Life of Pi

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Life of Pi
An American paperback edition of Life of Pi
Author Yann Martel
Country Canada
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Knopf Canada
Released September 2001
Pages 336
ISBN ISBN 0-676-97376-0 (first edition, hardcover), ISBN 0-15-602732-1 (US paperback edition) ISBN 1-56511-780-0 (audiobook, Penguin Highbridge)
Preceded by Self
Followed by We Ate the Children Last

Life of Pi is a novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. The protagonist Piscine ("Pi") Molitor Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores the issues of religion and spirituality from an early age and survives 227 days[1] shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean.

First published by Knopf Canada in September 2001, the novel won the prestigious Booker Prize the following year. It was also chosen for CBC Radio's Canada Reads 2003 competition, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee. Its French translation, L'Histoire de Pi, was also chosen in the French version of the competition, Le combat des livres.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book has three parts. The first part is a young boy's rumination on spirituality and Indian life. The main character, Piscine Patel (aka "Pi") talks about his life living as the son of a zookeeper, and speaks at length about animal behaviour. He also talks about religion - Pi practices Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, having seen merits in all three religions. He says "I just want to love God."

The second part (comprising most of the text) is a blend of a detailed and realistic survival memoir and a fantastic allegory in a medieval style. After his father decides to sell the zoo and relocate the family to Canada, the cargo ship on which the family has found passage sinks. Pi manages to find refuge on a lifeboat, where he finds himself sharing space with a female orangutan named Orange Juice, a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, and a Royal Bengal Tiger by the name of Richard Parker. At first Pi believes that Richard Parker has abandoned the boat, and focuses on surviving the hyena. It is not long before the hyena begins to feed on the zebra. After the zebra's death, the hyena kills the orangutan, prompting Pi to approach it, lest he be next. It is then that he notices that Richard Parker has been resting under a tarpaulin and has been aboard the lifeboat the entire time.

The tiger kills and eats the hyena, but does not immediately attack Pi. The young man manages to construct a raft using supplies aboard the boat, and avoids direct confrontation with Richard Parker by keeping out of the tiger's territory on the deck of the boat. Pi eventually marks his own territory, and uses his knowledge of zoology to tame the tiger. Pi reasons that while Richard Parker is healthy, he poses less of a threat - an injured beast being more dangerous. Therefore keeping the tiger alive becomes his primary focus. He catches fish and turtles, and uses solar stills to obtain drinkable water. Due to poor diet, nutrition, and weakness, Pi goes temporarily blind, and during this state meets another castaway on a boat travelling parallel with his own. The other man has a French language accent, and after a period of amicable conversation he boards Pi's boat with a view to murdering him. As soon as he boards, however, he is killed and devoured by Richard Parker. Soon after the duo wash ashore upon a strange wooded island, populated by meerkats, and containing pools of fresh water. After some time, Pi finds a strange tree on the island, and upon examining the fruit, finds human teeth. He realizes that the island is carnivorous, and he and Richard Parker must leave the island immediately.

The lifeboat finally washes up on the beach in Mexico at which point Richard Parker bounds off into the jungle never to be seen again. When Pi is rescued and taken to a hospital two men representing the Japanese Ministry of Transport quiz him on his remarkable story. They are dissatisfied with his story, so Pi offers an alternative explanation. He was on board the lifeboat with three other people: the ship's French chef, Pi's mother, and a wounded sailor. The barbaric chef first kills and eats the sailor, then brutally kills his mother. Upon seeing this, Pi kills and eats the chef. Pi asks the men from the shipping company which story they prefer. The novel ends with the report to the Japanese government, in which the two men have told the first story.

The last part also offers the reader a choice to actually choose the story version they prefer. Martel shows two ways of looking at the same reality and requires a leap of faith to choose the "better" story.

There are three major religions of interest in this story: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, represented by Pi Patel. The philosophical concept of atheism is also represented by Mr. Kumar.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Moacyr Scliar's Max and the Cats

In the book's preface, Martel mentions the Brazilian writer Moacyr Scliar, saying:

"Also, I am indebted to Mr. Moacyr Scliar, for the spark of life."

Scliar's Max e os Felinos, published in 1981, is a story of a German refugee who has to cross the Atlantic Ocean while sharing his boat with a jaguar. Max and the Cats, an English translation by Eloah F. Giacomelli, was published in 1990.

Martel says he did not read Scliar's book, but he did read a negative review many years prior to writing Life of Pi. What makes it more confusing is that Martel said the review was written by John Updike in The New York Times. However, the newspaper never ran a review on Max and the Cats, nor has Updike ever reviewed the book. When the prize was awarded to Martel in 2002, Scliar said he was perplexed that Martel "used the idea without consulting or even informing him", and considered taking legal action. After talking with Martel, however, he elected not to pursue the matter. [2]

[edit] Richard Parker

Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger that Piscine shares the boat with, was named after an Edgar Allan Poe character from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838). The book tells of four shipwrecked men who, after many days' privation, drew lots to decide who should be killed and eaten. The cabin boy, named Richard Parker, draws the short straw and is eaten. Tales of cannibalism by shipwrecked sailors were not uncommon in the 19th century, but oddly enough, 46 years after Poe's story was published, the very events Poe wrote about would happen in reality. Captain Dudley and three sailors were stranded in a skiff in the Pacific after the sinking of their yacht Mignonette on the way to Australia. They are forced to eat one of the party to survive, and feast on his body for 35 days — a sailor boy named Richard Parker. Yet another Richard Parker died when his ship, named the Francis Spaight, sank in January 1846. Ten years earlier, in December 1835, an earlier Francis Spaight was wrecked in the north Atlantic: some of the survivors of that wreck too were involved in cannibalism. As Yann Martel said "So many Richard Parkers had to mean something." [3]

[edit] Themes

The theme of coming of age is a mainstay of the story. Pi grows up quickly and must develop his survival skills while incredibly young -all while losing his family.[4] Another notable theme is the concept of spirituality as a means to survive after one's death. Pi, as a math term, explains a number that never ends, and has no pattern. The life of Piscine is full of spontaneous adventures, somewhat similar to the uncharted number sequence of pi. Also, the infinite concept of pi can relate to the discovery of God by Piscine; religion culminates thoughts of a living soul that carries on life after death. There is a theme of mind over physical strength; the most notable example is Pi's ability to tame Richard Parker through mental strength. The book also shows the truth and unity of all religions.

[edit] Film & theatrical adaptations

M. Night Shyamalan, writer and director of The Sixth Sense, became interested in a proposed film based upon the novel, but dropped the project due to its twist ending (a common feature of Shyamalan's films), telling magazine Entertainment Weekly:

"I was concerned that as soon as you put my name on it, everybody would have a different experience. Whereas if someone else did it, it would be much more satisfying, I think. Expectations, you've got to be aware of them."

Alfonso Cuarón, director of the third Harry Potter movie, has also expressed interest in making it. Jean-Pierre Jeunet is rumoured to have been signed to direct the movie, and IMDb also claims so. Martel himself confirmed Jeunet's involvement in a public appearance in April, 2006 at the Peterborough Public Library in Peterborough, Ontario.

The novel was adapted for the stage by the Twisted Yarn theatre company, which produced a stage adaptation in the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford in 2003. The company received the exclusive UK rights to adapt the novel into a play from Yann Martel himself.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Piscine spends 227 days on the boat; see chapter 63, second paragraph.
  2. ^ Scliar, Moacyr. Interview with Eleanor Wachtel. Writers & Company. CBC Radio 1. July 16, 2006. (Transcript (.ram)).
  3. ^ "Yann Martel on tigers, cannibals and Edgar Allan Poe", 14 May 2002. Note: the canongate.net article is factually incorrect about the Francis Spaight, see The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket for additional citations.
  4. ^ Themes in the Life of Pi.See Summary on The Life of Pi for additional citations.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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Preceded by:
True History of the Kelly Gang		 Man Booker Prize recipient
2002		 Succeeded by:
Vernon God Little
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