Now i finished reading this book a couple of months ago but never got round to writing this review. However, it doesn’t matter because it has made such an impression on me that i can still remember clearly the parts of it which i love.
The first thing i love about the book is the voice of the main character. The whole story is told by an elder Pi who is retelling his adventures to a writer. The way he relates his life-changing experience is so matter-of-fact it makes his tale very believable.
The second thing i love is all of the details which he gives; the description of the boat, what he had to eat, how he got water to drink, the ocean and the weather, the fishes and the island.
Both the above points drew me very much into the story; it almost felt as if i was there with Pi in the boat, i could almost feel the salt spray of the ocean and the heat of the sun. It really made me root for Pi.
i also like the slightly fantastical part of the story; the way the tiger responded to Pi’s “training”, the strange scary island (i don’t want to give away what makes it scary), the fact that a young teenager had the know-how to survive this long at sea. It is all slightly unbelievable but because Pi is the character he is, it makes you want to believe it.
Soon after i finished this book, i managed to catch the movie version on television. And of course, the movie is quite slim on the details and the book is, for me, much better. But it was wonderful to see that my mind’s vision of the setting is quite close to what is presented visually in the movie, and that is all credit to good writing on the part of the author.
So if you would like a life-affirming, inspiring story, i would highly recommend reading this book. And if you have not watch the movie, i would say read the book first. And if you have only watched the movie but not read the book, most definitely go read the book.
syc
trippingdifferently 