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This book has been mentioned in other threads but has anyone finished reading Life of Pi, by Yann Martel?

I read it and enjoyed it alot. Having threads of both zoology and religion woven in was awesome as both are of interest to me. I enjoyed the simple awe of the story.
The end well I'm not going to spoil anything but I kind of feel like the author failed his own story.

Have you read it? What did you think? How did the ending make you feel?

hello-

I read that book recently...or at least I tried to. I stumbled through the first 75 pages or so...then found the writing style unpleasant and excessively wordy..skipped around before going to read the last 50 pages.

I didn't enjoy the book very much at all..except for a few places.

It's been years since I last read Life of Pi -- the most vivid thing that I remember about the book was being very disgruntled at the protagonist's advocation of zoos. LOL.

Overall, I did think that the book was a pretty good read. I thought the ending was quite sad in a way. [sad as in for the protagonist and not so much about it being disappointing]

oh boy, responses.
Circus: I think I have a bit of a high tolerance for the wordiness. His subject matter drew me in sufficiently that I was able to follow throughout the areas where the writer stumbled. I think that this is one of those books where you really need the whole thing for the end to really have any impact at all. Then again, I suppose all books should be like that; there must be a reason they have middles.

Cayce: I thought the writer did a reasonable job with the treatment of zoos. Not saying I agreed with all of it, mind you. I think that the writer did a pretty good job handling the issue while keeping it a part of the story and even threading it to deeper meaning.
To share my personal opinion on zoos, so you can see why I don't throw out the book because of the zoo issue: My personal opinion is that there is a place in today's society for zoos if they are set up and cared for correctly. We have large popultaion of captive animals that will never be able to live in the wild. While they are in our stewardship we need to do right by them.

Overall, I think I liked the book because it was about faith and hardship. Those topics hold a soft spot for me, so its easy to catch me onto a book based off of them. I don't think it was a great book, in fact after I read it I wasn't sure who I would reccomend it to. There are some passages which are written beautifully but as a whole piece it is patchy at best. My ambivalent feelings are why I really wanted to see what others had to say.

Anybody else?

I remember really liking the book because (warning, possible spoiler) I liked how it made it's case about how you see things and I interpreted, ultimately why faith and religion aren't as dumb or bad as many make them out to be.

I remember putting this book on my "must read" list and wound up being disappointed. I didn't hate it, but I think all the hype around it made me expect something more profound that it really was. I also felt the same way about "One Hundred Years of Solitude", which also was an above average book that I had higher hopes for. Definately worth a read, but not stellar fiction.

PC

It's just a damn good story. Once I got about 80 or 100 pages into it, I couldn't put it down.

It wasn't the kind of book that changed my life or anything. Yeah, it's got religion, faith, and hardship, but by the end I thought it was aiming to be a bit heavier than it really was.

People might disagree on the book's "meaning" or "impact," but it really was great storytelling. It made my morning commute to work a lot nicer.

I remember really enjoying it. I tend not to pay a whole lot of attention to writing style or outline though. I like what jv said about it being great storytelling - I agree. I thought it was refreshingly imaginative and creative -- I always enjoy reading something that stands apart from other books and formats. It just struck me as unique, and I can appreciate that. I was also impressed that there were several underlying themes in the book, and yet the story stayed simple. AND while you got a pretty good idea of where the author stood on some of these issues/themes, it wasn't as blatantly obvious as in a book like Ishmael. Anyhow - I liked it!

Personally, I really liked this book. I've had it for a while and heard a lot about it, but i just didn't have the time to read it. After my last move and unpacking my books i found it again and read it. I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed how it was wordy and gave a pretty clear image of what Pi was going through and thinking. There were a lot of heavy subjects talked but about, but at the same time I didn't feel like i was reading some holy book or animal rights books, etc. The main thing i got out of it was the part when all three of the religious leaders meet together and they started to fight. I admired Pi for his ability to study and love all three religions and when his religious learders meet, it just showed what really happens with religion, a lack of acceptability. The cheesy line always comes to mind... Why can't we all just get along... But what can you do? Just hope that one day it'll be true..
--Diana

The life of Pis is a good book.

It isn't 'wordy,' sucka. The prose is tight and clean.

I am so drunk. I son't know what to do. Fuckin good story.

YanN mARTEL. Good Jew.

I really enjoyed this book. I am one who pays attention to style and prose, and found this one much more favorable than others I have read.

I didn't see it as advocating zoos, just forcing readers to take a different look from a zookeeper's point of view. Zoos get such a bad rap, but there are people that truly care about their animals there. I agree with Calli, there is a place in this world for zoos, as long as they are taken care of and provide adequate space.

I really enjoyed Life of Pi...but books have to be in the right context and skipping chunks of pages has never worked for me. I had just finished Wild Swansby Jung Chang so I was looking for something quick and engrossing. Books are good for different things - I would have never described it as wordy. Perhaps the story was brisk enough for me.

If you want wordy, try Peter Nadas or Jose Saramago =) Saramago is wordy but he'll get under your skin if you give it the chance. Months later you'll find yourself thinking about his novels...but I digress.

I read it and didn't really like it. I attempted to read it again not too long ago, but after the first 100 pages, I realized why I didn't like it and put it down.

The book had alot of hype around it, but after I finnished reading it the first time I was disa[ppointed.

On the subject of PI.

Who has read the book Joy of Pi?

Or seen the movie Pi?

http://www.pithemovie.com/


I'm eager to watch both soon.

i started reading it a couple of days ago. but im not far enought to comment yet

Hope you don't mid a newbie jumping into this thread.

I read "Life of Pi" last year and LOVED it until "The ending", just like you, Callilucy. I didn't find it wordy, but I have a very high tolerance for writers who like ornate prose (have any of you read anything by John Crowley?).

I thought Martel's descriptions were amazing, and that's what I want most from a writer, to let me vividly see what he's seeing. I can still remember his description of the lightning storm at sea -- it gave me chills.

I don't how I can express my feelings about the ending without giving it away. It made me feel like...someone had sent me a gift, a beautiful thing that thrilled me, but when I thanked them for the thing of beauty, they said, "That's not a sculpture -- that's an ancient abacus, and you were supposed to use it to learn calculus." -- like what I had admired for its beauty had really been meant to be utilitiarian and instructive.

I'm sorry, newbies are not allowed.

Welcome! Thanks for your input. I'm glad you decided to post because this:
"It made me feel like...someone had sent me a gift, a beautiful thing that thrilled me, but when I thanked them for the thing of beauty, they said, "That's not a sculpture -- that's an ancient abacus, and you were supposed to use it to learn calculus." -- like what I had admired for its beauty had really been meant to be utilitiarian and instructive."

was exactly how I felt only you said it so much better than I could have!

I saw what the author was going for but his lesson needed a bit softer, or maybe just a finer, touch. The book was beautiful and then "thud" went the moral of the story.

I've thought more on the book after seeing people's replies and I really did enjoy the book and *MAY* read it again (i'm not a re-reader) but still not sure who I would reccomend it to. Maybe my friends/ acquaintances have poor taste in books. :P

quote:

Originally posted by mini manta:
I don't how I can express my feelings about the ending without giving it away. It made me feel like...someone had sent me a gift, a beautiful thing that thrilled me, but when I thanked them for the thing of beauty, they said, "That's not a sculpture -- that's an ancient abacus, and you were supposed to use it to learn calculus." -- like what I had admired for its beauty had really been meant to be utilitiarian and instructive.

I felt similarly, except I didn't totally love the rest. I enjoyed the writing style, but wasn't totally sold by the end. A good ending might have done it for me, but explaining metaphors to me is not a good way to sell me on a story. I felt like the end was much like someone explaining a joke in painstaking detail that I'd already understood. A joke's never funny if you're explaining the punchline. I felt this story lost every bit of the magic it had going for it by explaining it all away.

A diappointing read overall.

Granted, this is an old thread, but I would love to resurrect it for one last joyride. See, I just finished reading Life of Pi. And I started thinking about it and re-reading specific tasty passages, like the Tiger's battle with the Hyena or Pi's own fight with the blind frenchman.

***************SPOILER*********************************
I liked the ending in particular. A story about a kid surviving on a lifeboat with a tiger is fantastic. But its the act of telling the story to deal with life's horrid traumas that interests me most. Either I'm naive or easily engrossed in talk of animal psychology, but I didnt read the book as a metaphor. At all. Until the end. And now I see the story as an exercise on faith. Sure, it's instructive. But it's the most beautiful and imaginative article on faith that I've read. Maybe it isn't all that. Maybe I should read more. Maybe I'm easily impressed. But if there's better out there, please show me the way to it. I, myself, am jewish. So I'm a little miffed that Pi did not study to be Bar Mitzvah'ed. But, hey, whatcha gonna do? I usually more of a realist. And I think Pi's journey into madness would have left me utterly traumatized. If I had somehow kept on, I'm not sure I could just shoulder the load the way I normal shoulder the weight of my life. I don't send anything up to my higher power. I don't tell stories. Idunno... I guess that's why I'm so amazed by Pi's.

In any case, if there's anyone still interested in the book, know that I'm here. I joined this site because of this thread (and, err, my joy for travel), so I want to ask about this and that, like the island and the little creatures that live there. I think the island represents death, or the decision to leave the lifeboat and gie up. And the creatures could represent Pi's conscience. Pi respects and is soothed by them, while the beast consumes and utterly destroys them. Death, however, eats away at all three. Idunno, that's what I've come up with so far. What have you got?

Al

I think a good follow up to this would be a discussion on "The Tao of Pooh" It is not only philosophical but hysterical.