Title: Life of Pi
Author: Yann Martel
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 320
Rating: 3*/5
Yann Martel – Life of Pi
Yeah, I’m not really sure what the fuss is about. But then, that happens a lot when I pick up award-winners, and this one won the Man Booker Prize in 2002, so maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. I also think that if I’d known a bit more about the book then I wouldn’t have bothered with it, as I picked it up knowing nothing except that I’d heard good things about it.
The problem that I had was that while the writing itself was pretty good, nothing really happened. I felt throughout as though I was meant to be asking myself these deep questions about life and religion, but nothing like that was forthcoming. Instead, it felt more like when I read the Oxford English Dictionary – I just kept ploughing through to the end, just so I could say that I’d done it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that I read it. I just don’t think I could recommend it to anyone else without warning them first. Possibly the strangest thing about it was that when I got confused about what was actually supposed to be happening, I actually enjoyed it more than the main narrative. It was a welcome relief and it helped me to pretend I was reading something else for a while.
What I will say is that I haven’t yet watched the movie. Originally, my plan was to pick up the movie after reading the book, but now I’m not so sure. Still, I imagine that the movie is at least visually spectacular, which means that even if nothing happens for two hours, I’ll get plenty of cool shots of a tiger on a tiny boat. Speaking of which, I still don’t understand how Pi never spotted the damn thing. Seems impossible to miss.
Yann Martel
