A Unique Journey From Land To Water To Friendship
Yann Martel’s book “Life of Pi” is certainly a different breed among the animal books we’ve suggested from time to time.
Pi Patel is your average teenage boy, with one subtle exception: he lives in a zoo. Growing up in Pondicherry, India with his father as a zookeeper, and the local zoo as his home, Pi develops an immense affinity for the animals that he lives so close to. In some ways, the animals, with their sounds and behaviors, are a day-to-day, constant comfort for Pi.
However, Pi can’t find the same comfort in religion, so he bounces from faith to faith, trying to figure out exactly where his beliefs are most inspired. He delves into Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Hinduism, each spiritual quest with more enthusiasm than the last.
The book really gains momentum when Pi’s father, Patel, decides to immigrate to Canada. A modern day Noah, he packs up some of his menagerie on a giant boat, and sails out to reach a better land. But nature seems to have a different plan in store for him. A storm tears Patel’s boat apart in the middle of the ocean.
Pi soon finds himself alone in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orang-utan, and Richard Parker, a 400 pound Bengal tiger. Although the other animals don’t live long, Pi and Richard Parker are left to survive together. Pi soon discovers they need each other to endure the ordeal. He quickly employs his vast knowledge of animals and his active imagination. Pi brings his learned religions and creative ideas together in order to save his sanity, his life, and his sole tiger companion, Richard Parker.
What makes Life of Pi so captivating is what it’s not. It isn’t overly protective of the animals described. Unlike many other animal related books, in Life of Pi, we view and become connected to the animals as unique, individual, complex characters. They possess their own feelings, not only as noble creatures to be respected, but also as elements of nature that holds a mysterious unknown quality. The novel isn’t overly sentimental. What could have been a book weighed down with over the top descriptions to pull on heart-strings, instead is a brisk read that touches you because of the sincerity of the story. In short, in breaking with usual conventions, Life of Pi, reaches greatness.
Maybe best of all, Pi makes the reader take an interesting look at the relationship between humans and animals. Ways many other books shy away from. Do animals like living in zoos better than the wild? Can a human and a 400 pound predator form a deep, soul connecting bond? Read on, you’ll find out.
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