Life of Pi - Yann Martel

...“Author’s Note” Martel weaves true life with a touch of fantasy to explain the background of this novel, using it as if he was hunting down the story for himself by means of talking to Pi, the hero of the story. Various notes throughout the story keep this fantasy alive and are a work of art in themselves.
What attracted me to this novel? The back of the book states “ After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains ...
...entertaining and hilarious account of life in a zoo. Pi introduces many a theory on how wild animals are not as unhappy as most people (including myself) think they should be. I was tempted to skip this part but carried on reading, I couldn’t help myself from being drawn into the world of the animal kingdom.
Pi is a rather unusual boy, taught at an English speaking school his appetite for knowledge knows no bounds. A Hindu by birth and religion, ... more

Once again, fellow readers, I have scoured my local library to bring your attention to another great author. This time I set out to look for something quite different from my normal reading matter. I was not disappointed; this time I have discovered a book that I really want to buy.
So imagine my surprise to find it was already reviewed on Ciao, but having read the book I thought “What the hell, I’ll do it anyway”.

Author Background.

Yann Martel was born the son of Canadian parents in 1963, at that time they were living in Spain. They seem to have travelled a lot, although I could not find out why this was so. However, Yann grew up in Alaska, British Columbia, France, Ontario and Mexico.
Educated at Trent University where he majored in Philosophy, his further travels took him to other countries including Iran, Turkey and India; the latter country became the place where he found his inspiration for this novel.
He has been making a living by writing since the age of twenty-seven, publishing a book of short stories and going on to become a critically acclaimed author with his novel “Self”
“Life of Pi” is his third novel and the winner of The Man Booker Prize 2002.
He lives in Montreal where he continues his writing, I for one hope to see a new novel as soon as possible.

Introduction

Under the title of “Author’s Note” Martel weaves true life with a touch of fantasy to explain the background of this novel, using it as if he was hunting down the story for himself by means of talking to Pi, the hero of the story. Various notes throughout the story keep this fantasy alive and are a work of art in themselves.
What attracted me to this novel? The back of the book states “ After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan …and a 450 pound Royal Bengal tiger”

Now who could possibly resist such a fantastic introduction?
The plaudits for this novel are too numerous to mention, let me just add that they are rave reviews and let you find out for yourself.

The Plot.

Martel uses a single sentence to start many of the chapters; our introduction to Pi comes with the opening words “I was named after a swimming pool.”
From this comes a full description of how and why. A business friend of his father and a type of adopted “uncle” Francis Adirubasamy is a champion swimmer whose favourite swimming pool is the “Piscine Molitor” in Paris. Our hero is named Piscine Molitor Patel, a young Hindu boy whose father owns and runs a zoo.
Pi is the butt of many a name-calling ending up as “pissing Patel”. When he joins his older brother Ravi in a new school he decides to rename himself by writing his name on the blackboard and using the symbol of Pi to underline his new name, from then on he becomes Pi.

The first part of the story is an entertaining and hilarious account of life in a zoo. Pi introduces many a theory on how wild animals are not as unhappy as most people (including myself) think they should be. I was tempted to skip this part but carried on reading, I couldn’t help myself from being drawn into the world of the animal kingdom.
Pi is a rather unusual boy, taught at an English speaking school his appetite for knowledge knows no bounds. A Hindu by birth and religion, he explores different faiths and starts attending a Christian church and a Muslim mosque. This is an integral part of the story, so bear with me.

Times become hard for the zoo and Pi’s father decides to emigrate to Canada, selling off many of the animals but taking a few with them on the voyage, bound for America.
The Japanese cargo ship Tsimtsum departs on 21st June 1977 with Pi looking back fondly on his native county.
The ship is an old one and just into the voyage tragedy strikes, in the words of Pi “ The ship sank. It made a noise like a monstrous metallic bump”.
Pi had woken to a strange sound and while on deck he is thrown into a lifeboat by one of the crew. The ship sinks rapidly leaving Pi as the only human survivor, he is soon joined by a zebra that flees the sinking ship sustaining a broken leg in the process of jumping on board the lifeboat. He is also joined by a hyena, an orang-utan and last, but not least, a large Royal Bengal tiger.

So the journey begins and it becomes compulsive reading as the bizarre tale is told. The reader knows from the beginning that Pi lived to tell his tale, but how did he manage to survive 221 days afloat with a tiger on board? This is a part I can only gloss over, as it must be read to enjoy it.

In another brilliant beginning we learn the tiger’s name. “Richard Parker was so named because of a clerical error” That Martel can inject humour into a fraught situation is a tribute to the author’s wonderful sense of the absurd. At first the animals are seasick which gives Pi a little time to think over his situation.
While clinging desperately on a makeshift raft away from the tiger, Pi ruminates on the nature of fear and what his various religious beliefs have to say on the subject.
“I must say a word about fear. It is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can destroy life”
With this in mind Pi starts to gather his courage and wits together, some solution must be found.

On a daring trip to the lifeboat he makes an inventory of the emergency supplies, finding food, water, morphine and various other items to ensure survival, but the lifeboat was geared for a maximum of 32 people, not a menagerie of animals and certainly not a hungry and bad-tempered tiger.
Pi makes a list of how he can get rid of the tiger but none make any sense, finally after much thought (and a great deal of action aboard the lifeboat), he can only find one way around the problem, he must tame the tiger and then find a way to feed him before he becomes the tiger’s dinner.

“It was Richard Parker who calmed me down. It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who brought me peace, purpose. I dare say even wholeness.”

From that point on the story takes on life and colour, the reader learns how to tame a tiger, how to catch fish and turtles and how to overcome fear by trusting in the faith of three different religions.
I cannot take the story past this point; it would spoil it too much for other readers. It is a remarkable tale of endurance, a poetry of the sea in all it’s many moods, the skies in all their glory, an abiding faith that is not pompous or preaching rather a delightful mix that will have the reader howling with laughter at one point and aching with the macabre humour moments later.

Martell’s descriptive prose goes from the mundane to the heights of spellbound mystery. The story is engaging, inventive, and outrageous but also, in a weird way, it becomes believable.
You long for the story not to end, your own emotions peak and swell like the sea that tosses the lifeboat about.

We already know that Pi survives, but what about the other animals? I think most readers will guess what happens to others, but what about Richard Parker? Can a tiger possibly live at sea with only fish and turtles for sustenance?
The ending comes almost as a shock to the system, the pace is fast and your adrenaline has little time to adjust to the rapid shock of reaching dry land.
Martell has left one little surprise in store, a humorous finale that the reader will appreciate to the full.

Summary.

This novel fulfilled all of my expectations and more. I would hate to put any reader off; this is one of the best novels I have found in many years. I must warn vegetarians and those who don’t enjoy dark humour that some parts may make you feel squeamish, but try to overcome it as if not you will miss a masterpiece of a novel.
I loved it, in fact as earlier said I intend to buy it. This is a novel you can read again and again, finding a new “gem” each time.
One reviewer from the “Financial Times” has said this is suggestive of Joseph Conrad and Salman Rushdie hallucinating together over the meaning of “the Old Man and the Sea” and “Gulliver’s Travels”.
For myself I can only say that it’s entertainment at its best, forget the theories and just enjoy it.

What did I think of the characters?

Despite sounding very grown-up for his age, Pi is totally believable. He has a lot to say and to think but he is as vulnerable as the next boy, his character emerges throughout the book rather than hitting you in the face like a wet fish (pun intended), okay he is a bit of a “smartass” but a lovable one and someone you can emphasise with.
“Richard Parker”? Can a tiger have a character? This one does, you long for him to survive and go on raising little “Parker” cubs.
The rest of the characters are little more than cameo sketches, but are warm and endearing or down right ridiculous, allowing even the author to poke fun at himself.

Now for the boring, but necessary bits.
“Life of Pi” comes in hardback or soft back editions and as usual is printed by several different publishers so my own copy may look different on Amazon or E-Bay.
As yet I have only found it on Amazon at the price of £6.39 instead of £7.99 for the soft back version. Second-hand copies on Amazon from £2.35, how can anyone bear to part with this book? With only 319 pages it is not a hard read.

Whether you borrow this from the library, buy it outright at discounted prices you are in for a real treat. Grab a few tissues as you will be either crying a little or howling with laughter.

Thanks for reading.
Lisa.

 

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