Life of Pi: Wrapup

A better cover.

I have since finished "Life of Pi." I finished it before we left for Chicago, it was that compelling. Also, this review contains spoilers. I really tried not to give away too much, but the book is crafted such that it's very hard not to spoil it. Even the cover is a bit of a spoiler. The reveal that there is a tiger in the boat is done so artfully that it is a shame to put a tiger in the boat on the cover. Ah well.

"Life of Pi" was well worth the read, well worth getting over any anti-book-club snobbery that you may be harboring (I am currently reading another book that contains a "readers' discussion guide" at the end; more on that to follow).

My one critique of "Life of Pi" is, in fact, so snobby that I hate to relate it. It does, however, reveal one of my favorite things about the book, so I will move forward, gritting my teeth at myself, and hoping that Andrew, who loves this book dearly, does not think ill of me for it.

What I didn't like about "Life of Pi" was that it wore its postmodern literary identity on its sleeve. Its questioning of the [REALLY, THERE ARE HUGE SPOILERS COMING UP. CEASE AND DESIST IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK] reality of Pi's story plays out way too openly. The story is already unbelievable enough, what with the carnivorous island and all. By the end, the reader should already be guessing that Pi, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, recounting his story to an unnamed writer (remember the short chapters in italics?) late in his (Pi's) life should be considered an unreliable narrator. To use the Japanese shipping agents to call his story into question is a little too heart-on-the-sleeve for me.

That said, I am glad that "Life of Pi" makes itself a book about reliability, memory, stories, etc. in such an unpalatably up-front way, because it prevents us from hanging ourselves up on that aspect. Once the literature snob says "Well of course it can't be a book about that; it says it too obviously!" s/he goes hunting for what the book is really about.

Without repeated readings, I might not have gotten here with "Life of Pi." Content at my own intelligent reading, I would have said "Aha! It's about the (un)reliability of memory, the line between fiction and non-fiction, classic territory for sea literature."

But since Yann Martel did all that digging for me, I could start deeper. I kept digging, and found a heroic/religious story. An Odyssey, a Gilgamesh, a Noah's Ark, even a John-Bunyan-esque allegory tale (but is the tiger God or Satan? Discuss).

[END SPOILERS. SORRY FOR CUTTING OUT THE MEAT OF THE POST, BUT Y'ALL WILL JUST HAVE TO READ THE BOOK. SEE BELOW]

In short, I can't gripe about my least favorite thing about "Life of Pi," because even as I was annoyed by it, it enabled me to appreciate the book so much more. Please, just get over your snobbishness about Oprah's book club and read this book.