Agreed. I created the
page to discuss why I think the Alternate Version of Events was important, because otherwise it just makes a very unsettling end to what was already a challenging book.
That said, I liked it. It's not easy, but it's really well-written and creative. Heck, the story could have gone on, sans tiger, and I would have still enjoyed it — a story of Pi and his family adjusting to life in Canada could have been interesting, too.
I hear Ang Lee is doing a movie of it.
I've read this book recently, and by the end I was feeling really angry. I found the second Story That Explains It All to be even less believable than the second one, so I was just left feeling frustrated about Pi refusing to tell the truth (which is how I saw it), and I felt like I was cheated out of my money.
The first half of the book was absolutely wonderful though, I've reread the part where Pi and his parents are confronted by an imam, a priest and a pandit numerous times.
Why should he tell the truth? They weren't asking for the truth, they were asking for something believable.
A True Lady's Quest - A Jojo is You!He did tell the truth. There was a chapter unto itself which was just the words "The story" and then a new chapter. That was Pi telling the account of what happened, but neither man believed him.
Incidentally, I dearly appreciated the glimpse into Pi's future life (mundane as it was), with the assurance that "This story has a happy ending." Like the inverse of a Snicket Warning Label.
That's the literal interpretation, yes. You don't think it's possible that months deprived of human contact could make a guy go slightly loopy? Or at least very inwardly-focused to the point of not wanting to discuss his experiences right out of the gate?
A True Lady's Quest - A Jojo is You!It was very mind-screwy.
I didn't understand the mind-screwiness of the plot, and I also didn't understand why the author put a completely untrue introduction at the beginning. Then, while I was thinking about it, it hit me - it's because the book is all about belief. You have to choose how much of the story you "believe."
This.
I liked it, but I found the first half to be less appealing; it bordered on Author Tract-y in places.
Okay. I believe that it's none of my business what kind of shit a person goes through when they're isolated and clinging to survival. I believe that if he wants to tell the truth about it or tell lies about it, that's his privilege.
Most of all I believe it was a good book.
edited 15th Jun '11 8:47:11 PM by FurikoMaru
A True Lady's Quest - A Jojo is You!Wow, found this thread when looking for the old Animorphs one and zerky pretty much had the opposite reaction of everyone else. She found the beginning quite trite and ignored most of the theology and read the whole thing as Hatchet ON A BOAT... WITH A TIGER! Which itself is worth the price of the book. The ending was met with a "meh, wanted more tiger on a boat and can see why those Japanese guys did too".
Then again she was lucky enough to not have to read it for school, which means that you can enjoy a book any damn way you want.
I loved the book; I've read twice. I don't think there's any reason to get worked up over what is real. When a book flat out TELLS you to believe what you want to believe, then you shouldn't be worried about figuring out what's real.
Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.^^ During an interview, the author said that that part was deliberately written in a way that broke the reader's suspension of disbelief. He wanted the reader to stop believing the story, and then, at the end of the story, he meant them to be so horrified by the second story, that they would decide to start believing the first story, all complete with the carnivorous island.
Didn't work on me at all.
edited 24th Aug '11 3:40:39 AM by fanty
I was forced to read it in 10th grade English, so maybe that's why I don't like it. I felt like I was made to read a story for no reason. The second story, while horrifying, was more plausible to me. Also, I felt like Pi was a Marty Stu.
Life Of Pi is my favorite book. I first saw it in the library; I saw the title, and thought it was a math book; then I saw the cover (A picture of a boy and a tiger in a boat at sea), and thought it was a poetry book; then I read the summary on the back, and that got me interested enough to read the book.
At first I skipped part one of the book, because I wanted to get right to the part described in the summary (the lifeboat part), so there was a few things I didn't understand at first. But I finished part two and very much enjoyed it, so after that I properly read the book. I like how each chapter was told in sections; one chapter talks about one subject, the next chapter talks about another subject, and so on.
And about part three, I think Pi isn't trying to lie to the readers. I don't think Pi wants to lie at all. When the two Japanese men wouldn't accept the tiger story. Pi told them what they wanted to hear, and all he did was metaphorically retell (what I believe was) the true story.
In between Not Even Human and Not Quite Human

So... what do you think of it? The theology, the psychology, the plot?
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.