Book Review: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The inside jacket covers states that this book may make you believe in God. For me, not so much.

Piscene/Pissing/Pi grows up and learns to love Hinduism/Christianity/Buddhism. His family moves from India to Canada. On the way there he befalls a major tragedy. For me, the story doesn't really get interesting until this tragedy happens. I am usually a very fast reader, but I just could not get into it! It took me over a week to get just halfway through the story.

The very ending is worth the read, if you can make it. A great "what if" is brought up, as Pi shares his tragedy as well as a different version of events. It is the second telling of his misadventures that makes you rethink the entire story. However, it is far from God-revealing.

Besides the drawn-out descriptions, I disliked that the adult Pi we meet seems to have no connection to the teenager that suffers overwhelming fear and loss. His life seems normal. Even the narrator comments that "this story has a happy ending". Maybe God comes into it because after all he's been through, Pi shouldn't have a normal, happy life. Most of us probably wouldn't.

Even though things are not always what they seem in this novel, it was not earth-shattering or life-changing for me. An OK story, but at times slow and dry. In my opinion, overrated.

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