Spoiler warning, you have been warned..

So I finished the LIfe of Pi.  The book takes a twist on par with the 6th sense.  It turns out that all those animals with whom Pi spent his days at sea are representative of people or people’s personality.  I liked it.  It made me think.  But it also left me confused.  Pi concocts an elaborate story of animals on a boat to explain the savagery of man vs man in extreme circumstances.  When his questioners reject his account of events citing physical impossibilities, such as orangutangs floating on a bunch of bananas for miles, Pi delivers the truth of his mother’s murder at the hands of a crazed survivor and his justified killing of his mom’s murderer.  After revealing the horrific facts, Pi asks his questioners which story they prefer.  They report the former story.  I was so confused I ended up at Wikipedia to decipher the ending.  If you have read this far, I don’t recommend you read the book as I have just robbed you of it’s ending.

Wow.  The book has gotten really good.  Like most books, you have to commit to 100 pages or better to get into it.  At page 180, I am hooked.  It is a good read.

Immigrating to Canada from India, Pi and his family boarded a shipping vessel loaded Father’s zoo animals (*note foreshadowing*). The ship sinks and leaves Pi stranded on a life boat with a host of animals, including an injured zebra, a hyena, and a tiger.
I love the author’s pacing.  He doesn’t insult the reader by dragging out suspenseful moments.  For example the boat sinking chapter starts with, “The boat sank”.  These abrupt lines pack a punch.  The author then steps back and walks you through the moments before the ship.

All is not perfect wtih the book in my opinion, but it’s just a pet peave of mine, not a real literary flaw.  That is, Pi portrays the animals as good and evil.  For example, when the hyena kills the zebra for food he is described as a viscous animal killing a beautiful creature.  However, when the orangatan hits the hyena, the ape is described as a nobel creature putting up a good fight.  That crap drives me crazy.  Beautiful animals are protagonists while ugly animals are antagonists.  I suppose as an outdoorsman more familiar with wildlife I see it differently.  Every creature on that boat wants to preserve its own life.  It is neither evil nor good, it is natural.

But aside from that rant, I want to stress, this is a great book.  I read it more frequently and I can’t wait to read it again tonight.  Thanks to VD for the book suggestion.

I believe it was Paul who said he was all things to all men.  Since my last Pi blog, the protagonist, Pi, joined Islam and Christianity, all the while maintaing an active role in his Hindu faith.  While visiting the boardwalk with his Father and Mother, his three unknowing spiritual mentors converge on Pi.  My, isn’t this awkard?  In turn, each mentor claims Pi to their true faith.  After heated argument, they turn to Pi and demand he choose a faith.  “I just want to love God.”, he declares.  Pi was Obama before Obama was Obama.  Take no position, speak in generalities, and when cornered, make broad sweeping statements with whom none may disagree.  If pressured to take a position, declare that such demands stem from the corrupt tree of partisan politics, and you are above that.  As Andrew Wilow said this morning, you will then become a blank slate to which dreamers may assign their dogma. *I think I just derailed, but you get the point.*  Anyway, Pi is an innocent young man quickly realizing the world rejects such as he.  Stay tuned for more reporting…

It was a busy weekend, but I did get a chance last night to sit down with the book Life of Pi.  I have to admit, I am curious as heck where this thing is headed.  Unfortunately, the Life of Pi needs to compete with RockBand, the Wii, my family, and my abbreviated social calendar.

What story am I reading?  The story I think I am reading is Pi, a young Indian boy, is learning the zoo keeper trade with life lessons peppered throughout the zoo.  Don’t get me wrong, it is a well written book and if it continued to be simply a story of a boy growing up around the zoo that would be fine with me and a worthwhile read.  But, I know there is more of a philisophical context to this book.  So I flipped to the back cover of the book to reorient myself with the book’s intentions.  Sure enough, the marketing department for Publisher xyz decided to bill this as a journey of a boy’s soul on a raft with a powerful tiger.  Then I fell asleep.

Getting the Book I took my 3 year old daughter, Anna, to get an ice cream at McDonalds.  As we drove by the South Jordan Library, I remembered the library previously notified me that my copy of The Life of Pi arrived.  Anna and I pulled into the library, got the book (and a host of others), got the ice cream, washed the car, and returned home.  I had little intention of reading the book tonight, but a rare Utah thunderstorm caused me to pull the power on the computer and TV.  So as I sat here in what felt like the 1800’s (no computer or tv) I saw the book.  So I started it.  And so far, I can say I am excited.  The writing is good, and at least one of the points made by the main character “Pi” is one which I love to debate, but I will save that for another post.

I am only about 20 pages into the book, but so far we know that Pi had a hard life.  Kids teased him incessantly about his name in school.  Gee, I wonder what that would be like?  He worked at a zoo and he is a good student.  Oh, and there are one paragraph italicized chapters in the book that appear to be narratives of another story line (or a parallel universe?).  Anyway, if Vince, oops, I mean VD, recommends it, it has got to be good.  Stay tuned for more of my takes on The Life of Pi.

I actively maintain a list of the smartest people I know.  One of these people, we’ll call him “VD” recommended a book to me and refused to give me any detail.  I did ask if it was a smutty romance novel and he insisted it wasn’t.  I am still willing to read it and I gave my solemn word that I would read the book and report my progress online.  So it begins… reading the Life of Pi