Life of Pi (2002)
Who wrote it?
Yann Martel (1963- ; active 1988- ), born Salamanca, Spain to French-Canadian parents. He spent much of his youth moving between countries due to his father’s role in the Canadian foreign service, including stints in San Jose, Costa Rica, Paris and Madrid. He settled in Ontario where he studied a degree in philosophy. Before his literary career, he worked in a range of odd jobs including parking attendant and dishwasher. His first shot story was published in 1988, with his debut novel Self released in 1996. Life of Pi is thusfar his only Booker nominee.
What's it about?
Life of Pi is the story of Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, an Indian Tamil boy who grows up in Pondicherry as the son of a zookeeper. The novel is divided into three sections, framed by an author’s note which unusually is also a fiction in which the narrator is told Pi’s story and goes to meet him as an adult.
The first section covers Pi’s childhood in Pondicherry, is which he develops an interest in spirituality, becoming intensely involved in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam - to the chagrin of the spiritual leaders of his respective places of worship. The second, which forms the bulk of the novel, sees Pi cast adrift in the Pacific Ocean as his Canada-bound ship sinks without explanation. He recounts his tale of survival, adrift on a lifeboat in the company of a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker, for 227 days.
The final section sees Japanese investigators quizzing him in Mexico (where he eventually washed ashore) about the fate of the sunken ship. With the investigators disbelieving of his tale, Pi recounts a brief alternative history of his time at sea, calling into question the preceding narrative and raising interesting questions about the role of fiction and storytelling.
What I liked
Most of all I was simply pleasantly surprised by this one. I’d avoided it for a while, based on little more than the visual imagery from the 2012 Ang Lee movie (which I also haven’t seen) which convinced me that it would be “not my cuppa” as it seemed to be firmly in the territory of mystical/spiritual nonsense.
It’s actually far more interesting than all of that. Pi’s exploration of spirituality is dealt with lightly and non-didactically. The meeting of the three religious leaders and the reaction of his indifferent parents is one of many seriously amusing passages in the book.
I’d also imagined that Pi’s interactions with Richard Parker would be presented through some kind of mystical lens. In fact (despite the reality-questioning coda) they’re presented in vivid realist detail, with Pi’s survival clearly attributed far more to his childhood experience of zookeeping and overwhelming practicality than his spirituality.
It’s one of the most straightforwardly enjoyable Booker winners to date. It’s a super easy read, plain speaking and energetic in its language. And most of all it’s a page-turner. Few words are wasted, it never drags, and every page contains something to grab attention.
It’s absolutely stacked with memorable images, that linger long after reading. The fantastical passages on the “algae island” are probably the high point, but there’s a lot to choose from.
I loved the ambiguity of the ending. The alternative tale is horrifying, showing humanity at its worst with violence, murder and cannibalism. Is Pi’s main story a comforting narrative dreamed up to replace the horror of his true experience, or is the second story a fabrication designed to pander to and ridicule the limited imaginations of his interrogators?
What I didn’t like
Pi (and I am guessing Martel) is not a fan of agnosticism. His takedown of agnostics is hilarious and well-argued, but he ain’t gonna convert me on that one.
There’s probably a lot of deeper religious allegory going on in here, if you want to dig for it. I didn’t, so enjoyed it largely for what it was on the surface.
Hmm… It maybe lacks a bit of the heft and weightiness of some of the absolute best winners, but to be honest that was actually largely a pleasant change. It smuggles in some big themes under the guise of crowd-pleasing adventures, and why not? It feels one of the most “different” Booker winners to date, and that can only be a good thing I suppose.
Food & drink pairings
Fruits of the sea - largely turtles & flying fish
Washed down with some refreshing and nutritious turtle blood
Please not tiger poo. Please no… oh, there you go. Oh dear.
Fun facts
Salley Vickers found herself in an unusual position on the judging panel. Having introduced the book to the panel (it hadn’t been submitted by its publishers initially), she then ended up arguing against the novel to win, losing to the combined weight of her fellow judges’ love for the book.
The novel was published on September 11, 2001. Martel had been in New York on the 10th, but flew back to Toronto for the publication date.
The aforementioned Ang Lee film was release in 2012 and, much like the novel, was both a critical and massive commercial success. Development began not long after the book’s publication, and various directors came and went before Ang Lee took the reigns. M. Night Shyamalan was initially slated to direct, attracted by the novel’s setting in his own home city of Pondicherry. He eventually pulled out, citing the fact that the project had a twist ending of sorts, and not wanting his association with the film to detract from it as a result. Alfonso Cuaron and Jean-Pierre Jeunet both subsequently came and went in the film’s long gestation process.
Vanquished Foes
Rohinton Mistry (Family Matters)
Carol Shields (Unless)
William Trevor (The Story of Lucy Gault)
Sarah Waters (Fingersmith)
Tim Winton (Dirt Music)
After a few years full of previous reads, this is another one where I haven’t read any. I think I was too busy with reading Chaucer and Shakespeare and all that at this point. Any tips?
Ann Patchett took the Orange/Women's Prize for Bel Canto, beating (amongst others) Fingersmith in a rare Booker shortlist crossover (Unless was also on the 2003 list), and Anna Burns’ debut No Bones.
Context
In 2002:
Official introduction of the Euro in Eurozone countries on Jan 1st
War Crimes trial of Slobodan Milosovic begins at The Hague
Death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in the UK
Soham murders by Ian Huntley in Cambridgeshire, UK
Sniper attacks in Washington DC and surrounding states
Bali nightclub bombings
Suicide bombings in Mombasa, Kenya
SARS epidemic in China
Senegalese passenger ferry MV Le Joola capsizes of the Gambia, killing 1863 people
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones
William Boyd, Any Human Heart
Minority Report
Gangs of New York
The Hours
Justin Timberlake, Justified
The Streets, Original Pirate Material
Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around
Life Lessons
It’s a veritable survival manual. Plenty of lessons in here for if you ever find yourself adrift at sea, with or without a Bengal tiger for company.
Stories are powerful things
Don’t eat the tiger poo
Score
8.5
A joy of a read and pleasant surprise for cynical old me.
Ranking to date:
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) - 9.5
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie (1981) - 9.5
Disgrace - J. M. Coetzee (1999) - 9.5
Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively (1987) - 9
Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth (1992) - 9
Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey (1988) - 9
The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1978) - 9
Life & Times of Michael K. - J. M. Coetzee (1983) - 9
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy (1997) - 9
Schindler’s Ark - Thomas Keneally (1982) - 9
Life of Pi - Yann Martel (2002) - 8.5
The Bone People - Keri Hulme (1985) - 8.5
How Late it Was, How Late - James Kelman (1994) - 8.5
Troubles - J.G. Farrell (1970, "Lost Booker") - 8.5
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood (2000) - 8
Possession - A. S. Byatt (1990) - 8
Saville - David Storey (1976) - 8
The Siege of Krishnapur - J.G. Farrell (1973) - 8
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje (1992) - 7.5
Rites of Passage - William Golding (1980) - 7.5
True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey (2001) - 7.5
Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald (1979) - 7.5
Last Orders - Graham Swift (1996) - 7
The Elected Member - Bernice Rubens (1970) - 7
The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer (1974) - 7
Holiday - Stanley Middleton (1974) - 7
Heat & Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) - 6.5
In a Free State* - V.S. Naipaul (1971) - 6.5
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle (1993) - 6
G. - John Berger (1972) - 6
The Famished Road - Ben Okri (1991) - 6
Something to Answer For - P. H. Newby (1969) - 5.5
The Ghost Road** - Pat Barker (1995) - 5.5
Staying On - Paul Scott (1977) - 5
Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (1998) - 5
Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner (1984) - 4.5
The Old Devils - Kingsley Amis (1986) - 4
*Read in later condensed edition.
**Third part of a trilogy of which I hadn’t read pts 1&2
Next up
DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little, one I’ve actually been looking forward to (so I’ll probably hate it…)
