Life Of Pi

[Jesus`Sunbeam]

I don`t know if this has been posted about already, but has anyone read this book here?

I kinda want to read it, but I`m a little uneasy about it, just after hearing the reviews both good and bad.

peace.

[simon]

It's good, the first part was what sparked my interest, and the bit about the island seem slightly out of place with respect to the rest of the book. But aside from these observations it is worth reading for entertainment value, depending on your attention level you may have trouble getting through parts of it beucase the style is very calm. Can you really think of any reason not to read it?

[ajoe]

depending on your attention level you may have trouble getting through parts of it beucase the style is very calm.

That explains why I kind of skimmed some paragraphs in the beginning. Some people say the second part is a little boring, but in my opinion both are interesting in their own ways. I also like that it has some humor in spite of the desperate situation. :)

[simon]

I had heard that it was the first part that was boring, but that was the part I enjoyed the most.

Did anybody else think if was obvious that the animals weren't real and that some sort of halllucinations were taking place with boy before they reached the end surmisings?

[Rachy]

I thought this book was great!! The ending was soo good and for me totally unexpected! I won't spoil it! Read it!!

[ajoe]

Did anybody else think if was obvious that the animals weren't real and that some sort of halllucinations were taking place with boy before they reached the end surmisings?

Hm. It never occurred to me. But if they were hallucinations, then how did he get to where he finally ended up at? Also, if this is true, then he's a very good at deceiving people.

[Snukes]

It's been a good while since I read it, but I really loved it. I spent nearly a week digesting after I finished, wondering which of the stories he tells the authorities at the end is, in fact, the truth.

The version I got had "discussion" questions and an interview with the author at the end. Usually I think questions like that are pretty goofy, but in this case, there were some really excellent ones, and the interview with the author was fantastic.

What I recall from it is that his intention in writing this story was to push his audience - see how many incredible things he could tell them before they just no longer believed him. The island was the culumnation of oddities.

Yummy. I liked it. "Calm" is quite nice as a description, but certainly not "boring."

[Sancho]

I enjoyed the book, and (nod to simon) I thought that Martel left the ending ambiguous. That is to say, he left it up to the reader to decide which story to believe. In the beginning he said that this is a story that will make you believe in God; and in order to believe the animal story – you must believe.

simon, I’m afraid you’ve revealed your cards.

[simon]

Alright it's true, I don't beleive in god. I've been trapped.

[Erna]

The book is standing on my book shelf, waiting to be read. When I start (and finish) it, I will give my view on this book.

[Erna]

At this moment, I only read the first part of the book. I really liked that! The story had my interest and I like the style of the writer. So I'm curious to explore the second part, because I've the feeling, reading this thread, there is a lot of difference between the two parts.

* Erna is thinking about going to bed (23:13, local time) and read some chapters ;)

[byquist]

My seventh grade daughter just started it up to pg. 19. The report from her is that it is starting a bit slow, not much detail, but she will continue since she thinks it's gonna be good. It's one of 50 books she's reading to get a trip to Hershey Park, Pa. or some other amusement park.

[chispa]

Is this a book for children?

[Snukes]

Not really.

[Erna]

Today I finally finished the book and I'm a little bit unsure about it.
The first part I liked. The second part was sometimes a little boring and contained more details about how Pi got his food than I was actually waiting for. On the other hand, it gives you more a feeling about his life, makes you feel sorry for him.
The third part confused me. What is the real story, what did Pi make up, was he really on sea? But that's a good thing at the end of books, to make you confused. It gives you something to think about and to worry about. It gives space for you own fantasy.

Concluding, it's a book you should read.

[EAP]

This thread has finally convinced me to try the book. :)


P.S: (Erna, is your name a reference to Coldfire trilogy?)

[appledips]

eee... i felt the book was really slow and lengthy. i liked the idea of the book more than the read. :P

[Sitaram]

For Sitaram, the most significant single aspect of “Life of Pi” is the name of the Japanese cargo ship, “Tsimtsum.”

Among thousands of URLs returned by Google on a search of “Life of Pi” and Tsimtsum, only a very few directly discuss the significance of the name Tsimtsum.

http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676973778







"Japanese Cargo ship Tsimtsum" - Chapter 35 page 90 - "The concept of Tsimtsum is a 16th century kabbalistic explanation of how God, if infinite and omnipresent, could form a material world. God contracted Itself into Itself - Tsimtsum - bringing into being a vacuum in which to create something OTHER than Itself" - Yann Martel's naming of the ship in which Pi loses his family seems to be another nod at the cosmogony of the Book of Genesis.

...

Just as God had to withdraw to create the cosmos, so the Tsimtsum sinks. By using this name of Tsimtsum, does Yann Martel mean to suggest that God has effectively absented himself from Pi's struggle, and that this is the ultimate test of Pi's faith? "This paradox of Tsimtsum -- as Jacob Emden said -- is the only serious attempt ever made to give substance to the idea of Creation out of Nothing. Incidentally, the fact that an idea which as first sight appears so reasonable as "Creation out of Nothing" should turn out upon inspection to lead to a theosophical mystery shows us how illusory the apparent simplicity of religious fundamentals really is.


....

But does Pi separate from the 'primordial universe' or does he, in fact, join with it? As Ephraim Carmel writes, Yann Martel would not be the first author in English to grasp the concept of tsimtsum in order to write of 'Paradise Lost' -


...

I believe that the concept of Tsimtsum also plays a major role in how Yann Martel has structured Life of Pi. There is something very circular in telling Pi's story in exactly 100 chapters. Also, when Pi uses pi to work out the circumference of that strange anti-Eden he lands on, you can't help but acknowledge that there is some great deal of thought in Yann Martel's naming of Pi, since pi is synonymous with circles. When God creates his vacuum, one can only imagine a circular shaped hole. Galaxies certainly resolve around black holes.

...

An ancient Indian poet Tulsi Das, rewriting the oldest of stories, and one of the best, the Ramayana ,adds this "the gods themselves live by forbearance"... they live by drawing back.

And so it is written of Jesus in Philippians that he "took on himself the form of a servant..." The Greek word Kenosis or self-emptying can parallel the Tsimstsum and perhaps each word enriches the other a little. Unfortunately few people have set them together! But you and I may today and see therefore the sign of the cross on the creation of the world itself, and then the cross as no isolated moment
but the heart of a deep mystery of creation-by-making-space.

Into that space which God made, light entered... and from the light came all the worlds and all the persons and you and I...





http://www.24hourscholar.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_7_40/ai_84182763



http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html


http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/life_of_pi1.asp

http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676973778




As Yann Martel has said in one interview, “The theme of this novel can be summarized in three lines. Life is a story. You can choose your story. And a story with an imaginative overlay is the better story.” And for Martel, the greatest imaginative overlay is religion. “God is a shorthand for anything that is beyond the material -- any greater pattern of meaning.” In Life of Pi, the question of stories, and of what stories to believe, is front and centre from the beginning, when the author tells us how he was led to Pi Patel and to this novel: in an Indian coffee house, a gentleman told him, “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” And as this novel comes to its brilliant conclusion, Pi shows us that the story with the imaginative overlay is also the story that contains the most truth.



From Pi one gleans that faith -- one of the most ephemeral emotions, yet crucial whenever life is one the line -- is rooted in the will to live.



http://www.randomhouse.ca/newface/martel.php

"A storyteller, in order to enchant, must lie, and then must convince us that he is not lying. This novel is all about storytelling."

http://books.guardian.co.uk/bookerprize2002/story/0,12350,794491,00.html


http://www.americamagazine.org/BookReview.cfm?textID=2920&articletypeid=31&issueID=430


http://www.theverandah.net/verandah/article.asp?id=130

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Nook/1082/yann_martel_page.html

[baddad]

Started to Read 'Pi' on the weekend. Someone else had brought it to the beach, but I ended up absorbed with it. The writing style is fresh and unencumbered. It will be a pleasure to finish it, but now I'm out of British Columbia, away from the beach and friends, and so will tomorrow begin my hunt for 'Pi' at the nearest library in this conrete zoo that is the city........

[Sitaram]

Question: How many religions does Pi practice?

Question: How many toes does the sloth in Chapter 1 have?

Think about it.

[appledips]

i liked the idea of the book but the actual book was rather slow for me.