Life of Pi by
Yann Martel
My rating:
3 of 5 stars
(Perhaps I under rated this...not sure. I really knew a lot about the story before reading it, perhaps that is why it did not grip me to it's full potential...)
At this point, I feel many people are familiar with the basic set-up of the 'Life of Pi'. A boy. A boat. A Bengal Tiger. Lost at Sea. Survival.
Of course, there is so much more that is honestly riveting, challenging and good fodder for discussion and the processing of personal beliefs, etc. I enjoyed the story thoroughly and take with me the following quotes and passages as particularly poignant and thought-provoking.
"It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same after-wards, even unto our names." (p. 25).
"Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they've known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? Why climb this Mount Everest of formalities that makes you feel like a beggar? 98Why enter this jungle of foreignness where everything is new, strange and difficult?
The answer is the same the world over: people move in hope of a better life." (p.98)
For so many reasons, this stood out to me. This is my constant line of questioning. Why live where we do, away from a community we know, love and were known and loved by? I struggle to accept that the answer is 'in hope of a better life'
but haven't thought of any better alternative, so perhaps it is so.
"Don't bully me with your politeness! Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?" (p. 375)
"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?" (p. 380).
View all my reviews
Above is obviously what I posted on my Goodreads, with italicized additions adding further insight/thoughts. However, there are numerous additional passages which stuck out to me, passages that I plan to really work through and connect to where I'm at, where I've been and where I'm going.
To all my dear friends and faithful readers, what were your thoughts on the
Life of Pi?
(Typed having recently finished a sweet yellow teacup filled with Korean 3-in-1 coffee mix)
