Summer Reading

This summer I read The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. 

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel caught my attention as  being a tragic, funny, and absurd story. In the beginning of the book we learn about two concepts, zoos and religions. Pi explains to us that anyone who views a zoo as cruel does not understand animals. In the wild, animals are subject to predators, hierarchy, and food shortage. Yet in a zoo, they need not worry about these things as they are sequestered in one safe place, and who would not want to live in a comfortable home without having any worries? Pi therefore convinced me that a zoo is actually a sanctuary for many animals. I enjoyed his point of view about zoos; it made me realize how Pi thought differently than most, and how he sees through society's norms, because many believe a zoo to be similar to a prison. A boy such as Pi,with his curious mind, was also capable of practicing Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism. Pi does not see a problem with practicing different religions; all with conflicting ideas, because what matters to him is that he enjoys all the religions and their different traditions. Pi takes a complicated subject such as religion and makes it simple, that is, if you enjoy it, practice it. It did not matter to Pi what religious ideas were correct and which ones were believed to be nonsense. 

As I started reading about Pi floating over two hundred miles on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean, with a hungry tiger as his only companion, I realized I was going to enjoy this book, as the plot is not so typical. Martel takes a story of survival and turns it into a wild adventure, that of a very likable and imaginative boy trying to survive in the oddest and deadliest of circumstances. I came to the conclusion that along with finding some water and food in the lifeboat, it was Pi's youthfulness that granted him survival. Pi's mind was not corrupted with worries of the adult world as he was stranded on the boat, and it was his mind that allowed him to believe he could tame a tiger, and drift to civilization. Pi's beliefs soon became reality as he held onto both faith, and hope. Pi made surviving into an adventure as he dared to get closer to Richard Parker each day, and at one point had him jumping through hoops on a poisonous island. Imagination was clearly a key part to Pi's survival, as he dreamed of curries from home, and studied the ocean life under his raft as "a giant city," his body and mind were able to rejuvenate. Pi's intricate mind that I was introduced to in the beginning of the book carried him from India, through the accident where he lost his family, and landed him on the shores of Mexico. 

As Pi lands in Mexico, Richard Parker leaves the boat and runs into the jungle without even acknowledging his companion who had kept him alive. This hurt Pi, as well as myself. After their lengthy relationship on the lifeboat there was no farewell, and Richard Parker did not even turn around to look at Pi. I felt let-down, as I had hoped their relationship would end on a more emotional note. Yet Martel surprised me many times in the book by using different outcomes than what I was expecting and hoping. Throughout the book I had hoped Pi would find his family, and when he finally comes across his brother, his brother is soon gone, as he turns into a skeleton. At the end of the book Pi tells the investigators a more realistic story of how there were never any animals on his boat, and he replaced the tiger and each other animal with a human. Yet as this book was about imagination, I chose to believe the story that included Richard Parker, the tiger, a man eating island, and the chance of meeting your brother in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

(678)