"I can well imagine an athiest's last words: "White, white L-L-Love! My God!" and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic ... might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying "Possibly f-failing oxygenation of the b-brain" and to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story."

- Yann Martel, 'Life of Pi'

Miss the better story you will, if you don't read this Booker prize winner. The sheer depth of imagination the author shows in this novel is enough to make a believer out of all of us.

This is the story of Piscine (pronounced Pea-seen) Molitor Patel, named after a French swimming pool, known by the self-appointed nickname "Pi"(pronounced Pie). The only thing he hates about his nickname is how it goes on and on as 3.141--- blah-blah. All things must end properly, he says.

The story starts with some facts about two and three toed sloths, surprisingly interesting to me because I couldn't care less about sloths. Throughout the book, Pi talks about our misunderstanding about zoos and wild animals. Whats more is that he brings the two diverse fields of theology and zoology together by narrating his experiences. He is a truly secular being (By secular I don't mean the disturbingly distorted versions our politicans use). He is born a Hindu, but the stories of his discovery of the joys of Christianity and Islam left me spellbound.

If you're wondering why I've not come to the storyline yet, its because I have no intentions of telling the story. Its all here if you want it, in a condensed way, but I must warn you; if you ever want to read the book you'd want to keep the suspense intact. Especially that pertaining to Richard Parker and the Mysterious Green Island and of course, the final True Story. I was genuinely thrilled when I discovered the truth about all these things and its that thrill I don't want you to lose.

The book is mainly a tribute to survival and how all of us are equipped with that instinct and show it all the time, without knowing about it. Its about how, if, had we been in the same dire straits as Pi, we too would have made it without the shadow of a doubt. Its about God and animals, prayers in the Pacific, and of course, sloths and humans.

Labels: Books