Review of The Life of Pi-what a read!

There are certain levels of description that fill you with awe. 

'Take for example this description of a hyena: Its thick neck and high shoulders that slope to the hindquarters, look as if they've come from a discarded prototype for the giraffe, and its shaggy, coarse coat seems to have been patched together from the leftovers from creation.'

This phrase is from the award-winning Booker Man Prize recipient, Yann Martel's novel, 'Life of Pi.' I am delighted to have read it before I watched the film. Yann Martel is a writer of such magnitude. He describes scenes, characters and events with such palpable reality.

Nothing prepared me for the story of a lifetime. Pi, whom the title of the novel is named after, is a son of a zookeeper in India. The fictional Pondicherry zoo has a life of its own, where the traits of animals are so intricately woven and their lives and mannerisms depict such human-like traits.

When reading the novel, a reader is inclined to forget that zoos are run by humans, because the animals are much larger than mere sight seeing spectacles. The novel details how predatory humans can be, especially when gawking at animals in their cages, or when feeding the animals with forbidden substances like razor blades and plastic.

The journey from India to Canada, with literally an entire zoo on board a ship, called the Tsimtsum, is an adventure of a thousand tales. From the horrific shipwreck, devastation from numerous deaths, unimaginable wounds and loss, to surviving 227 days on a lifeboat.

This epic story largely speaks of a young boy and a tiger, who only had their wits about them, their survival instincts and bouts of hope, enabling them to live day by day on fish, human flesh, salty water  and ocean plants. They managed to do this amidst unimaginable sores from the scorching sun, extended fatigue, the daily fear of death by sharks and flesh eating plants.

This novel lifted me to all sorts of human emotion, from pity, to horror and relief. Yann Martel's novel has been depicted in a film as well. The book is available on Amazon and I highly recommend it for your book clubs, for reading pleasure and for insight into the lives of animals.

What does it teach?

That we too can survive amidst the most sordid and unimaginable circumstances, if we keep our wits about us, and even when hope has completely disappeared, we should use the little energy left and muster it, because our survival depends on it. We are indeed built to overcome the most horrific of circumstances, both emotionally and physically.

Bless!

Beverley N Nsengiyunva