Life of Pi by Yann Martel

February 20, 2007
Book suggested by Missy, and meeting hosted by Kelly.

We had a wide range of scores on this book. Some of us rated it very high, and some had trouble even getting through it. We thought the book was VERY believable and some even thought it was a true story. Many of us had trouble reading some of the very graphic parts and skipped over those sections. Several of us agreed that it was a nice break from the “relationship” books that we’ve been reading.

This is a story of survival and faith. Some of us were amazed that Pi demonstrated faith in spite of all the obstacles and extreme conditions. Faith was tested so often. This experience, though, cost him his youth and innocence. We were glad that an early chapter of the book let us know that he did survive to have a family in later years.

One review called the book highly comedic, but most of us had to really think hard to remember anything very funny in this book. We talked about the significance of Pi’s unusual name. Someone mentioned that the number Pi (3.14159…) is a never ending decimal, just like Pi’s faith was never-ending. Another person suggested that Pisces represents fish, and still another person pointed out that Pi was named after the “Pool of the Gods,” as a religious undertone which was recurrent in the book. We admitted to not fully understanding the various religions that were represented, and appreciated learning a little bit about them.

We talked about the way another version of the events at sea was presented at the end of the book whereby human beings were substituted for the animal characters. We all preferred to believe the story that involved animals instead the story that involved people because of how horrible that second version would be to even consider. We also talked about Richard Parker. Was he literally a Bengal Tiger or was he the alter ego of Pi? Maybe he was a symbolic representation of something else like “fear” or “the aggressive nature of mankind” that surfaces from time to time especially in times of dire circumstances.

Some of us thought that this book probably incorporated much more symbolism than what was discussed or thought through by the group. Some of us read the book quickly and loved it; others had a strong dislike of the book. But most of us agreed, once again, that book club participation prompts us to read books that we would otherwise pass on, and that is one of the reasons we appreciate being a Lit-Wit!