Note this review does contain minor spoilers in that it discusses themes and ideas presented throughout the book. However they are not much more significant spoilers than most people’s prior knowledge of this now very famous book will be. I do hope people don't find my ramblings on this one too pretentious but if nothing else this is a book that will make you ask questions and think about the answers. It does this in an engaging and entertaining way. What more can you ask of a book? Hence my top rating of 5 stars.
The first thing for any prospective reader of this book to appreciate is that this is not a book about a boy sharing a lifeboat with a tiger (although it certainly contains that). It is a book about stories and about religion, or maybe more accurately belief.
In the first part of the book a lot of time is given over to an exploration of zoo animals and religion. At first glance these appear to be two very different topics but I suspect Martel is presenting the two ideas side by side because of the inherent similarities between them. The distinction between religion and belief is made strongly by the main protagonist, Pi, adopting three different religions – Hinduism, Islam and Christianity – simultaneously. This made me consider my own beliefs and the fact that as an atheist I am not so different from a religious believer. Both cases are founded on belief and neither the religious nor the atheist can actually prove their belief. No matter how much the atheist puts forward ‘rational’ arguments against the existence of a God they cannot prove that there is no higher intelligence or divinity that is guiding evolution and the laws of nature any more than the religious person can prove that there is a divinity such as Brahman, Allah, God, Jehovah etc. The atheist’s very rationality is in fact their ‘god’ and it relies on belief not proof just as much as the religious person.
So what about this relationship of the zoo animals with religion? It seems to me that Martel makes the argument that we humans need belief in order to live happy, contented and secure lives. Without belief we have no foundation and each person must find the belief (religion) that suits them and it really doesn’t matter which we choose; as Pi says at one point; “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.” Similarly the zoo animals must each be provided with an environment (religion) that suits them. If this is done well the animals will be as content in their enclosure as they would be in the wild and they will feel secure and will thrive. If it is done badly they will be maladjusted and unhappy and their condition will deteriorate. Throughout Pi’s ordeal with the tiger, Richard Parker, he must ensure for his own survival that Parker has an environment as close to ideal as possible. No easy task in a lifeboat in the middle of the pacific!
This thread of belief extends further with Martel constantly pushing the limits of our belief. In part two Pi finds himself the sole human survivor of the shipwreck in a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orang-utan and a tiger and manages to survive this incredible situation. This is barely believable, but Martel manages to be convincing, or is it Pi that is convincing, just as Pi tries to convince the Japanese shipping investigators in the last part of the book. The way the story is told through Pi’s eyes almost makes us believe that Pi is a real person and this a real story and yet we know (or should do) that the author’s note at the start is just another part of the convincing fiction. As the second part of the book progresses Martel gradually stretches our belief with a number of progressively more unbelievable encounters, including a floating island made of an unknown (and pretty miraculous) algae populated by thousands of Meerkats! The reader can’t help but sympathise with the Japanese investigators’ disbelief at this point and yet is it any more incredulous than our belief in religion?
This is a book about stories and our belief in them and our ability to choose our own story. In the end Martel (or is it Pi?) suggests that choosing the one with God (or belief) in it will give us the better story. At the beginning of the book Martel suggests that “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” Maybe if you just substitute belief for God then he has succeeded, giving us a story that will make the reader believe in belief!
The first thing for any prospective reader of this book to appreciate is that this is not a book about a boy sharing a lifeboat with a tiger (although it certainly contains that). It is a book about stories and about religion, or maybe more accurately belief.
In the first part of the book a lot of time is given over to an exploration of zoo animals and religion. At first glance these appear to be two very different topics but I suspect Martel is presenting the two ideas side by side because of the inherent similarities between them. The distinction between religion and belief is made strongly by the main protagonist, Pi, adopting three different religions – Hinduism, Islam and Christianity – simultaneously. This made me consider my own beliefs and the fact that as an atheist I am not so different from a religious believer. Both cases are founded on belief and neither the religious nor the atheist can actually prove their belief. No matter how much the atheist puts forward ‘rational’ arguments against the existence of a God they cannot prove that there is no higher intelligence or divinity that is guiding evolution and the laws of nature any more than the religious person can prove that there is a divinity such as Brahman, Allah, God, Jehovah etc. The atheist’s very rationality is in fact their ‘god’ and it relies on belief not proof just as much as the religious person.
So what about this relationship of the zoo animals with religion? It seems to me that Martel makes the argument that we humans need belief in order to live happy, contented and secure lives. Without belief we have no foundation and each person must find the belief (religion) that suits them and it really doesn’t matter which we choose; as Pi says at one point; “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.” Similarly the zoo animals must each be provided with an environment (religion) that suits them. If this is done well the animals will be as content in their enclosure as they would be in the wild and they will feel secure and will thrive. If it is done badly they will be maladjusted and unhappy and their condition will deteriorate. Throughout Pi’s ordeal with the tiger, Richard Parker, he must ensure for his own survival that Parker has an environment as close to ideal as possible. No easy task in a lifeboat in the middle of the pacific!
This thread of belief extends further with Martel constantly pushing the limits of our belief. In part two Pi finds himself the sole human survivor of the shipwreck in a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orang-utan and a tiger and manages to survive this incredible situation. This is barely believable, but Martel manages to be convincing, or is it Pi that is convincing, just as Pi tries to convince the Japanese shipping investigators in the last part of the book. The way the story is told through Pi’s eyes almost makes us believe that Pi is a real person and this a real story and yet we know (or should do) that the author’s note at the start is just another part of the convincing fiction. As the second part of the book progresses Martel gradually stretches our belief with a number of progressively more unbelievable encounters, including a floating island made of an unknown (and pretty miraculous) algae populated by thousands of Meerkats! The reader can’t help but sympathise with the Japanese investigators’ disbelief at this point and yet is it any more incredulous than our belief in religion?
This is a book about stories and our belief in them and our ability to choose our own story. In the end Martel (or is it Pi?) suggests that choosing the one with God (or belief) in it will give us the better story. At the beginning of the book Martel suggests that “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” Maybe if you just substitute belief for God then he has succeeded, giving us a story that will make the reader believe in belief!
