Life of Pi
By: Yann Martel
Post 2
Hooray, I've reached a halfway point! Life of Pi is very entertaining. It keeps me enthralled, not so much with suspense, action, or adventure, but more the story premise itself.
SPOILER ALERT
A boy stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger, and a hyena, (and a now-deceased orangutan and zebra) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The whole concept is very interesting. So to recap, Pi's family has sold their zoo, and boarded a Japanese cargo ship (the Tsimtsum) headed for Canada. Pi has, since my last post, taken an interest in religion and the concept of God. He was born into the Hindu religion, but over the course of several chapters, also accepts and begins practicing Christianity and Islam. While his parents, brother, and various religious leaders are skeptical about his multiple faiths, Pi claims that he is merely trying to love God in as many ways as possible. So anyway, while on the Tsintsum in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a massive storm hits and sinks the ship. The sole survivors are Pi, a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a tiger named Richard Parker (The result of a mix up between the man who captured the tiger to send to the zoo's name, and the name the man gave the tiger). The zebra and orangutan have since been killed by the hyena, who is now being kept in check by the presence of Richard Parker.
A common theme that has been present in this book so far is the concept of religion, and God. Pi expresses his pleasure in being able to pursue multiple religions, and that his goal is "I just want to love God" (Martel 69). Additionally, earlier in the book (Author's Note), Martel is referred to Pi by a man, claiming Pi's story will "make you [Martel] believe in God" (Martel X). All of these religious elements in the early exposition of the beginning of the story set the stage for more themes about religion and God, which I do know are briefly touched upon in the movie.
As I mentioned in my last post, I do want to be pointing out the differences between the book and the movie, as I've seen so far. And so...
Plot elements included in the movie, but not the book:
- Pi attempts to feed Richard Parker, which causes Pi's father to show Ravi and Pi Richard Parker killing a goat (in the book, he shows it to them for no overt reason).
- Pi finds a girlfriend in the movie, but must leave her when he moves to Canada.
- Richard Parker immediately kills the hyena when the hyena kills the Orangutan (R.P. has not killed the hyena in the book yet)
Plot elements included in the book but not the movie:
- None so far
Until next time,
Josh C.
Life of Pi looks fairly entertaining based on what you have said about it. I have read the beginning of the book before but I never finished it because I had to start another book. It was not a bad book, but it was slightly uneventful up to where I left off. I haven't seen the movie either, but I have heard that they tried to make it more of an epic action movie, which they have done with a lot of movies recently. Even if the movie follows the storyline more or less, it adds action and only touches the surface of what the book talks about.
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