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Life of Pi

 

Do you believe in stories? Did you believe in stories when you were young? This book named Life of Pi (2001) written by Yann Martel made me want to believe in stories again.

Margaret Atwood’s comment on the book cover itself “A terrific book” made me stop for a moment as I flipped through the pages curiously to find out what the book was about. 


 

It is a story of a young boy named Piscine Molitor Patel, first introduced to his classmates as Pissing Patel and later known as Pi Patel (π = the Greek letter Pi) after his desperate effort to change his first name from Pissing to Pi which in his ears sounds less-awkward. His father owns a zoo and the boy’s sole motive in life is to love God. Even though he is born to a Hindu family in India, after several encounters with a Catholic priest and an Islamic baker in the town, he becomes a Christian who goes to church on Sundays and a Muslim who prays at the mosque on Fridays and a devoted Hindu on a regular basis. As a zoo owner’s son, Pi is interested in all kinds of animals and he knows a great deal about Gods and animals. 

The sixteen-year old Pi is one day being told by his parents that they have planned to move to Canada. All the animals of the Pondicherry zoo have been shipped to the other zoos and the family’s trip to Canada is by a cargo ship named 'Tsimtsum'. After the tragic sinking of the ship, only Pi is left alive on a life boat in the far away Pacific with a hyena, zebra, a female orang-utan and Richard Parker; the Bengal tiger to keep him company. The book is indeed terrific as Margaret Atwood has rightly said, not only because of the young boy’s desperate struggle in the Pacific Ocean but also due to the tragic end of his lonely voyage. The tragedy of it is that even though he manages to rescue himself and Richard Parker almost after seven months, no one seems to believe his ‘real story’ of managing to share a lifeboat with a tiger for seven months. 


 

The writer says in the author’s note, “If we, citizens, do not support out artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams”. Therefore, Life of Pi is a book filled with adventure, terror, humour, love and faith which makes the readers believe in stories. It was interesting for me to find out that the book has also been adapted into a film in 2012 directed by Ang Lee.

 

~Parami Ranasinghe

Comments

  1. sevenamusedbloggersApril 26, 2021 at 3:47 AM

    I thought 'Life of Pi' was originally a film. And your article made me want to read this novel. The story reminds me of the 2015 movie 'In the Heart of the Sea' which is a brilliant brilliant movie with a moving and an adventurous plotline starring Chris Hemsworth. I have a feeling that 'Life of Pi' story would be less gruesome. Even though I have never read the book or watched the movie, I feel like the author has tried to tell a story of love, harmony and human values.

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  2. NipuniApril 27, 2021 at 4:13 AM

    I watched the film and honestly at the end of it... i thought that he had made the whole story up to repress the reality of the traumatic events at sea and his own actions. In the movie, the final scene when the reporter asks Pi if the story was real he gives this ''look''... and I remember how it sent a horrific chill up my spine! To date I'm not sure what to believe but it's an action packed film that keeps you on edge. Irfan Khan and Suraj Sharma's acting is the cherry on top!

    -Nipuni

    ReplyDelete
  3. TherushieMay 2, 2021 at 9:46 AM

    I did not know that Ang Lee's movie was based on a book! To be honest, eventhough I LOVED the first half of the movie, I got a bit bored after the ship sank and have never seen the end of it.... So I can't really say much about it- perhaps the book is better than the film!

    ReplyDelete

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