Yann Martel - "Life of Pi"

Somehow I missed this book when it first came out, but everyone I’ve spoken to about it since has told me it changed their life. It is not often one hears more than one or two people say such a thing about a particular book, unless perhaps it’s an old classic, like the Bible. So when I heard this claim yet again a few weeks ago, I finally decided I had to do something about it. I had to read Life of Pi.

As the title claims, the book is about the life of a character named Pi. (It’s not about Pi’s entire life, but still.) Pi’s real name is Piscine Molitor Patel, but he changes his name to Pi in school after being called a nickname after the bodily function one is reminded of when they hear the name Piscine.

He is an Indian boy from a town named Pondicherry. His father is a zookeeper and teaches Pi about the nature of animals from an early age; most explicitly when he feeds a goat to a tiger in front of his sons. (Be forewarned, there is LOTS of animal violence in this book.) Pi is a curious boy and absorbs all the information he can. Eventually his interests move from the natural world onto the spiritual plane. Born a Hindu, he becomes a Christian and a Muslim after coming across a Church and a Muslim baker. (There’s a hysterical scene where Pi is walking with his parents, who have no idea he’s practicing three faiths, and they bump into Pi’s priest, imam, and pandit all at the same time.) He learns as much of these faiths as he can and appreciates the benefits of each. When his cross-denominational penchant is discovered, he’s surprised to find everyone insists he pick one.

Pi’s world receives a jolt when his father decides to sell the zoo and move the family to Canada. Since they have to transport some of the animals to sell in the States, they catch a ride on a cargo ship. It sinks in the Pacific. As his family and everyone else on-board drowns, Pi ends up in a small lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger. Soon, nature takes its course- the hyena eats the zebra and orangutan only to be eaten by the tiger- and Pi is left alone on the boat with the tiger. At first, Pi is terrified he too will be eaten. But soon he realizes he would be alone without the animal and comes to the conclusion he must not just keep himself alive, but also an animal that could kill Pi in an instant. Pi must use all the knowledge of spirituality and zoo keeping he has garnered to survive.

I thought Life of Pi brilliant for many reasons. The prose is conversational (the pretext is that Pi is telling the story to the author in a series of interviews) and witty. Pi is a character we like immediately for his boundless curiosity. But it is the larger themes that make this book hum. Spirituality and science take center stage as Pi’s needs to draw upon both to survive. Is Martel telling us we need to do the same?

There is an element of storytelling too. Pi is drawn to religion because he likes the stories. (Another wonderful part is when Pi compares and contrasts the core stories of Christianity and Hinduism) And a twist at the end suggests perhaps Pi needed storytelling to survive as well. Is it all just an allegory? As Pi says when closing his interview with cargo company representatives after his ordeal: “And so it goes with God.”

Okay, I won’t say the book changed my life. But it addresses themes and ideas that sure could change the way we see life; the way we accept or reject religion in our lives - or even refuse to decide. The choice is up to us.