Hi ladies! I'm moved and kind of settled so I wanted to finally discuss Life of Pi! I hope the remaining girls who were waiting for it from the library got it!
I got this book from my Mother in law a few years ago but couldn't make it past the prologue. I forgot about it for a while and then pulled it out this winter to try it again. This time I flew through the book. Don't laugh at me, but through the whole thing, I kept thinking, Is this a true story???
Some of the things I enjoyed in this book were: Pi's faith and desire to take all of the best things from the faiths he studied; how Pi trained the tiger so that he could live; the second version to the story-the one without animals and all of the parallels between them; the allusions to Pi's future; his survival techniques and how his upbringing prepared him for that; his name!
Some of the things I didn't quite get were: what was with the floating island? I wanted more confirmation about whether his story was believed or not. Maybe it doesn't really matter though! I hope you liked it, I was totally wrapped up in how and whether he'd live or not!! I found a good list of questions and discussion points online.
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I liked a lot of the same things that you did Liz.
The man-eating island was CRRRRRAZY! His will to live was astounding.
I kind of wondered what happened between the crazy island and floating onto the Mexican coast.
I tend to not like anything remotely gruesome so some of the descriptions, particularly with the animals, grossed me out at points. Although I think they were essential to describing the situation Pi was in! I couldn't wait for that hyena to leave the story. Gross!
I'm glad the author included so much background to his growing up before getting into the bulk of the story. It gave me more insight into why Pi was the way he was. What an interesting life.
One of my favorite sentences was at the end of Chapter 20: "The presence of God is the finest of rewards."
I finally have it waiting at the library for me! I'll go pick it up and read it this weekend!
I totally kept thinking, "Is this a true story?" through the whole thing too!! :) It was very excellently written I thought. I really liked where he talked about living on a zoo and the animals' adaptations and everything...it made me feel better about the animals living in zoos.
My friend read this and the first thing he asked me when I finished was if I thought the first or the second story was true. I want to believe that the first story was true...and so that's the one that I'm going to believe. I was so sad for him when his tiger left him without a good-bye in the end. I loved the way he made himself the number 1 to the tiger...great thinking!
Also, I loved the background of his life going into it. And..I'm so happy that his story had a happy ending (ie a family that he loves today).
Gosh, I didn't really consider very much if the "2nd story" was true. It's got to be the first one, right?
I think the first story is "true"!
I was impressed at the description of zoos as well-and the knowledge it gave him for survival. I couldn't believe he lived on the raft for so long and how that all worked.
One of my favorite quotes was when the "author" was hearing the story from Pi's friend, the friend said, this story will make you believe in God. What I love is that in a boat with a tiger, I'm pretty sure my faith would be lacking and I would be very sorely tested, yet that was truly the thing that held him together.
So, I'm lame (or my library is lame) but either way, I only just got this and the April books... I'm not sure I'll have time to finish this one right away, but I'm sure going to try!!!
sorry Claire and Aubrey! Feel free to refresh the topic whenever you finish the book! I'll be here and I loved it so I would love to discuss it again!!
Well, I just finished the book today. I couldn't put it down all day! I agree with what everyone said, it was so well written that I kept thinking that at least part of it had to be true! All the information was amazing and I felt like I actually learned a lot of survival information (you know, just in case I get stranded out in the ocean with a wild animal as my only companion!).
What was up with the carnivorous island? Do those things really exist?
I also thought that the first story must've been the true one, but then I started thinking about it a little more. Assuming it was the 2nd story that was true, wouldn't it make sense that he would turn it into a story with animals since that's what he's lived with all his life? Instead of adding human traits to animals, he did just the opposite. And, in such a stressful situation, it would make sense that his mind would come up with something like that to block out everything that happened with his mother and the cook. Also, the "conversation" between him and Robert Parker would make sense because he was both!
Anyway, I still think the first one is true, but it's very interesting to look at the parallel's between the stories. Great selection!
I think the thing that threw me off about it being "real" was the author's intro-lots of authors talk about why they wrote a book, but his tied directly into his meeting the man who taught Pi to swim (don't remember his name and the book is packed!) and so it seemed so real.
The thing that makes me think the animal story is real and not the human one is that he stayed away from the baboon but that was his mother. Wouldn't he have clung to her? Wouldn't he have defended her more when the "hyena" attacked her?
I'm glad you finished it! And I'm glad you enjoyed it!
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