Life of Pi

[Axtech]

I finally finished my English independant study book, Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Didn't like the book because I had underestimated the author's intentions. When I got to the end and found out what his plan was, and why everything was the way it was, I loved it. It's a great book. I fell right into it and thought everything I now know he wanted me to think.

Stop reading if you might ever read it, because it ruins the whole point of the book.

Here's what he does... He starts off with an Author's Note. This explains how the book came to be, and that it is in fact a true story. You start reading. It's about a boy who ends up on a life boat with a bengal tiger (long story). Everything that happens is just a little more bizarre than what came before, until you finally decide that the story is fictional and that the author's note was in fact part of the story, unlike normal author's notes. Things then become extremely strange. This will likely make you come to the conclusion that Martel is not doing very well in his goal to make you believe this story. Things are just too outrageous. ... Then you get to the end of the story. Pi reaches land, and is interviewed by some peolpe trying to figure out what happened. He tells them his story, and they (like you) don't believe it one bit. Like you, they think the story is just too outrageous. Pi askes them why. They say "Nothing even remotely like this has ever happened before. We can't believe you! How come no one's ever found anything like what you found in your journey?" Pi says "So, you don't believe me because my story is too unique?" "We only believe what we see." They then get to talking about bansai trees. "They're little trees" Pi:"Like a bush?" Person:"No. A small tree. About two feet high. They can be hundreds of years old and still very small. It takes a lot of care." Pi:"I don't believe it. I've never seen anything like that before. I only believe what I see." ... BAM! Take that! With one small section of the book Pi tells you exactly why you're wrong in assuming that the story is fictional. Even though it is, you made judgements on probability. Just because it's not probable doesn't mean it's not possible. It's really really good.


It was really good. Anyone else read it?

[laurel]

just finished reading it in my english class.
it's an interesting book, but my teacher ruined it by reading it out loud, in a horrid way. but anyway.

the end..that is what i didn't get. i didn't think very hard. i just assumed that the author's note was the actual note, not fictional.
i went into it thinking that it wasn't totally fictional. heck, i thought that the floating algae island was something possible. after all, in the words of picasso, 'everything you can imagine is real'..
it confused the heck out of me. i didn't think very much. but now, i read this post, and it all makes sense....ties everything nicely together.


on the back cover, it says it will make the reader believe in god...so is this another part of the book....in a hidden way, it's saying that just because you can't see god, he isn't there?

the author is a sheer genius, tying together all this fictional/possible/probable shtuff and what not..he had an amazing writing style too.
one tiny thing that bothered me. how the book claims that it can make a reader believe in god...that bothered me a bit...only because it was brought in as required reading in my highschool english class. i dunno.

but anywho. i feel dense now. heh. i didn't think things through as well as you did. but i'm glad i stumbled upon this topic.

[Axtech]

It's not so much that the book is geared at making you believe in God. That's just was the idiotic publishing company decided to put on the back. They just quoted the old man who was supposed to have originally told the story to Martel.