Life of Pi

Did everyone see the movie trailer of this? If you haven’t, please see *here* because you’re about to call me a lair.

It’s about a boy on a boat with a tiger. Seriously. A tiger.

The main character, Pi, lives in India at a zoo. He was raised Hindu, but dabbles in Christianity and Islam. He finds solace in the rituals of each religion and is adamant that they can all be combined into one spiritual experience. His family decides to travel west to relocate the zoo. The ship inexplicably sinks, leaving Pi on a life boat with some of the zoo animals: “Orange Juice” the orangutan, a Hyena, and “Richard Parker”, the infamous tiger.

Ready for a tangent? Since I was five, I've hated meat. Beef, pork, chicken and fish: I hate it all. I’ve not eaten meat for so long that the thought grosses me out. I wasn't some brilliant child activist, and my parents never encouraged the movement (there were many nights I sat at the table staring at a pot roast). But somehow, I still turned out vegetarian. Thanks Obama.

I think about what it would take for me to eat a hamburger. The truth is- I don’t think I would do it for a thousand dollars. Maybe not even two thousand. Maybe I would do it to make my husband do the dishes once in a while (buz-zing!), but in general, I simply would not.

I can hear my carnivorous friends scoffing, so I’ll get to the point. What if that’s all I had to survive? Yes, then I would eat hamburgers. Even though it makes my stomach churn, and in many ways has become a part of my very being, I would do it. If it meant (somehow) saving my husband or friends, I wouldn't even think twice.

Survival. What would you do to survive? What’s your hamburger?

Pi gives up his vegetarianism to survive. He fights fiercely against hunger and insanity. He consistently fights, when it would be easy to give up. The book is a compelling thought experiment on the will to live. Some parts are disgusting, but bare-bones living isn't going to be pretty.

Though it’s not necessarily my favorite book, and not something I would read again, I did feel more in tune to the world because of it. I’m, at the very least, glad to have read it.

*Spoiler* At the end of the book, Pi reveals that there are potentially two different versions of the same story. My opinion, after much thought, is that the second story does seem more likely. I believe that Pi was facing a manifestation of his own thoughts, and that the animals are in fact something else. I also think that it doesn't matter. The focus of the book is on survival, and if those delusions are what kept him from insanity... so be it!