I Read

Life Of Pi: Yann Martel 

Pi's list:

• 1 spotted hyena
• 1 Bengal Tiger
• 1 boy with a complete set of light clothing and one shoe
• 1 lifeboat
• 1 ocean
• 1 God

You know what the book is about. It's right there on the cover. There's a white lifeboat. The occupants are a fierce looking tiger and a young boy. That much, is enough to pull your towards the book and read its summary at the back. And if a major motion picture was released based on the book, then you wouldn't miss it either. 

Once, while working on an inter college theater competition, our college was going to base a play on this very theme: survival. It's very intriguing. Throw a human being in unfamiliar territory and see what he will do. But throw him in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and you have a story. Place a full grown Bengal Tiger who is literally sailing in the same boat and you're hooked. 

The book is truly about the struggle for survival. Maybe it was because this topic really interests me, but I was glued from the very first page. I agree with the hundreds who say that Martel is a master storyteller. He has a gift to combine the most distinct things and make a story out of it. For example, apart from survival, he speaks intimately about two things: God and Animals. The perspective he offers on God, is really refreshing. He talks about his Gods. Also, we are taken for a walk in the Pondicherry zoo, with descriptions of hyenas, monkeys, chimps, lions, tigers, leopards, camels, ostriches, orang-utans and elephants. 

Image: www.stuff.co.nz

Apart from that, the book is about hope, fear and survival. The endless expanse of the Pacific is painted beautifully. Pi says to himself once, that he was lucky to be stuck in the most extraordinary setting and with a magnificent beast. The book is about the ultimate castaway. Once you read it, and stay with Pi and Richard Parker in the same lifeboat you will never forget it. 

In the book, Martel explains his beliefs in simplest words. 

Lines to mark with a pencil:

"Life will defend itself no matter how small it is"