Life of Pi

I just finished with The Life of Pi, a novel by Yann Martel. I highly recommend this novel to all UU's and others that take the time to read a blog about my spirituality. In fact, the first I heard of this novel was from Wednesday night vespers at UUCA.

The main character, Piscine Molitor Patel or Pi for short, was raised Hindu, decides to become a Christian and a Muslim. "I just want to love God," says the teenager who gathers joys from the various perspectives of spirituality. His family runs a Zoo in India, but decides to move to Canada. The boat sinks and he has to survive for 227 days on a rescue boat with a zebra, a 450-pound Bengali tiger by the name of Richard Parker, a hyena, orangutan, various insects and other pestilence. After a a few days, only Pi and Richard parker remain.

The allegories abound as Pi spends several hundred days at sea. Richard Parker represents the animal in all of us, and Pi must come to terms with this new relationship. The issue of reality and faith are also covered very well.

“I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: ‘White, white! L-L-Love! My God!’–and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostics, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, ‘Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,’ and, to the very end, lack the imagination and miss the better story."

More events happen along those themes, but I'll try not to ruin the story, since it's such a fun read. Also math geeks might see the significance of Pi being at sea for 227 days. For everyone else, pi = 22/7.

Overall, it was a great story that I am sure any UU will enjoy. Read it before the movie comes out.