November 25, 2014
This book is one that's gained attention in the last decade, including a film version a couple of years ago. I've heard mixed reviews about this book, and I have mixed feelings about it now that I've read it for myself. On the one hand, the story itself is exciting and well-paced. But the main character Pi is kind of blah.
See, I got why the story went into such detail about how animals in zoos adapt to their environments and how they become submissive to their human handlers through training and conditioning. That explained how a teenage boy could survive for months, adrift on a lifeboat, with a huge tiger. And of course Pi would know about all that stuff, having grown up the son of a zoo owner. When he and his family are on a cargo ship to sell their animals and settle into a new life in Canada, the ship sinks in the Pacific, Pi and a rag tag group of animals being the only survivors. The hyena eventually preys on the injured zebra and the orangutan, and the tiger, Richard Parker, gets the hyena. Pi conditions the tiger to stay in his part of the boat, and he works tirelessly to provide food and fresh water for them both. Months later, they land in Mexico.
What I didn't get was the religious aspect of the whole thing. See, a couple of years before his ordeal, Pi begins enthusiastically embracing all three of the major religions in India:Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. He prays to Allah, Vishnu, and Jesus equally. He is flabbergasted when the local religious leaders take offense to the fact that he won't pick just one.
This in itself isn't my problem. I like the idea of not allowing doctrinal boundaries to limit one's spiritual journey. My problem is that the author's message (because these religious themes are so very prominent) is unclear. If Pi didn't draw strength from three faiths, would he not have survived his ordeal? It almost seemed like Martel set it up to have a religiousy message, but then backed out. In a way, it makes me think of how young Tricia, lost in the woods, drew comfort from her favorite baseball team in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. But if that's all it is, then Pi's passion for God could be replaced with just about anything: a love for geometry, an obsession with soccer.
As it is, Pi wasn't a terribly well fleshed-out character. The story is definitely plot-driven rather than character-driven. I almost feel like this would be a good book to teach in my current environment. For younger readers, it might give them an interesting perspective on other religions, morality, and the fact that at its heart is a survival story would keep their interest. For me, I thought the story was just okay.
One final note: I hate that the author included himself as a character in the story. I felt like the portions from his (fictional) perspective and the details on Pi's later life added nothing to the story.
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