“The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel – The Odd Couple Redefined

I’m sure that many of you have heard of this book right about now; ever since it was published in 2001 it has become more and more popular, which may very well be God’s way of laughing at the five publishing houses that decided to reject it.

In any case, a feature film has just been released about it(or has it already been released a long time ago? I can’t possibly predict when you are going to be reading this), and needless to say, more and more people are wondering what it’s all about… it actually reminds me of all the Matrix buzz back when it came out; everyone knew about it, but most didn't have a clue what the plot was.

In any case, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a fantasy adventure novel that is divided into three main parts. The first one revolves around Pi himself (he was named Piscine Molitor Padel in honor of a French swimming pool, the most evil kind of pool there is) reminiscing about his childhood as an adult.

The second part is probably the one everyone heard about, the one where he gets stuck on a boat with a tiger. Well, the story behind it goes something like this: Pi was on a small ship carrying his parents’ zoo’s animals from Japan to Canada, and it got hit by a storm. Pi awakes and finds himself in the company of an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena and a Bengal tiger. The hyena gets hungry and eats the Zebra and Orangutan, but then the Bengal tiger, appropriately named Richard Parker, eats the Hyena.

And so begins Pi’s adventure on the high seas, to keep himself alive as well as his companion, Richard Parker. Not only does he have to make sure he doesn't starve, Pi also has to keep his striped little friend happy, lest he gets really hungry. I won’t go into what the third part is about, just out of fear of spoiling how the second one ends, but rest assured all of them are equally entertaining.

All in all I was actually kind of pleasantly surprised at how light-hearted the story was, despite Pi being delusional from being on the brink of death half the time, and, you know, the part about constantly being trapped on a boat with one of the world’s deadliest animals. 

Throughout it all we get to see Pi’s point of view of the situation, his thoughts about how he should proceed to survive, and of course, his philosophies about what is happening around him, and why. Perhaps what drew me to like Pi’s point of view is that he isn't really a Westerner, at least in origin, and it shows in the calmness and perceptiveness of this thoughts. 

Say whatever you want, but most of us, Westerners, don’t tend to make the most intellectually and philosophically-geared to our lives, and it’s very interesting to see it when someone else does. Basically, I recommend this book to literally anyone who wants something completely different from what they have read before

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Yann Martel Yann Martel is a Spanish-Canadian author who was, most notably, awarded the Man Booker Prize for Life of Pi, a novel that made heads turn on an international level. He was also awarded the 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, as well as the 2001 – 2003 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.