Engrossing? - Yes, Satisfying? - No. Review on Life of Pi - Yann Martel

A few weeks ago, I read a review on the book, written by Premjit. However I avoided most reading most of his review then because I had just got the book and was about to begin it. Today I re-read Premjit’s review and I must say it was a fabulous review, which in turn inspired me to write about a review on book. I may not write as superbly as my friend did in that review, though I may just present a different opinion on the book.

The Life of Pi

Life of Pi begins with the foreword by the author Yann Martel as to how he, in searching for a story to write came across a certain person whom he could write about. That person is Piscine Mortilor Patel better known as Pi, whom he finds settled in Canada with his wife and children. What follows thereafter is the story of how Pi came upon to Canada. Pi goes through a ship wreck, loses his parents, and is finally left alone on a boat to survive with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi survives to tell this story to the author. And the story just tells that – survival.

The good parts

Frankly and surprisingly, I couldn’t really get myself to like this novel totally. Agreed that this novel was definitely good in parts and pieces, but I never really liked the novel as a whole. The initial story behind Pi’s name is hilarious, and so are his experiences at the school. At the same time, his explanation of animal life and instincts is really superb, and does give a good reading to anyone who may not know about animal habits. Pi’s narration towards the end is also quite amusing. The best part of the book is possibly the part where Pi tells the story with animals, and the puts humans in the animals and retells the story. At that point, he also asks a question – which story sounds better? The one with animals or the one with humans? And I couldn’t help wondering about it. Where exactly does this part come, I wont tell, coz I would be killing the suspense about the whole novel.

What I didn’t like

For one, religion simply seems to be the weakest point of the whole novel. For instance, Pi’s inclination on every religion doesn’t really sound convincing anywhere in the novel and really don’t add anything substantial to the story in itself. Add to that, after a point in the story, religion and his thoughts just take a back seat. It would have been more interesting if Pi had told us more about the religion and his thoughts while stranded in the sea. Agreed, there are instances, but they are too few to justify anything. After a point, it’s a mere story of survival and just that.

The basic idea of a triumph of human life may sound very good, but somehow, you never really relate to anything at all in the book. Even at the end of the book, I was left wondering – okay, so what? Strong characterization for such a novel is very important, however, Pi in himself doesn’t really have a strong character. Towards the end, he just ends up being a character who just remains a character; and never really relates anywhere to you. To compare the point, I take the example of Arundhati Roy’s The god of small things(another booker winner like this one), where towards the end I had tears in my eyes for estha and rahul (the characters in that book). Or maybe another example like The remains of the day(another booker winner!), where one feels so sorry for the butler who remains so true to his job that he cannot see his father in death. Contrary to them, I really never felt anything at the end of the book. As I said, I was left wandering – okay, so what?!

Next, however good his survival may sound, the things Pi does to keep himself alive are explained quite grossly. I didn’t like Pi’s experiment of trying his own urine or eating tiger sh*it – Survival may seem important, but why Pi does this remains strange, when he had loads of food to eat! Moreover, the settings for the Pi to exist remain far too convenient really. Moreover, the length of stay that Pi has on the boat is simply staggering to say the least, and it at once makes you think if something is going overboard in the novel.

The Prose of Pi

The prose is very good in the novel. However, it never really excites you. Pi leads you to a point where you start feeling excited that something might happen, and then lets you down completely. This happens time and again the in the book. The parts where Pi eyesight gets sore, is explained so hap-hazardly that it almost breaks the continuity of the novel. On the whole, it’s a pretty good prose.

Overall

Overall, after reading the novel, I couldn’t really get myself to like it very much. Though the novel is at times engrossing, it doesn’t satisfy in the end. The basic problem with Pi is that he aims to tell a story with too many things – religion, suspense, thriller, animals, survival, faith; and ends up telling too little of anything to actually satisfy a reader. This book got a booker for 2002, and if this book got a booker, then I think 2002 was really a bad year for writers too. I personally don’t think this book deserved a booker.

Overall – Engrossing – yes; Satisfying – No