Life of Pi

This one I read because the movie was releasing into theaters and I wanted to read it because it seemed interesting. Well, there is no real story behind this one. I saw the movie trailer and thought it was cool, so I decided to read the book. And the movie is really good. It is super interesting and I loved it...

However, I have suggested it to some adult friends of mine. And they have read it and told me that it was really good.

Here's the cover-

In the former French colony of India, Pondicherry; a boy named Piscine Molitor Patel is born. He got his name from a close family friend (whom he refers to as his uncle) who regards the Piscine Molitor pool in France as the best pool to ever swim in. He told Pi's father that in order to have an amazing boy, he would have to have an amazing name. But eventually, the name was shortened to Pi for simplicity. He and his older brother Ravi grew up on their family's zoo where their daily chores involve feeding the animals and sweeping the zoo.

One day, the family receives a cage with a tiger inside. Their father warns the two boys not to go anywhere near the cage until the tiger is put in an enclosure, but Pi dares his brother to go near the cage and stick his hand inside the bar. When the brothers reach the cage, they are caught by their father and punished by watching a goat get brutally killed by the tiger. 

A few year later, economic struggles push the Patel family to move to an Indian area in Canada where they will operate a new zoo with even more exotic animals. But the only ship they can catch going to Canada is a cargo ship with a stern captain and an unfriendly crew. However, the family decides to ignore it in hopes of a better life in Canada.

One night during a storm, the ship sinks. Pi is the only survivor apart from the tiger, an orangutan a zebra and a hyena. Stranded on a lifeboat, he tries his hardest to stay alive and not get eaten by the animals on the boat with him.

Life becomes a struggle for him as he watches the animals tear each other apart and wonders if he will live to see the next sunrise.

My thoughts-

I love it to death. (Till my death, not Pi's...) Just about one of the best books I have ever read. Very descriptive (not in a bad way, but very descriptive. With emphasis on the very.) The beginning is a little strange. When Pi talks about his childhood, he is really on the lifeboat and is writing inside a survival journal. He wants his life to be documented, so in case he does die, the boat will wash ashore and someone will see his diary.

What I liked (for some odd twisted reason) was how Pi described the animals killing each other. First he gave the real story, but the reporters did not believe him. Then he used the same story, but put humans in the place of animals to make it more believable.

He said that the zebra with the broken leg was a Chinese sailor, the orangutan was his mother and the hyena was the cook. Where was he or the tiger in all of this?

When the boat sank, Pi swam towards a lifeboat. There he saw the sailor gripping his leg and screaming in pain, his mother worrying and fussing over him, and the cook brandishing a knife. A few days out at sea, the sailor's leg became infected and they were forced to amputate it. Without any proper tools or anesthesia, the sailor nearly tore himself apart in pain. Eventually the boy died and his body was thrown overboard. The next day, Pi's mother found the cook using the sailor's leg as bait. She screamed at him that what he was doing was inhumane and cannibalistic and he replied by killing her. When Pi saw his mother's dead body, he tried to resist, but couldn't help but pick up the same knife that had been used to kill his mother and killed the cook. He threw both of their bodies overboard so he would forget what had happened.

The movie is really awesome too. It made me cry (literally.). But the book is way better. Always.