Life of Pi: Final Review

Well, it only took me a couple weeks (although it feels more like a month) to finally finish Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I'd say it's pretty obvious that I didn't like this book since it took me so long to read it. However, I do have a couple positive things to say about it.

First, it is beautifully written. Martel has long beautiful passages describing the scenery and the world around Pi. Everything from the animals on the boat to the ocean to the few supplies on the lifeboat are all described in wonderful detail. He has several lovely descriptions and one of my favorites was his description of a town they visited:

"The coolness was as pleasing as having a mint in your mouth," (50).

It's a fantastic image. You can feel and taste that mint and can imagine what it would be like to have that feeling envelop your body. That's what being on the beach is like for me. It's a cool, tingling sensation all over your skin.

The other thing I really enjoyed about the book was the discussion of religion. As I may have mentioned in my last post, Pi eventually considers himself to be a part of three different religions: Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. His descriptions and thoughts on religion were quite interesting and thought-provoking. He discussed the religions separately, describing how they made him feel and grow as a person, and he spoke of them altogether, making them work in a harmony the rest of humanity could only dream of. When defending his choice to practice three religions, Pi says,

"Bapu Gandhi said, 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God," (69). 

And really, what does it matter what religion we choose to be. Isn't religion supposed to be about loving God in the first place? There are many other quotes throughout the book regarding religion, and all are worth taking a look at in my opinion, but my other favorite is this:

“There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, ‘Business as usual.’ But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening. These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out,” (70-71).

Beautiful passages and discussion of three very different religions. Those are the two best things about this book, in my opinion.

Now, on to the not-so-great things about this book. There are many, in my opinion, but I'll try to keep it brief. First, there was not a lot of action throughout the book. The most exciting/action-filled parts were when the ship sank and Pi ended up on a lifeboat with the tiger. Everything else was painfully slow, which is why it took me such a long time to finish the book.

I didn't know that there were lifeboats big enough to hold not only a tiger, but a human, as well as several other animals (a hyena, a zebra, and an orangutan), plus life jackets, food and water supplies, etc. Trying to imagine a lifeboat big enough to house all of these was quite a stretch for me.

After the ship sinks, the remainder of the book (more than the last half of it) just describes what it was like on the ocean, stuck in a small lifeboat with a tiger. Things got interesting a couple times, but most of it seemed redundant and repetitive. Nothing is told in any sort of order. In chapter 66, he talks about killing sea turtles for food. He then rambles on for several chapters about the sea life surrounding the lifeboat (and on the underside of the lifeboat), his sleep patterns, and the numerous times he thought he saw a ship or boat. Then, in chapter 70, he goes right back to talking about  how difficult it was to kill a sea turtle. Normally it doesn't bother me when a book isn't written in chronological order, but this really irked me, which made it all the more difficult to read.

Another major complaint was the end of the book. I'll try to discuss this without giving away too much (in case any of you still want to read it after reading this review). Basically, the very end of the book is the report of a Japanese official about the sinking of the ship Pi and his family were on. The report is very straightforward and the complete opposite of the beautiful descriptions and imagery that filled the rest of the book. Although sometimes getting myself through all the detail was difficult, it was far better than reading something so boring as a report. Basically, if you want to know what the book was all about without all the extra details, you can read the report at the end. It tells you exactly what happened (or what they think happened anyway) in the simplest terms possible. It was a major disappointment to spend so much time with this book and then have it end so quickly with very little description in comparison to the rest of the book.

Overall, Life of Pi gets a Coffee, Sugar and Cream, No Flavor rating (or a 2). Although there were a few things I did enjoy about the book, I disliked a great deal of it. And any book that takes me more than a week to read (especially during the summer when I have nothing better to do with my time than read) is not a good book in my opinion.

If you're still interested in reading this book, well, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, however I do encourage everyone to at least attempt it and form your own opinions about it. Don't just take my word for it. And remember, don't judge a book by it's cover, because if you did, you'd have an even harder time wrapping your head around the fact that the lifeboat was big enough to house so many animals as the one described in the book.

Life of Pi is available on Amazon.com if you choose to read it and decide for yourself.
As always, thanks for reading!