Life of Pi by Yann Martel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My adventure with Life of Pi started in the midst of an isolated farm in Sussex, close to nature and away from the busy life of England. Having borrowed it from a fellow friend, with practically everyone telling me it s a book I will relate to (being Indian) and will absolutely love, I just could not resist it. However, now that I am done with it, I am disappointed that it did not have the effect everyone thought it would have had on me! You want to know why? Here goes:

1. To start with, I hated how the book begins so scornfully! It describes India to be a place with people obsessed with talking to random stranger, with food and feeding people, and which, despite the fact that does not bring out the author as a racist in the strictest sense of the word, does however show him to be EXTREMELY STEREOTYPICAL! We DO NOT use words like bamboole and funny thing a Canadian should find the Indian accent funny! By that logic, the only not-so-funny-accent when it comes to English is the British acccent because for all others, English is an acquired language! Since most Indians learn English better than and before their native languages, English is as much MY native language as it is for the British, the Australians or the Americans. If the Indian accent is funny, well, so is yours! And do not even get me started on how funny YOUR pronunciation is. (Yes, I can be a racist, too, Mr Yann Martel!) Agreed you portrayed Pi Patel to be smart and imaginative, resourceful and brave but I do NOT buy your generalisation of India or Indians!
2. All the offence kept aside, let me come to the story now. It not like it is a bad book or a useless story on the whole. It is just that it is not the MOST incredibe story I have ever read! I have read better and I do know that in the hands of a better author it could have been well presented.
If I have to say anything about it at all, ths book is like a custard that could be improved upon by a chef but because a decent cook made it instead of an expert, it is good but not something that blew my mind!
I mean, One hundred Years of Solitude ....WHAM! Your mind is hit by a high powered missile in just one line!
Life of Pi ...yes, the ending is unexpected...but the element of shock...the real climax, it just does not blow your brains out the way it is supposed to or the way it could have. Also, there is part towards the middle of the book where it just drags on and on and on. there is nothing new, no philosophy that has not already been discussed, no new revelations! In short nothing happens in that part of the plot and I, for one, needed cups of coffee to keep me awake and going.
In conclusion:
Worth reading once? Yes,but definitely not something you HAVE TO read!
You CAN die and peacefully, without reading it!

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