing lore" [2].

Thanks for reading,

Lorr

xoxo

Bibliography:

[1] - Sunday Telegraph

[2] - Margaret Atwood, Sunday Times