Completely different to anything I have ever read and probably one of the best books I have ever read! You will either be totally baffled by it or want to read it again to make sure you understood it!! A definite must-read. I always think the mark of a good book is if you keep thinking about it for a time after you have read it. Well, once I had finished this I couldn’t stop thinking about it, trying to sort it out in my mind. I read it ages ago and still think about it – in fact I think I will go and re-read it!!
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Life of Pi was, for me, a delight throughout. The first portion of the book seems to have garnered criticism in some corners but I found it to be a gentle and drily witty look at the way the world works. It provides the grounding for what follows, including the religious journey the book takes. Bearing in mind that I’m atheistic, I didn’t feel like I was being preached to at any point in time. What’s important here is that Yann Martel doesn’t ram anything down the reader’s throats. Pi relates all the events that occur to zoology and / or religion but the reader is always allowed to make their own judgement as well.
The story really picks up post-shipwreck and has some lovely twists and turns along the way. It’s a paean to the survival instincts of the human spirit told through a series of increasingly bizarre and imaginative anecdotes. Wonderfully, everything is thrown askew at the end with a marvellous plot twist that leaves the reader considering the book long after they have finished it.
I read through Life of Pi in a little over two days; it was both enthralling and captivating and is that rare thing in modern art and literature – a positive and hopeful comment on the nature of the human being.
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Still think about this one!,
Completely different to anything I have ever read and probably one of the best books I have ever read! You will either be totally baffled by it or want to read it again to make sure you understood it!! A definite must-read. I always think the mark of a good book is if you keep thinking about it for a time after you have read it. Well, once I had finished this I couldn’t stop thinking about it, trying to sort it out in my mind. I read it ages ago and still think about it – in fact I think I will go and re-read it!!
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|An absolute delight,
Life of Pi was, for me, a delight throughout. The first portion of the book seems to have garnered criticism in some corners but I found it to be a gentle and drily witty look at the way the world works. It provides the grounding for what follows, including the religious journey the book takes. Bearing in mind that I’m atheistic, I didn’t feel like I was being preached to at any point in time. What’s important here is that Yann Martel doesn’t ram anything down the reader’s throats. Pi relates all the events that occur to zoology and / or religion but the reader is always allowed to make their own judgement as well.
The story really picks up post-shipwreck and has some lovely twists and turns along the way. It’s a paean to the survival instincts of the human spirit told through a series of increasingly bizarre and imaginative anecdotes. Wonderfully, everything is thrown askew at the end with a marvellous plot twist that leaves the reader considering the book long after they have finished it.
I read through Life of Pi in a little over two days; it was both enthralling and captivating and is that rare thing in modern art and literature – a positive and hopeful comment on the nature of the human being.
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|Self-indulgent dribble,
I loved Life of Pi, and I am reading Beatrice & Virgil.
I am a Yann Martel admirer (I was at his recent book signing), but Self was so painful I gave up halfway.
It was self-indulgent dribble. Just painful. I guess the title should have been a warning…
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