A Life Spent Reading

Life of Pi is not your usual book. Most of the story takes place in a lifeboat, and the main characters are a boy and a Bengal tiger (trapped together in the boat). It’s an inventive story, with heavy philosophical overtones that I will leave to other readers. (For those interested, a starting point might be the name of the ship that sinks, Tsimtsum.) It also won the Man Booker Prize.

Pi is the nickname of Piscine Patel, polytheist and son of an Indian zookeeper. Although author Yann Martel isn’t Indian, he has done an inordinate amount of traveling and is able to write from an Indian perspective that seems convincing, at least to an outlander. He also knows an impressive amount about animals, which was one of the more delightful aspects of the novel. I recommend it to anyone who likes animals, or a novel to dig into and uncover multiple layers of meaning, or just wants something different.