Life of Pi
by Yann Martel | Mystery & Thrillers | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 184195392X Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 184195392X Global Overview for this book
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Bookcrossing is a wonderful place to share your love of reading with people all over the world and follow a book as it continues on its travels.
Please journal this book, describing where you found it, and then if you want to, what you thought of it. You can remain anonymous if you want to, though if you create a screen name you will be able to get notification each time someone else journals this book in the future.
When you have finished with it please release the book by leaving it somewhere where it will be found (please make a journal entry stating where you left it), and let it continue its journey.
Help keep its journey alive!Following this books travels can be very fun.
Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
The novel was rejected by at least five London publishing houses before being accepted by Knopf Canada, which published it in September 2001. The UK edition won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction the following year.
In 2012 it was adapted into a theatrical feature film directed by Ang Lee with a screenplay by David Magee.
Life of Pi is divided into three sections. In the first section, the main character, Pi, an adult, reminisces about his childhood. He was named Piscine Molitor Patel after a swimming pool in France. He changes his name to "Pi" when he begins secondary school, because he is tired of being taunted with the nickname "Pissing Patel". His father owns a zoo in Pondicherry, providing Pi with a relatively affluent lifestyle and some understanding of animal psychology.
In the second part of the novel, Pi's family embarks on a Japanese freighter to Canada carrying some of the animals from their zoo, but a few days out of port, the ship meets a storm and capsizes, resulting in his family's death. During the storm, Pi escapes death in a small lifeboat with a spotted hyena, an injured zebra, and an orangutan. It is discovered that a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker had been hiding under the boat's tarp.
In the third part of the novel, two officials from the Japanese Ministry of Transport speak to Pi to ascertain why the ship sank. When they do not believe his story, he tells an alternate story of human brutality, in which Pi was adrift on a lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken leg, and the ship's cook, who killed the sailor and Pi's mother and cut them up to use as bait and food.
The novel was rejected by at least five London publishing houses before being accepted by Knopf Canada, which published it in September 2001. The UK edition won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction the following year.
In 2012 it was adapted into a theatrical feature film directed by Ang Lee with a screenplay by David Magee.
Life of Pi is divided into three sections. In the first section, the main character, Pi, an adult, reminisces about his childhood. He was named Piscine Molitor Patel after a swimming pool in France. He changes his name to "Pi" when he begins secondary school, because he is tired of being taunted with the nickname "Pissing Patel". His father owns a zoo in Pondicherry, providing Pi with a relatively affluent lifestyle and some understanding of animal psychology.
In the second part of the novel, Pi's family embarks on a Japanese freighter to Canada carrying some of the animals from their zoo, but a few days out of port, the ship meets a storm and capsizes, resulting in his family's death. During the storm, Pi escapes death in a small lifeboat with a spotted hyena, an injured zebra, and an orangutan. It is discovered that a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker had been hiding under the boat's tarp.
In the third part of the novel, two officials from the Japanese Ministry of Transport speak to Pi to ascertain why the ship sank. When they do not believe his story, he tells an alternate story of human brutality, in which Pi was adrift on a lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken leg, and the ship's cook, who killed the sailor and Pi's mother and cut them up to use as bait and food.
This book has been on my shelves waiting to be read for many years. It has moved from the UK to China via slow boat when I moved here. It has been bumped to the top of the list because of people talking about the film and should finally get read soon as tomorrow I will be taking the train form Guangzhou to Harbin (36 hours so plenty of reading time).
Very engrossing book; started it one day, and finished it the next.
At first I was not sure if I would like it as the style of writing is not to my usual taste. Also, I am not one for metaphors in writing. I don't think this book is amazing as all the hype, but still very enjoyable. I was dubious at first..I am glad that the animals did not have talking roles. That does leave the door open for disagreement with others as to which version of the survival story is true.
I did not find the story to be overtly religious or spiritual; perhaps that is because of my mind set and the fact that I am not religious. That just goes to show that the story can be enjoyed by anyone. That Pi does not see any reason why he cannot be a Muslim, Christian and Hindu at the same time, resonates with me, as I also do not see why a person should have to be a believe in a particular faith to have a sense of purpose with life.
When it comes to survival having faith does give one the strength to hold on, but so does having a particular adversity to overcome. Something to occupy the time combined with the refusal to be beaten can result in amazing survival stories.
At first I was not sure if I would like it as the style of writing is not to my usual taste. Also, I am not one for metaphors in writing. I don't think this book is amazing as all the hype, but still very enjoyable. I was dubious at first..I am glad that the animals did not have talking roles. That does leave the door open for disagreement with others as to which version of the survival story is true.
I did not find the story to be overtly religious or spiritual; perhaps that is because of my mind set and the fact that I am not religious. That just goes to show that the story can be enjoyed by anyone. That Pi does not see any reason why he cannot be a Muslim, Christian and Hindu at the same time, resonates with me, as I also do not see why a person should have to be a believe in a particular faith to have a sense of purpose with life.
When it comes to survival having faith does give one the strength to hold on, but so does having a particular adversity to overcome. Something to occupy the time combined with the refusal to be beaten can result in amazing survival stories.
