Web Master Yann Martel is a very brave man, for he commits a grave error in his author’s note to “Life of Pi”. Quite simply, he admits that his last book tanked, and that he ran away to India to get some perspective and peace while attempting to find something more suitable for his next book. And what does he find? A story that, he claims, “can make you believe in God.”
Critics and audiences took these prophetic words to heart, as “Life of Pi” became a bestseller and won several awards, among them the Man Booker Prize. Most authors would not survive the leap from lukewarm reviews to stunning acclaim, but Martel manages it brilliantly in “Life of Pi”, a powerful, engrossing, and redeeming work. At its core, the book is about survival, love, and the power of the human spirit, with some other surprising and often disturbing themes floating about. While the book may not convert you, “Life of Pi” is an extraordinary work that is so engrossing you’ll read it in one sitting, and so rich that you’ll have to read it again and again.
“Life of Pi” is divided into three sections, so different that it’s amazing they’re sandwiched between the same covers. However, like many untenable things in this work, the stories gels in a subtle and sneaky way, until it is impossible to understand the larger picture without all the parts.
The story of Piscene Molitor Patel’s life is so incredibly unique and different from recent fictionalized biographies that it can leave the reader awe-struck and rather confused. Piscene, or Pi for short, grows up in Ponticherry, a small Indian territory, where he learns the finer points of animal behavior as the son of a zookeeper, as well as the less fine points of human beings when his classmates call him “Pissing” Patel.
Schoolmate slang aside, Pi lives in a dream world, and an incredibly happy one at that. His satisfying childhood romps with animals and his brother, Ravi, are only interrupted by his father’s harsh warnings about the underlying dangers of animals. Although Martel is the author of this work, Pi’s presence as the narrator shines through, especially in the wistful passage where Pi recalls that the zoo, gone for many years, is “so small it fits in my head.” Even at forty, when Martel interviewed Pi, the man has an amazing memory, which is possibly due to his religious experiences. Pi became a practicing Christian and Muslim on top of his Hindu heritage, and the stories he tells of the Muslim baker and Catholic priest who taught him about God’s love are vivid and touching.
Pi’s childhood and religious background form his stabilizing force when his ship sinks in the Pacific Ocean. Traveling with their animals, Pi’s family perishes as the cargo ship goes under, and Pi is left on a lifeboat. However, this is not just any lifeboat, but one with a tiger, hyena, and zebra on it, to be shortly joined by an orangutan. While the other animals pass away, the tiger, named Richard Parker, stays, and Pi survives 227 days on the open ocean in a 28 foot lifeboat containing a 450 pound Bengal tiger. Needless to say, Pi survives to tell the tale by landing in Mexico, but to reveal more of the story would be to ruin everything, including the reader’s chance to believe in that Holiest of Holies.
So, how does Pi survive? Through a lot of hard work, pain, and suffering, of course. As a vegetarian, he spears fish, and as a zookeeper’s son, he manages to train Richard Parker as a subservient tiger. The details are amazing, as is the narrative structure of “Life of Pi”. Throughout the work, Martel’s keen eye to detail produces astonishing results. The descriptions of a lightening storm and a flying fish attack inspire awe, while the hyena’s brutal murder of the zebra invokes the most nauseous I’ve felt about a novel in a while. This is not your old Gary Paulsen novel, and it’s certainly not Robinson Crusoe. Martel holds absolutely nothing back, and the gore, as well as Pi’s sheer will to survive by eating everything animal, raises pertinent questions about man’s relationships to animals, and leaves you wondering whether it was just Pi’s bright nature that sustained him.
Although “Life” is frighteningly complex as revealed in Pi’s technical descriptions about animals and raft building, it revolves around common themes-the power of life, death, and love-that cut deep to reveal Pi’s nature. After months on the ocean, Martel writes, “You get your happiness where you can. You reach a point when you’re at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you’re the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.” Pi’s spiritual, emotional, and physical journey changes him deeply as a person, and yet does not shake his faith. Potentially a trick of fiction, Pi’s
deeply human nature is perfected by those trying days at sea. Often, he seems too perfect as a character.
Thus arises the problem of “Life of Pi”-where does the true story end and the fiction begin? As an audience, we become so wrapped up in the lonely “Life of Pi” Patel that we lose focus, and the end section quickly reminds us of fiction’s presence. Taken from an interview, the last section centers around the conversation between two Japanese officials and Pi. The officials, not so much interested in the trials of a boy than the disappearance of their ship, question nearly everything that comes out of Pi’s mouth. After all the lessons about the importance of spiritual strength in the face of physical and mental adversity, Martel leaves us wondering how much of “Life of Pi” is really true. His sneakiness here adds fuel to an incredibly bizarre book, but one that is a real catch.