A cleverly disguised criticism of religion and the magical thinking associated with religious belief systems, Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" was an engaging fantasy-adventure novel about a young boy shipwrecked on the high seas on a life-raft with a Bengal tiger.

This is one of those books that requires careful reading, as the narrator is, as one discovers over the course of the novel, extremely unreliable. But is his unreliability purposeful or is it a necessary and involuntary self-defense mechanism to a traumatic event that he is unable to deal with? It's up to the reader to decide.

Beautifully written and thought-provoking, "Life of Pi" was made into a decent film. The book was better.

1000.000/5
this really beautiful and amazing journey
I felt myself with pi and the Tiger in the sea , I'm absolutely happy because I read it .

Life of Pi was actually a really heart-warming, thought provoking read and it also gave me an excuse to re-watch the movie, so it’s a win all around!

What I liked
•tMartel’s prose is lovely.
•tPi was an excellent main character.
•tI adored the part of the book surrounding Pi’s life in India.
•tSome parts of it were very witty (The Fig Tree story made me laugh)
•tSeveral anecdotes seeped in about Pi, or other characters were fun to read about.
•tUpbeat read.
•tIt’s about a boy in a boat with a tiger – what’s not to love!
•tIt felt a bit like a fantasy.

What I didn’t like
•tSome parts of it dragged on a little, suffering from too much description.
•tEnded up being too preachy at the times
•tIt felt like a fantasy 2.0 – The message of this book is up to interpretation, but I do think it looks down on atheists in favour of religion. That they're either lost in the wonders of the world or stuck in the cold, hard facts of life. I say I’ll vouch for either – that I stick to reality but am open to possibilities out there that remain unexplained. I can say I really enjoyed this book, but as far as the message goes, it wasn’t necessarily an eye-openers.

I would recommend, but I enjoyed it more as a fun story than a musing on religion and life.

Once, while riding the bus, I told a friend I hated this book. A guy I'd never met turned around to tell me that he was shocked and this was a beautiful book. I can sum up my hatred of this book by saying this: At the end of the book a character asks "Do you prefer the story with animals or without?" I can say with conviction I prefer the story without the animals--the stupid, boring, symbolic animals.

One of those books that sat on my shelf for ages before I finally got around to reading it, and I don't know why I waited so long. This book is an adventure story, but there's so much more to it than that. I loved seeing the world through Pi's eyes, and especially reading his thoughts on things like animals and religion. The writing is sophisticated but easily readable, and the story is a perfect mixture of action and emotional intensity. The ending is amazing and I loved that the author left it up to the reader's interpretation. I know I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time to come.

On the surface, it's the story of a 16 year old Indian boy named "Pi" who, when he and his zookeeping family decide to transplant themselves and some animals to Canada, ends up stranded on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-lb Bengal tiger named "Richard Parker."
Don't let the Rudyard Kipling-ness of the plot fool you! In reality, this book is an examination of faith in all its forms. Young Pi loves God, and to prove it he becomes Christian and Muslim in addition to his native Hinduism. He also loves animals, and much of the book examines animal psychology and its relationship to human psychology in a vibrant, interesting way.

This book had me asking questions about my life, my beliefs, and my society on just about every page....and when the reader gets to the end (which I won't spoil here), the reader is forced to ask themself the kind of person they really are. If ever there was a novel that could be called a litmus test, it's this one. "The Life of Pi" will, at the very least, entertain through its sharp storytelling, but it can also help a reader examine how they see the world - and isn't that the point of great literature?

Favorite quotes:

"I felt a kinship with him. It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith. LIke me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap."

"But I don't insist. I don't mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both."

"And so, when she first heard of Hare Krishnas, she didn't hear right. She heard 'hairless Christians', and that is what they were to her for many years. When I corrected her, I told her that in fact she was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims."

"Christianity is a religion in a rush. Look at the world created in seven days. Even on a symbolic level, that's creation in a frenzy. To one born in a religion where the battle for a single soul can be a relay race run over many centuries, with innumerable generations passing along the baton, the quick resolution of Christianity has a dizzying effect. If Hinduism flows placidly like the Ganges, then Christianity bustles like Toronto at rush hour. It is a religion as swift as a swallow, as urgent as an ambulance. It turns on a dime, expresses itself in the instant. In a moment, you are lost or saved. Christianity stretches back through the ages, but in essence it exists only at one time: right now."

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

Life of Pi is a Canadian fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry who explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Life of Pi, according to Yann Martel, can be summarized in three statements: n  "Life is a story... You can choose your story... A story with God is the better story."n

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: هشتم ماه سپتامبر سال 2005میلادی

عنوان: زندگی پی؛ نویسنده: یان مارتل؛ مترجم: گیتا گرکانی؛ تهران، علم، 1383؛ در 530ص؛ شابک 9643053559؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان کانادا - سده 21م

نقل از آغاز: (پی، پسرکی ست که به دنبال حقیقت میگردد؛ یعنی همان کاری که هزاران هزار انسان در سراسر جهان به آن دلمشغول هستند؛ بعضیها پیروز میشوند و خیلیها شکست میخورند؛ در این میان کسانی نیز گمان میکنند پیروز شده اند؛ در صورتی که هنوز سر سوزنی هم به حق و حقیقت نزدیک هم نشده اند؛ اما یک نکته در همه ی این آدمها مشترک است؛ هر کس راه خودش را میرود؛ هر کس به شیوه ی خود کوشش میکند؛ تا به ذات جهان نزدیک شود؛ به تعداد انسانهای روی کره ی زمین راه وجود دارد؛ هرچند هیچکس نمیتواند به سرانجام رسیدن راهی را تضمین کند)؛ پایان نقل؛

داستان با پاراگراف بالا آغاز میشود، و «پی» برای پاسخ به سرگشتگی انسانی؛ راه تازه ای مییابد؛ و ...؛

زندگی «پی» درباره ی پسر جوانی بنام «پی پاتل»، فرزند یک صاحب باغ وحش در «هندوستان» است؛ «پی پاتل» در شانزده سالگی همراه خانواده‌ اش از «هند» به «کانادا» کوچ می‌کنند؛ خانواده «پی» در قسمت بار یک کشتی «ژاپنی»، در کنار جانوران «باغ‌ وحش»، به سوی خانه ی تازه ی خود سفر می‌کنند؛ در میانه ی راه، کشتی غرق می‌شود، و «پی» خودش را در قایق نجاتی به همراه یک «کفتار»، یک «اورانگوتان»، یک «گورخر» زخمی، و یک «ببر بنگال» دویست کیلوگرمی تنها می‌بیند؛ در هفته ی نخست سفرِ «پی»، با قایق نجات، تنها چیزی که بر همه چیز چیره است؛ کشمکش برای زندگی است؛ ادامه ی کتاب یادمان دویست و بیست و هفت روز گمشدگی «پی»، در دریاست

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 19/08/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 23/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

A visual of me everytime I looked at this book on my shelf before I started reading it:


Definitely absolutely not my cup of tea.

I'd been planning to read Life of Pi for a few years now but never got around to it. I had this impression that it was about someone trapped alone on an island and I found that to be a bit boring. Fortunately I was dead wrong and this has been such a powerfully poignant and meaningful read.

"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?"

I don't want to talk about the plot because I went in completely blind and it was much better than if I had known what exactly this book was about. I'd believed certain things that were not very clear at first,  like who Richard Parker was,  and it was a shock to realize the truth, so I don't want to spoil anything for anyone.

From the very beginning the writing captured me. I simply loved it, and even had the story been boring -which it wasn't- I would've continued reading for the sake of the writing itself. It was excellent!
Here's an example:
"I enjoyed my meal as I watched the sun's descent in a cloudless sky. It was a relaxing moment. The vault of the world was magnificently tinted. The stars were eager to participate; hardly had the blanket of colour been pulled a little than they started to shine through the deep blue. The wind blew with a faint, warm breeze and the sea moved about kindly, the water peaking and troughing like people dancing in a circle who come together and raise their hands and move apart and come together again, over and over."

And others:
"So while I, who wouldn't think of pinching a tiger's paw, let alone of trying to swallow one, received a volcanic roar full in the face and quaked and trembled and turned liquid with fear and collapsed, the shark perceived only a dull vibration."

"Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love—but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up."

"...Oh, look. Speak of the devil. There he is. He's yawning. My, my, what an enormous pink cave. Look at those long yellow stalactites and stalagmites. Maybe today you'll get a chance to visit."   

The story is brutal. The author has weaved fantasy into its fabric very subtly that I had to pause a bit to understand whether I'd read something wrong or whether this or that had actually happened.  What part was hallucination and delirium and what part was real *I'm talking about you, fellow blind Frenchman* . I loved that.

Another point relating to the brutality of this novel was the realization that we can talk about morals all we like but when push comes to shove, we'd do anything to save our lives in the face of impending doom. Necessity is the mother of all.

" But in point of fact the explanation lies elsewhere. It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing."

I felt so deeply grateful for sitting comfortably at home, with plenty of water and food. We are so accustomed to having the basics of life always at hand that we forget how everything we are would crumble without one of them.
As someone who doesn't eat animals or their products, I was in deep anguish over what Pi had to do to survive. But I hold no illusions as to what I would've done were I in his shoes. It was just so heartbreaking to read about it in such detail. I'm grateful though. It has reminded me that when it's a battle for survival, you do what you have to do. Simple as that.
"I broke its neck by leveraging its head backwards, one hand pushing up the beak, the other holding the neck. The feathers were so well attached that when I started pulling them out, skin came off—I was not plucking the bird; I was tearing it apart. It was light enough as it was, a volume with no weight. I took the knife and skinned it instead. For its size there was a disappointing amount of flesh, only a little on its chest. It had a more chewy texture than dorado flesh, but I didn't find there was much of a difference in taste. In its stomach, besides the morsel of dorado I had just given it, I found three small fish. After rinsing them of digestive juices, I ate them. I ate the bird's heart, liver and lungs. I swallowed its eyes and tongue with a gulp of water. I crashed its head and picked out its small brain. I ate the webbings of its feet. The rest of the bird was skin, bone and feathers.   

The ending was brilliant in its idea. I had my jaw hanging open through the last 30 pages or so.  I loved that the author left the choice of which story to believe up to the reader. And while the 2nd story is most likely the real one because it's more realistic, I personally can't bring myself to accept it. It doesn't explain everything Pi has experienced, and I've grown fond of Richard Parker. I was SO GLAD when he made it in the end, as it's been a constant worry of mine that he'd have to die at some point.

I had to look up the ending on the internet to know for sure, but I came up empty-handed. It seems that, as this is a story that would make you believe in God, the message is that whether you'd choose to believe in Pi and the story he'd been telling all along, like people choose to believe in the existence of a supreme being; or whether you'd be a realist and accept the 2nd story, with all its horror, and consider Pi's story some sort of coping mechanism with what he went through.

Pi's hardships could also be a symbol for the pain and heartbreak and suffering we go through in life, and here the message is clear: no matter how hard it is, there is always hope.
And this, above anything else, is what I'll take away from this book.
Hope is what keeps us alive.

It's not that it was bad, it's just that I wish the tiger had eaten him so the story wouldn't exist.

I read half of it, and felt really impatient the whole time, skipping whole pages, and then I realized that I didn't have to keep going, which is as spiritual a moment as I could hope to get from this book.

"Life of Pi" is a classic text that yielded even richer rewards for me on my second reading of it. It is easily in my top five favorite books of all time. The reason is very simple. Yann Martel has written a work that is quite engrossing and interesting on two levels: the literal, and the much more satisfying metaphorical.
I first read "Life of Pi" three years ago. I reread it recently because it was a book club choice. Although this novel carved out a niche in my brain on that first reading, I found even more to appreciate and digest during my second.
This allegorical novel explores many themes so fundamental to human existence. Faith, religion, storytelling, survival, love, companionship, etc. Not only does "Life of Pi" explore these themes, it sheds new light on these very overdone topics. That is not easily done. For Mr. Martel to take such universal themes that have been written and discussed a million times over, and make them fresh and new is a testament to his own prowess as a thinker and a writer.
Mr. Martel's writing is also rarely didactic, and his use of figurative language is at times breathtakingly beautiful. As one who enjoys good writing, and am impressed by those who have such tight control of style and language I was not disappointed in that aspect of this text. Too many good storytellers are not good writers. Mr. Martel thankfully does not fall into that category
To not read this book with an open and inquiring mind is to miss "the better story", regardless of what you make that out to be. As I read the text I found and saw a very heavily Christian influence in the book's events and themes. It is just as conceivable that someone else could read it, and see none of those things. What is so wonderful is that both points of view can be defended from the text.
One critic talked about how this novel makes one believe in the "soul sustaining power of fiction." "Life of Pi" lives up to that praise.
Read this text and enjoy one of the few modern novels that gives the reader a real chance to "explore".

Отлична книга. Преди време бях гледал 3D версията на филма и още там цялата история успя да ме впечатли силно. И наскоро през friends' recommendations на GR ми напомниха за „Животът на Пи“ (благодарности тук отново на Metodi Markov) и навярно именно сега беше точният момент за тази книга.

В началото смятах, че понеже историята ми е известна, ще обърна внимание основно на стила на автора. Оказа се обаче, че въпреки че съм гледал филма, някои неща явно съм ги бил позабравил. И книгата успя да се разгърне наново и цялостно пред мен. Припомних си някои интересни моменти, през други преминах в по-дълбоки детайли. И да, всичко успя да ми хареса много.

А ето и няколко цитата от книгата, които попадат сред любимите ми моменти.