Big Bois.

Everyone's heard of them. The Libraries are full of them. But are they worth it?

Click the link for my video review of the big bois in my life.

The Written Review:

The beginning is rough.

It's all like - Why do we keep going on and on about religion? Where's the boat? Where's the tiger?

Stop and enjoy the roses.

The book will get to the tiger part when it wants to.

Young Pi ( Piscine "Pi" Patel ) spends the first part of the book joining the Christian, Muslim and Hindu faiths.

It's not a matter of he can't choose a religion - it's that he is able simultaneously believe in all of them.

The philosophical musings and religious prose provide an extremely interesting insight on how these religions intersect:

n  If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.n

And then...you get to the tiger part!

Pi Patel's life quickly shifts from one of religious philosophy and animal care (at his family's zoo) to one of great uncertainty.

His family is closing their Indian zoo and they need to travel by boat to a new county. Whatever animals they couldn't sell or trade are on the ship.

Only, something goes wrong.

Very. Wrong.

The ship is capsizing and it looks like neither human nor animal will make it out alive.

Soon, Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a menagerie of animals and within an adventure he will surely never forget.

n  Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart.n

Note:

Was I the only one who was upset with the ending?

I was so mad that we were given the two scenarios at the end of the story. It was like the rug was being pulled out from under me.

According to Pi, either we are to believe the tiger adventure happened or it was the alternate version: cannibalism and watching his family die in the boat.

I felt cheated and turned what was a huge triumphant moment into a truly giant downer.

Four stars because I have a selective memory and overall enjoyed the book.

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Just had a nice chat with my friend Dr Nick about some things relating to books:

Nick "Let the right one in is a wicked film but I'm still not into vampires. Defo not Twilight."
Me "I'm still giving the Potter a wide berth too."

There then followed some random chatter about whether or not we avoid things that people like such as Potter/ Twilight/ Apple/ Facebook because we want to be different or because we are big sad saddos. No real conclusions were drawn at this point.

This was then followed in turn by a discussion on authors who Dr Nick was unsure of the gender of. And also some that I was confused about too. For example...
A.A Milne - man or woman?

Nick said he thought Lewis Carroll was a woman. I said definitely not but George Elliot was a woman. Blank look from Dr Nick. Wilkie Collins, Evelyn Waugh and CS Lewis were also included in this discussion. We then moved onto talking about books which will soon be transposed to the silver screen:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (remake versus not-very-old-or-dated-original), The Great Gatsby (Mulligan versus Farrow) and then onto the Life of Pi.

Nick has never read Life of Pi but he described it thusly:
"That's the one about the dog, the snake and the fox in a big boat like that riddle with the chicken and the fox and the bag of grain and the farmer trying to cross the river but he can only carry one at a time so what order does he do it in?"

Er, no Nick... it's not like that at all but it amused me so much I had to include it here.
Then we both agreed that we also both got a bit confused for a while between The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night time and Life of Pi.

I think I may have just revealed to the world how even people with PhD's can be very under informed. Next week will be a short review of Dr Sam, Dr Gin and Dr Dana talking about the European monetary crisis through the medium of nursery rhymes.
The end.

** For those of you not interested in the waffle above, Life of Pi may also be interpreted as the musings of a young boy on the nature of tragedy, spirituality and survival and about how you come to terms with things when the unspeakable happens in an unthinkable way. Happy now?

People often see me walking down the street, casually, minding my own business, and they always stop and ask me, "Yo, Justin, what are you reading these days?"
And I'm always happy to stop and engage in conversation about what I'm reading, and I share a few thoughts about the book.
"Yeah, it's not bad. Pretty good so far."
"Really enjoying it! Better than I expected!"
"Oh man, it's alright I guess. Kinda slow."
I like to keep my comments pretty general in nature.
Also, that never actually happens to me.
Or does it?

Anyway, I did tell a few people I was reading Life of Pi and every single one of them said, "Oh yeah, isn't that the book about the guy and a tiger on a raft?" Because that's what everyone thinks of when they think of Life of Pi. The book about some guy on a boat with a tiger. And they are absolutely right. I mean, if you needed a one sentence synopsis of Life of Pi you would say it's about some dude floating around on a raft or a boat or something with a tiger, and that would be it. You nailed it.

Except Pi isn't on a lifeboat with Richard Parker (the tiger) until about halfway through the book. So that synopsis isn't enough because there is so much more going on in Life of Pi. So much more.

So let's start with the biggest reason this book gets a coveted five star rating from me: I got to learn all about zoos and the animals that inhabit them. I'm kidding, a little, kind of, but the beginning of the book is just fascinating to read. Pi weaves in stories of his childhood with facts about India, religion, animals, zoos, family, and all kinds of other stuff. One scene in particular that I loved was when Pi was trying to determine his religion and the choice that follows. Just humorous, insightful stuff all around, and I forgot all about what the book is really about. I won't remind you.

The story moves from all of that stuff, like a memoir I guess, to an adventure story. Now, I'm not a huge adventure story kind of guy, but the writing was so engaging and the audiobook narration was so intoxicating that I kept plugging along with all the craziness Pi finds himself in. It gets pretty violent and a little disgusting at times, but you're reading about wild animals and about a guy who is caught in a horrible tale of survival. It's not too bad.

Then, the end of the book comes along, and oh my god I can't even tell you about the end of the book. It's awesome though. Just trust me on this one if you haven't read it already. You've probably read it already. You've probably seen the movie, too, you awesome person you. Look at you go, all awesome and stuff.

I'm gonna watch the movie as soon as possible. Looking forward to it. This was a fantastic audiobook that I spent almost a month listening to during my morning commute. Whatever I pop in next has a tough act to follow.

January has been a pretty solid month of reading for me. Definitely ended it on a high note. I don't rate books five stars very often because I'm am overly critical book critic, but this is a five star read that deserves a little bit of your time.

Pretentious nonsense. The more I think back on reading this book, the less I like it.

"If we, citizens, do not support our artists,
then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing
and having worthless dreams."

Life of pi is the story of survival in the face of death ,and the struggle to live And the transition from modern civilization to the more primitive existence on the open ocean in a boat.

It is a madness that has the power that could make a normal human with decent and basic moral become a cannibalistic slaughterer. and how, a vegetarian could kill animal and eat raw meat.

“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.”

Pi's father put a living goat into the tiger's cage which did not eat in days, and pi witnessed the tiger eat the goat alive.
He didn’t know that this is the fate that was waiting for him And that his brother words would come true and he would be the next goat And that he would experience his deepest, horrible and terrifying
fear.

Reading this book with its continuous relating and humanization of animals acts ,remind me of a story that I have read

a famous and tragic accident ,remind me of a story that I have read it happened in 1972 at Cairo circus.

The story began in front of a crowd of spectators in the circus when a lion tamer turned his back to the lions
To receive a well-deserved applause for the perfect and successful performance.

in a brief moment a lion jumped on his shoulder and attacked him by his claws and teeth
the coach fell to the ground bleeding and it was too late to save him he died in the hospital in a few days ,what the lion did later was really strange.

the lion was involved in a case of depression and refused food and the circus manager decided to transfer him to the zoo as this lion is not suitable for training in the circus
any more
the lion continued on a hunger strike, they get him a lioness
but he cruelly beat and expelled her
he continues his isolation and depression and psychotic insanity, finally he went on biting his body ,his tail and hand especially (the hand he put on his trainer)
and started eating them in the wild, and raged manner ,he eventually bled and died,.
the behavior of this lion, who committed suicide is very unique
to this much he can understand and feel the responsibility of his act??!!
And repent for his betrayal
I cant call this action a"human action"As this is more noble

animals only kill out of protection or out of necessity. Humans, on the other hand, kill for greed, insanity ,or for
ethnic or racial, religious
purposes
this is why
I just want to believe the story with the animals.

A similar theme was discussed in an old Arabic book of Ikhwan as-Safa or the Brethren of Purity,where a trial for human race was held by animals .

"This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man's frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life."

One of the darkest moments
And I think the temporary blindness was a strong symbolism for blindness of his heart And loss of insight Which is Worse than the blindness of eyes And his silence about the unjust cruel Crime that is done in front of him.

Richard Parker didn’t give pi a “proper farewell” as Richard didn’t feel pi ’s love
he was always running scared of him in fear that he may eat him.

you cant fear AND love someone at the same time, if u love someone your fear would be you loose this love.

" fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever,
treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows
no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind,
always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb
of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy. Doubt meets disbelief and disbelief tries to
push it out. But disbelief is a poorly armed foot soldier. Doubt does away with it with little trouble."

In order to save yourself from the enemy u should understand how his mind works. and this is when pi could interact with the tiger, when he could get into the tiger's mind.

and the exhausting opposites

" The worst pair of opposites is boredom and terror."

" Misery loves company, and madness calls it forth"

The inherent Conflict between good and evil and the algae island.

Tree used to be a symbol of the Universal Man

Here Martell is blending two stories an Islamic and a Christian one.


From My understanding to the Islamic point of view , the forbidden tree was, the sexual act, not the tree of knowledge.

The tree of knowledge is the lote tree which is the most sacred place and it is an Islamic metaphor concerning the uppermost boundary in knowledge a human being can possess .
He is referring to spiritual experience of prophet Muhammad’s ascension, where he crosses the border of the domain of God. as an immense blessing and reward after a period of severe hardship and tribulations And Years of Sadness.

So he was symbolizing for pi hard journey that ended in the island.

the Tree of Death and black fruit, This tree represents the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden story. the teeth was the warning of what would happen to him if he would stay on the island

In pi's path to find his own peace and love to God he adopted Hinduism,
Christianity and Islam all together and practicing all the rituals of the three religions.
In his hybrid faith he tried to unite the three together. if one man could love all the three religions and if rhinoceros and goats, snake and mice could lead a peaceful life.
Then why people of different religious faith couldn't coexist easily and efficiently with each other?

Why couldn’t they stop fighting and killing each other over religious beliefs?

I'm so glad I read The Life of Pi before the movie came out. While Ang Lee does a beautiful job, the inner struggle of the main character is difficult to capture in film. Pi Patel, son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, India, is a sensitive, philosophical young man, who is interested in world religions. After a shipwreck, he ends up sharing a lifeboat with a terrifying Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. In this harrowing coming-of-age journey, Pi's physical strength, courage and spirituality are all tested.

The Life of Pi novel shares a thematic basis with J.P. Donleavy's The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, a literary wonder. The protagonist, Balthazar, is studying zoology, while his friend Beefy studies theology. Balthazar and Beefy come of age while exploring their hedonistic and spiritual natures. I love the way Donleavy breaks all the rules of grammar and goes straight to the funny bone.

I recommend both of these books to readers who enjoy beautifully crafted stories that take on animal vs. spiritual themes.

There is a compelling story in here, but unfortunately it's burdened by excessive explanation, confused religious allegory and mediocre writing.

The Author's Note promises that the story will make you believe in God. The problem was not that I didn't find the message persuasive, it was that the message was so confused it wasn't clear what it actually was, or in what way it was supposed to point towards a confirmation of God. I get the impression that the aim was less about persuasion, than it was about reinforcing notions of the importance of faith that are already held by believers.

From a literary standpoint, there is not much to redeem it. The book is poorly structured, the prose is often tacky and the story is longer than it deserves to be. The reader is constantly assumed to be unintelligent - every metaphor is explained, every connection pointed out, and any potential matter for contemplation is quickly snatched away by exposition.

The plot however, for the most part, is engaging. It's basically a story of survival against the odds, and so has all the tension and anticipation you'd expect. The narrator does possess some humour and charm, however the story seems to get lost after a while, and takes a pointless detour or two towards the end. But overall it's entertaining enough to keep you reading.

The ending is clever and surprising, and it casts the preceding story in a new light. But in some ways it also seems to undermine what has been developed. There is an implied lesson here about the truth being what you want it to be, which I don't agree with: the truth is what it is regardless of your attitude towards it. You can choose to deny reality and make up a less troubling version for yourself, but that's not a good choice in my opinion. Maybe that's why I didn't find the book's message all that convincing.

’ Life is a peephole, a single tiny entry onto a vastness.’

We have all heard the phrase ‘you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.’ While this is a good life lesson, especially when taken as a metaphor that extends beyond books and into people, places, foods, etc., sometimes the cover of a novel is very telling of what lies within. Yann Martel’s Life of Pi wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve. A quick glance at the cover shows the overzealous stamp of ‘Winner of the Man Booker Prize’, INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER, the indication that, yes, this is ‘A Novel’, and an image that both depicts the major plot point of the novel, thus spoiling the surprise of who Richard Parker really is. All this praise lauded upon the cover is instantly telling that this is a novel that has reached a wide audience, and is most likely aimed towards wide critical acclaim. That is all fine, and bravo to Mr. Martel for being able to leave his mark on the bestseller list, something I can only imagine in my wildest of wildest dreams, but sometimes when reaching for a large audience you have to elbow out a small percentage of readers. I am that small percentage that was elbowed out by Martel’s attempt to make an accessible novel that will touch the reader on a spiritual level. This is a difficult novel to review as, firstly, I did enjoy reading the book. I gave in to reading this book that I have been purposely avoiding after reading the excellent review from mi Hermana. I had a lot of fun discussing this book with her, texting her my shocks and suprises in the plot, and discussing the book in several threads with fellow Goodreaders. As anyone can see with a quick glance at the overall ratings, this book seems to really strike a chord in many readers, yet also brings a large crowd of dissenters. While I did extract a good deal of pleasure from the novel, it just didn’t sit well with me at the same time. In all fairness to the novel, and to my usual reading list, I have to dissect this book with the same views of novels that I would any other. This begs the question as to ‘why do we read?’, and this reason differs from person to person much like each persons meaning of life – a theme explored in Pi. Life of Pi was a pleasurable read that suffered from a heavy-handed serving of morality. While Martel delivers one charming phrase after the next with a graceful flow, he would have greatly benefited from a touch of subtlety.

All to often, Martel would draw conclusions for the reader. A prime example occurs in the first few pages when Pi’s science teacher visits the Zoo (a zoo that he does not hold back from explaining how it serves as a metaphor for humanity), and calls out the name of well-known scientists whose studies pertain to the activities of the animals he is currently viewing. Martel spoils the moment by explaining that Mr. Kumar liked to prove to himself ‘that everything was order’. It felt as if Martel didn’t believe his readers could connect the dot. Even more obscure ideas are spoiled in such a manner. When a rain of flying fish saves Pi and Richard Parker from certain hunger, he thanks Vishnu saying ‘once you saved the world by taking the form of a fish. Now you have saved me by taking the form of a fish’. While I would not have made this connection, it ruins that ‘ah-ha!’ moment for those that do. It is that special moment of understanding an allusion in literature that keeps me reading a wide variety of texts, and it seems insulting to have someone to make connections without giving you an opportunity. Even at the very end, in his shocking twist of an ending (I must profess this novel has an incredible conclusion), the two Chinese men literally draw the connections for you saying something to the effect of ‘oh, this is this and that means that…’. This all seems to be Martel’s way of making sure his message gets heard, and is able to reach everyone. It is a noble goal, and it gets people who do not typically read to like and enjoy a book, so I cannot necessarily knock him for it as that was his goal, but this is all to my chagrin.

‘It's important in life to conclude things properly,’ Pi explains, ‘only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse’. The question now is, does Martel conclude things properly? I personally loved the conclusion to this book. He successfully pulls the rug out from under the reader and exposes the real message behind the book. Without spoiling anything, this novel makes a good statement on the powers of storytelling with both a fun plot device and well crafted statements such as ‘that's what fiction is about, isn't it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its essence?’ Had he left it at that, it would have been wonderful and allowed for mass interpretability and the reader could have easily connected it to spirituality. However, Martel forces the connection to religion down the reader’s throat. The whole beginning section of the novel, which details Pi’s exploration of various religions, seems irrelevant for the majority the novel. Occasionally he will pray or include some stunning statements on the beauty of life and the grace of God/gods, but it seems to have been only there to make sure you were looking for the religious metaphors in the plot and comes across as Martel with a death grip on the readers head, jerking it back and forth shouting ‘look here! Notice that! Remember what we talked about!?’ While much of the focus on spirituality was well done, it was far too heavy-handed and led to a rather narrow interpretation on the ending.

My major concern is that Martel only gave us what he thought the reader would want, making quotes such as ‘ I know what you want. You want a story that won’t surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won’t make you see higher or further or differently,’ seem like he wasn’t being as ironic with the ending as he hoped it would be. While the conclusion comes out as ‘bet you didn’t see that coming’, it really doesn’t say anything that hasn’t been said before. The novel is heralded as being an affirmation of faith, and that’s exactly what it is, an affirmation. It isn’t going to challenge your beliefs, although he does an excellent job allowing different religious figures to challenge the differences in belief of one another even if it is the same concepts anyone would learn in a 100 level humanities course; it isn’t going to convert any readers to a life of devotion; it only provides a blanket and a comfort to those that already believe. Which, once again, is not a bad thing, if that is what you are looking for. It reminded me of something a professor once told me in a World Religions course. He described church as something that, and this is his opinion, is a crutch for those who needed it. He compared the obligation to attend to telling a girlfriend you only hang out with them because you feel you have to and are obligated to. While his opinion is a bit harsh and easily offensive, what he was really trying to say is you should believe because you want to, not because you have to. Martel makes it seem like you have to believe in these things, and I see why that makes this book hard to swallow for someone who doesn’t. Once again, in hopes to reassure and reach a large audience, Martel rudely elbows out the remainder. However, I really feel uncomfortable discussing beliefs on the open seas of the internet, and I really hope nothing said here offends you as that is not my intention. Please understand I am only speaking in relevance to my thoughts on a book, not on religion. The insistence of Martel to wrap a cool concept with spirituality is a major reason why it is so difficult to talk about this book. It is hard to separate the two ideas, but I’m doing my best to keep this focused on the literary aspects. I’m getting too self-conscious! The whole point here is that a lot of what Martel says has been said before, better, and with more willingness to evoke a change in the reader.

All that said, there is a lot that I truly enjoyed about this book. If you push all the aforementioned details aside, this was a wild ride. This made me want to visit zoos and hug a tiger. Look how cute this tiger is:  Tell me you don’t want to hug that! I really enjoyed the wealth of zoological knowledge Martel bestows upon the reader, and his insistence on seeming ‘realistic’ with his animals. After reading this book, you will know why you should never, ever try to hug a tiger or take a wild animal for granted. He makes an interesting point how we force cute cuddly animal toys on children and make them think they are some domestic pet. While this is used as an excellent point that humans are the villain, which is easily slotted into the religious issues as an explanation that it isn’t religion that causes violence but the people abusing the rhetoric, it does seem ironically opposed to his final statement of how religion glosses over the grimy, difficult to handle details of life and makes it easier to handle. Are cute cuddly animal toys then religion? This novel is a very positive message to the world, and anything promoting peace and harmony can’t be all that bad. I enjoyed statements such as ‘ If there's only one nation in the sky, shouldn't all passports be valid for it?’, which is an important idea considering the violence that takes place around the world. I also enjoyed how the animal story is also chock full of scientific facts and details, which fuses the idea of religion and science together instead of showing them as opposites. Thre were some symbolism, the ones he left untainted by a forced explanation, that really struck me. The tiger itself is open for many views, either as God, Pi, or life itself - something we must face and tame lest it destroy us. However, could it be the killer inside us all, an urge and animalistic force we must keep in check in order to exist in a civilized society? In a way, I felt that the ending could almost be an attack on religion, showing it as nothing more than a pretty way of viewing a world as ugly as our own. I felt that the tarpauline served as a similar symbol. It was a feeling of security, something to stand on, but underneath was the violent truth of a deadly tiger. Perhaps it was our personal sense of security which is actually just thin and flimsy. When Martel doesn't slap us with his meaning, it is quite good.

I was simply not the intended audience for this novel. However, Martel has a positive message that he wanted to reach a wide audience in hopes to spread peace to a world badly in need of it, so I cannot be too harsh on him. He achieved his goals for the novel, but his novel did not reach my goals for literature. Still, this was a fun read and I would recommend it. Just ask yourself, ‘why read?’ and if the cons of this review outweigh the pros, then this novel is not for you. But if you desire something that will entertain, broaden your horizons of spirituality if you don’t know much about various religions, or reaffirm your faith, well look no further.
3.5/5

‘ Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous possessive love that grabs at what it can.’

Here's more tigers. Because you deserve them:

Life full of dangers… The heroic and exotic adventures… Are those adventures truly heroic?
Life of Pi is about the origin and nature of lying – in a hypocritical society heroic lies are preferable to the bitter truth.
A romantic and cloudless childhood…

To me, it was paradise on earth. I have nothing but the fondest memories of growing up in a zoo. I lived the life of a prince. What maharaja’s son had such vast, luxuriant grounds to play about? What palace had such a menagerie? My alarm clock during my childhood was a pride of lions.

Then one day a hero must embark on the fateful voyage…

In the near distance I saw trees. I did not react. I was certain it was an illusion that a few blinks would make disappear.
The trees remained. In fact, they grew to be a forest. They were part of a low-lying island. I pushed myself up. I continued to disbelieve my eyes. But it was a thrill to be deluded in such a high-quality way. The trees were beautiful. They were like none I had ever seen before. They had a pale bark, and equally distributed branches that carried an amazing profusion of leaves. These leaves were brilliantly green, a green so bright and emerald that, next to it, vegetation during the monsoons was drab olive.

One may lie beautifully for hours while it takes just few brief moments to tell the sorrowful truth.

[Revised, pictures and shelves added 2/28/23]

For years I noticed this book on display, particularly its cartoonish paperback cover. Was it a children's book? This Pi stuff -- was it something about math? (Was it plagiarized? See story at end.)

It's a castaway story and like all castaway and shipwreck stories it's about human endurance, indomitable spirit and man vs. nature. The things that distinguish this story from Robinson Crusoe or Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away, is that the main character (Pi, short for Piscine) is trapped in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.



Pi is Indian and he's multi-religious - a true believer in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. He comes from a family of zookeepers who were transporting their animals by freighter. This is how he wound up with a tiger in his lifeboat.

It's an inspiring book, but drags in spots -- more than 200 days at sea is a lot of fish and storm stories. I kept waiting for the multi-religious theme to play a real role in the story but it did so only peripherally, so the plot seems a bit disconnected from that theme.

In the end, we are offered two stories: one of murder and cannibalism and one of a journey in the lifeboat with animals. A key line comes at the end of the book as a throwaway: 'Which story do you prefer? So it is with God.' It's a decent read and an interesting plot but as I revise this review, with hindsight, I'm downgrading my rating from 4 to 3.

Life of Pi won the 2002 Booker prize and was a huge seller worldwide – 12 million copies and 1.5 million ratings on GR. But here’s a story I came across when I reviewed another book, The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes, by Brazilian Jewish author Moacyr Scliar. Here’s the (paraphrased) story from the NY Times obituary for Scliar in 2011 and from Wikipedia:



Scliar wrote a novel, Max and the Cats, about a Jewish youth who flees Nazi Germany on a ship carrying wild animals to a Brazilian zoo. After a shipwreck the boy ends up sharing a lifeboat with a jaguar. The book achieved fame twice over. Critically praised on its publication in 1981, it touched off a literary storm in 2002 when the Canadian writer Yann Martel (b. 1963) won the Man Booker Prize for Life of Pi, about an Indian youth trapped on a boat with a tiger. Mr. Martel’s admission that he borrowed the idea led to an impassioned debate among writers and critics on the nature of literary invention and the ownership of words and images. Martel admitted he got the idea by reading a review of Scliar’s book but said he never read the book itself. “In a certain way I feel flattered that another writer considered my idea to be so good, but on the other hand, he used that idea without consulting me or even informing me,” Mr. Scliar told The NY Times. “An idea is intellectual property.”

Top image is a still from the movie on npr.org
The author from theguardian.co.uk

Sjajna knjiga, jedna od onih nesvakidašnjih... Prva knjiga dobitnik Bukerove nagrade koju sam "ubola" pre nego što je dobila nagradu... I objavila ju je Narodna knjiga pre 10 godina... S njom je započeo niz od osam uzastopnih "ubodenih" Bukerovaca pre proglašena dobitnika... Za razne izdavače gde sam ih birala najpre kao urednik ili kasnije plasirala kao skaut... A pre 10 godina sam imala zadovoljstvo da upoznam i autora... S njim je otpočela moja ljubav prema kanadskim autorima koja traje i danas... Kanadjani imaju sjajne pisce i knjige...

i had to read this for school, and i hated it.

more specifically, it was for summer reading. now you may be tempted to say "well, of course. any book starts out on the wrong foot when you have to read it not just because it was assigned, but because it was assigned for DURING VACATION."

but you would be wrong.

i have been a nerd, a dweeb, a dork, even, for my entire life. there was nothing i loved more than having a book that an authority figure declared to be good for my brain to read at the pool (in a lounge chair while my friends swam) or at the beach (in a beach chair while my siblings swam) or outside (in a chair, when my mom made me go out there).

if you've ever wondered who read the optional books on the summer reading list - you're looking at her.

and i still hated this, so.

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago