Life of Pi

Earlier this year I read the book "Life of Pi", by Yann Martel.

Had no clue what to expect of it, but since someone I know counts it as her favourite book I thought it was worth a try.

OMG, it was SO worth trying!

The story is about a boy.

And a tiger.

And some other animals.

"After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific.

The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years."

When I started reading, my rational mind was in the way of enjoying the book.

Too often I heard myself thinking: "this could never happen".

But when I got deeper into the book, the story caught me.

Letting go of all kinds of judgements and just opening up to the story told, is probably the nicest way to read Life of Pi.

So, there I was, sitting on this lifeboat with Pi, the tiger and the other animals. Oh, how cute the orangutan with her big sad eyes was!

And that poor zebra...

But the hyena gave me the creeps.

The tiger is not just a big kitty, it's a fierce and graceful carnivore.

Beautiful but oh so unpredictable and dangerous...

I didn't wanna stop reading, was só curious what would happen next and how things would work out. The story made me want more, more, more!

I won't spoil what happens in the book, but I can tell you there's a twist in it that made my jaw drop and my eyes teary...

After finishing the book, I thought it would be great to read it in its original language, English.
Was planning to buy it when someone on the BookCrossing forum was offering it as a RABCK (Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness, which usually means sending someone a book from your collection). There was a raffle and of course I entered. And I won! Yippeee!

The book arrived here a few weeks ago.

To my surprise, Danielle23 had enclosed a postcard that told me about a world wide readalong, starting in August.

Of course I joined that project immediately and now I'm re-reading Life of Pi, together with hundreds of others.

We're getting tips for even more intense reading, questions that challenge you to think over some of the parts.

You can read all about the project here:

http://www.lifeofpi.co.uk/

Do take a few minutes to watch the clip.

It's gonna be a movie as well!

A last thought about this story before I'm off to read some more:

it raised such a puzzling question for me: if I would be in Pi's position, would I be able to give up vegetarism to survive? Could I kill an animal and eat it? Or rather die?

Hmm, let's stick to the conclusion Anne and I came to: never make a boat trip across an ocean, so you won't be in that position! ;)