posted
Heck yes! That's one of my favorites, actually. Surprising, since I read it for English and still liked it despite that.
I'm not usually one much for first person, but the main character, also the narrator, had an engaging voice that made me want to keep reading. It was just so witty and original that it didn't bother me at all. In fact, I hardly even noticed it most of the time.
I think one of my favorite lines in the book was from when Pi's brother was mocking him for trying to follow three religions at once. ("So, swami Jesus, are you going to go on the hajj this year?")
I was just thinking about reading it again since it's been a few years...
What did you think about the ending? Did you think that the animal story we read was really just a cover for the nasty human story he tells at teh end? Or was teh human story just something he made up for the Japanese investigators?
[This message has been edited by rcorporon (edited April 29, 2006).]
posted
I loved reading Life of Pi, hated how I felt when it was done. It's a masterful character piece, and a good story. It's a book I'm not sure I can recommend to my friends, though, because I dread that call saying, "Why didn't you tell me...??" Posts: 247 | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged |
I don't really know which story to believe, but if I had to choose, I would probably have to go with the animal story because it just seems more believable than the human one. I think that the reason he told the Japanese investigators about the human one was because they were not satisfied with his animal story--it just seems to impossible--so then he tells them the human one. But the animal story was just so much more detailed and complex, I don't see how he could have just made that up whereas it would have been much easier to make up the human story. I don't remember much of the details of the human story, though, since it's been awhile since I've read the book, so I could be wrong.
posted
in my opinion it's not about whether the strange story about sea meerkats and fleseating algae is real, but more about whether you believe. Or if your the kind of "seeing is (the only) believing" kinda sceptic.
Posts: 36 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I loved it One of the reasons I liked it is because it violated so many "rules" like starting way before the real action and throwing in weird stuff about the character that doesn't make much sense even after you've finished the book. Kind of encouraged me to know that somethimes you can burn the text book.
Spoiler
I think the human story was the objective one, the animal story was more real, even if it was in his mind
I just finished this and it was wonderful. I want to read it again. But there is no question in my mind that the second story was the real one. From the time he got to the island I wondered if he had gone insane. The episode with the Frenchman seemed like it would turn out to be fairly important, especially his confession.
The one thing I wondered is if R.P. actually symbolized God rather than the animal part of himself, but the way he slept above the tarpaulin and R.P. below definitely suggests sublimation. Also, when he opened the locker it completely closed him off from R.P.
I do wonder what the island was about, and the fruit. Perhaps it was that he escaped to this world of fantasy, but remember how he worried about R.P. growing stronger, and maybe the fruit were about him realizing that if he stayed in the fantasy world, it would get to a point where he would not be able to keep surviving.
One thing I wonder about the island is they passed a great storm while on it. Would the algae not have gone into their nocturnal nature?
I listened as a book on tape. My husband will think I'm crazy, listening to it again. The reading I heard was very nice, by an indian speaker who also did the French and Japanese voices. The sometimes Narrator was a different voice.
I am interested about the Narrator. My one teacher said of my story that there needs to be something to break up first person now and again. Do you think that is very important? Possibly some verification?
[This message has been edited by pooka (edited June 19, 2006).]
Printer-friendly view of this topic
