Opinion
Hey all, just came across this site and thought this thread is as good as any to post my first ...um... post.
I read Life of Pi about a month ago and I wrote a personal review of the novel after I had finished it. I do this after all books I read for comparison reasons.
This is what I thought:
"Life of Pi was a good story. Not in the sense in that it had plenty of action, lots of violence or contained an exorbitant amount of plot twists but because it contained a very original story, on a setting that has been literarily exhausted over time; the castaway.
Despite this, I’m quite surprised that the novel was awarded as much critical acclaim that it has gotten. For a self-toted theological novel, it is quite weak on the religious aspects of Islam, Hinduism and Christianity, of which, I myself am almost totally ignorant of all but the latter. The story didn’t show me any insights on the religions themselves or even delve deeply into the finer points each religion in question has, respectively.
The bulk of the story, where Pi is adrift, is quite good on the whole. Martel writes in detail almost everything that could possibly effect and affect Pi on his journey and explains how Pi reacts and deals with each situation. It brings a sense of survival that all good castaway stories should have. Yet, at times, I found some of his description confusing. Some of descriptions of the lifeboat and raft interaction were tipsy (pardon the pun) and left me wondering what it actually was he was writing about.
The strongest part of the novel, in which most people should pay close attention to, is the interaction between Pi and Richard Parker. Martel obviously spent a lot of time trying to deal with and plan this relationship throughout the novel and it came off very well in the end. I am not able to say whether or not he accurately portrayed a relationship between different creatures such as these, but his explanations and details were very logical and practical.
The novel wasn’t difficult to read. The linguistic level of the story wasn’t high, there weren’t a lot of suggested philosophical points being brought about, you weren’t expected to understand adverse emotional troubles between many characters. All the signs of a mainstream novel these days. Despite what many critics and people say, this novel is not the quality of a classic. Yet, Martel may well be on his way to being a fine writer. This, his third novel, is certainly a step up from his previous work, so, keep an eye open for him in the future."
If any of you had the courage to read all this I would love you to share your opinions.
