Life of Pi

My bedside table should have at least a couple of books, whether or not I read them in regularity. One book has been lying on my bedside table for the past 4 months; I had not gone beyond first 10 or so pages in all this time.

 

Not that the book was not interesting, I was just plain disinterested. The last weekend of July was the salvation of the book.

 

And I am wowed, by the book.

 

'Life of Pi', by Yann Martel is one of those books, which gives an idea about how far and daring human determination can get and how survival is the strongest intuition in the most adverse times. I was vaguely reminded of 'Papillon', by Henri Charriere, as that book (which is an autobiography) too has the same underlying idea: Portrayal of the strength of human determination and endurance.

 

And there is a beclouded humor, charming to the mind, in the early parts of the book, in the parts where Pi is not a castaway. The style of narration is too realistic and simplistic, from the mind of a boy of 16 who has strange profundity in his thoughts. At times, some elaborate explanations were putting me off a little, no fault of the author, my fault, mea culpa. I prefer to shy away from cloyingly ingenuous explanations.

 

A book not to be missed. It won the Man Booker Prize too. I am glad I bought that book.