Life of Pi by Yann Martel

So, I had heard rave reviews about this book for a few years.  three good friends had read it and said that it was fantastic and that I would love it, but for some reason, I put it off for a while.  I think it was one of those books where I was just like..."well, i'll get around to it eventually..."  but probably wouldn't have gotten around to it if I hadn't come across it in a used book store with my very good friend Wendy.  Anywho...I bought it for four or five bucks and brought it home among a stack of twelve other books.  I tried starting it a month or so ago, but couldn't get into it.  I guess I just wasn't in the mood, so I put it down, read a couple other books and the complete 6-book Dune series by Frank Herbert.  Then, when I finished that I decided to pick up Life of Pi again.  And I'm glad I did.

It was an enjoyable book.  I cared about the main character, empathized and sympathized with him.  I wanted to find out what would happen over the crest of the next wave.  (You'll understand that last sentence when you read it.)  It was engaging and thought-provoking and thrilling all at once.  It kept me on the edge of my metaphorical seat.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn't state the one aspect of the book that was difficult for me, and that was the fact that Pi actively practiced three very different religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.  Now, being a Christian, this set very wrong with me, simply because any good Bible-toting Christian knows John 14:6 in which Jesus says: "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No man comes to the Father except through me."  (Or something similar, depending on your translation.)  So, I struggled with that aspect of the book, which is basically the entire first third.  How any person in their right mind could practice three drastically different religions simultaneously really stretched me almost to the point where I simply couldn't suspend my disbelief.  And it was this aspect of the book that made me put it down the first time I tried to read it.

Anyway, if you can get past Part One in Pondicherry, India, and Board the TsimTsum in Part Two the book will sweep you out into its tide, and you will sail eagerly along until it runs aground on the very last page.  It is worth muscling through the absurdity of a man who will in one breath praise Vishnu, Allah, and Jesus.

What the book does right, though, is state truly and honestly, that we as people have to have some form of belief.  Yann Martel, through Pi Patel, urges his readers to beleive something...anything.  Just have faith. 

Of course, I would say: Have faith in Christ, because it's the only faith worth having.  But I do agree with Yann's central point.  It is not the most spiritual or the atheist who is in the greatest peril.  Rather, it is the agnostic...the one who really doesn't have an opinion and isn't seeking, because he/she doesn't care.  Apathy is a most frightful ground in which to plant ones feet.

So...you want a good, philosophical, outrageous sort of tale, pick up Life of Pi.  You'll enjoy it.