Review of Yann Martel's "Life of Pi"

(Written: Sept. 1, 2008)

The ending was SO powerful, that I'm being haunted by the book now. It raised so many questions, that I had to go to Wikipedia and read a little about it, which in its turn raised even more questions, more powerful, more meaningful, more haunting...

So... even though I didn't think I would (while reading it), now I give it 5 stars

WARNING: spoilers!!!!

First of all: this is a fictional story. That ought to be taken into consideration...

While I was reading it I felt that the author was somewhat detached from Pi himself. And that I didn't like. But as I read on, I really started thinking about my own perspective on life, how do I live it, what would I do in his situation, would I just lay there and die, give in; or do all the things he did to survive? Hmmm....

When at the end he asks the Japanese men: "which story do you prefer?" I believe he's asking the reader: "How do YOU perceive life? Are you a pessimist, a romantic, an optimist? Would you rather be with humans, who very often act so inhumane, animalistic; or with a tiger, who is 'less' intelligent, yet doesn't overthink everything to a point of losing his purpose on Earth, his function?"

I'm being haunted by this book and that's already good.

So... Which one are you? Which story do you chose? I trust that they are both true depending on YOU, the human, the reader. I, sadly, have to say that for me the second story seems to be the true one, although, I'm trying to believe (with all my might) that the first one, with the animals, is the real one. Because it's more romantic and well... "better"...

5 stars for the way it made me feel.