A Unique Adventure
Life Of Pi – Yann Martel
Some of you would have read this article when it was published in the Office magazine. But since this is my first attempt at writing, I am publishing it in this blog as well !! Something more out of sentiment ;) !! And here it goes.................................
What will you do if you had decided to write for the living and your first book sinks with hardly a ripple? Hmmm… WRITE AGAIN?? That too, a crazy story of a sixteen year old Indian, who shares his skiff with a fully-grown Bengal tiger? That’s Yann Martel for you. The Canadian’s outrageous fable, Life of Pi, is a successful attempt of survival, both by the fictitious protagonist, Piscine Patel, and by the author himself.
What can possibly be said about 277 days of survival at sea with a hyena,
a zebra, an orang-utan and a royal Bengal tiger? If it is Yann Martel, then what he spins is a 300+ pages of a spiritually adventurous yarn. If the literary pages have written the obituary of the magical realism of the 80s, nurtured by the likes of Marquez, Rushdie, and Calvino, then our man proves that he’s one heck of a phoenix with his Life of Pi.
This book is obviously the story of Pi, an Indian Teenager from Tamilnadu. It kicks off with Pi’s strange religious practices (him being a Hindu, a Muslim and a Christian… all at the same time!) and a lot of detailed descriptions of the minutiae of zoo keeping and several lessons about the relationships between man and animals.
The stage is set for the magical adventure when the cargo ship to Canada, carrying Piscine Patel (Better known as Pi and also known as “Pissing” Patel) and his family with much of the menagerie, sinks. Pi wakes up only to find himself pinioned in a lifeboat with Richard Parker (the fore mentioned Royal Bengal Tiger) and a few other zoo animals (come on… if this is odd, then think about a dad who named his son as Piscine Mortel Patel (??) and his tiger as Richard Parker!!). As Pi languishes to get back in touch with his lost family, he embarks on a series of hair-raising adventures that include, combating hunger and thirst (well, don’t be surprised when you read that Pi eats even the metabolic wastes of Richard Parker), a blind French man whom he meets at the middle of the sea, a man-eating island inhabited by meerkats, cannibalism, tiger taming lessons, and what not! (I am almost sure that, after reading this book, you won’t forget to puke and piss around your territory if you end-up with a man-eater in your lifeboat!)
This is no regular adventure story. The climax of this fable adds a magical touch to the rest of Pi’s adventures and makes it even more meaningful. It is an extraordinarily spun fascinating tale that may, as the author boasts, make you believe in God !!
What will you do if you had decided to write for the living and your first book sinks with hardly a ripple? Hmmm… WRITE AGAIN?? That too, a crazy story of a sixteen year old Indian, who shares his skiff with a fully-grown Bengal tiger? That’s Yann Martel for you. The Canadian’s outrageous fable, Life of Pi, is a successful attempt of survival, both by the fictitious protagonist, Piscine Patel, and by the author himself.
What can possibly be said about 277 days of survival at sea with a hyena,
a zebra, an orang-utan and a royal Bengal tiger? If it is Yann Martel, then what he spins is a 300+ pages of a spiritually adventurous yarn. If the literary pages have written the obituary of the magical realism of the 80s, nurtured by the likes of Marquez, Rushdie, and Calvino, then our man proves that he’s one heck of a phoenix with his Life of Pi.This book is obviously the story of Pi, an Indian Teenager from Tamilnadu. It kicks off with Pi’s strange religious practices (him being a Hindu, a Muslim and a Christian… all at the same time!) and a lot of detailed descriptions of the minutiae of zoo keeping and several lessons about the relationships between man and animals.
The stage is set for the magical adventure when the cargo ship to Canada, carrying Piscine Patel (Better known as Pi and also known as “Pissing” Patel) and his family with much of the menagerie, sinks. Pi wakes up only to find himself pinioned in a lifeboat with Richard Parker (the fore mentioned Royal Bengal Tiger) and a few other zoo animals (come on… if this is odd, then think about a dad who named his son as Piscine Mortel Patel (??) and his tiger as Richard Parker!!). As Pi languishes to get back in touch with his lost family, he embarks on a series of hair-raising adventures that include, combating hunger and thirst (well, don’t be surprised when you read that Pi eats even the metabolic wastes of Richard Parker), a blind French man whom he meets at the middle of the sea, a man-eating island inhabited by meerkats, cannibalism, tiger taming lessons, and what not! (I am almost sure that, after reading this book, you won’t forget to puke and piss around your territory if you end-up with a man-eater in your lifeboat!)
This is no regular adventure story. The climax of this fable adds a magical touch to the rest of Pi’s adventures and makes it even more meaningful. It is an extraordinarily spun fascinating tale that may, as the author boasts, make you believe in God !!
1 comment:
Dae...U can also put from whom u borrowed the book:)
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