LIFE OF PI
Yann Martel, Canongate Books Ltd, US$40
In an interview with Jennie Renton, the editor of Textualities, an online literary magazine, Yann Martel highlighted: “The subtext for Life of Pi can be summarized in three lines: 1) Life is a story, 2) You can choose your story, 3) A story with God is the better story.”
Only when you’ve opened your mind to allow the most vivid of imagination enshroud you, will you then shake your head with disbelief as you marvel at the last few chapters of this allegory.
Gripping in its elements, Martel encompasses religion, animals and survival in a story marred with erratic waves of tragedy and joy. Set in India, the book is a narration by Pi Patel who delves into Christianity, Hinduism and Islam all at once. He tries to understand the mechanics of spirituality as he himself is confused and trying to find his way.
Owners of the Pondicherry Zoo, Pi’s family decides to emigrate to Canada, taking the animals with them onboard the Tsimtsum. A 16-year-old Indian boy, Pi is left abandoned as the ship sinks and is all alone on a lifeboat, except for the company of a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, an orang-utan and a Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
The dynamics of the animal kingdom took its course and only boy and tiger are left. Equipped with sufficient knowledge of animal handling and psychology, Pi is determined that Richard Parker’s next meal is not a bony Indian boy. He survives on an irregular supply of tortoise and fish for him and his boat mate, realising that his 227-day ordeal on the Pacific Ocean would have been shortened if not for company, any form of it, even if it’s a burly tiger.
The twist is yet to come when officials speak to Pi about the ship sinking and do not buy his story. He then offers them another account, void of animals, which seems closer to believability.
Offering readers a choice, Martel absorbs the readers’ imagination in a literary adventure of vivid description, thoroughly deserving of the Man Booker Prize.
Peter Rajendran
