Life of Pi Essay
Life of Pi Essay
Some books can grab your interest from the start, while others may be hard to keep reading on a page to page basis. In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, a boy struggles to keep alive when stranded on a boat with a Bengal Tiger for over two hundred days. This book includes in-depth detail from Pis perspective as he is driven to his limits of his religion and sanity. An insight about this book by Phoebe Kate Foster states that this is a timeless book, utterly unique in the current literary scene. It is destined to become a cult classic. This statement is false due to many reasons. The lack of appeal, disturbing scenes and religious views makes the Life of Pi not even close to being a cult classic. In this novel, it becomes extremely easy to get lost and bored. This book is not for anyone who is less than twenty-five or for anyone that isnt extremely patient. The massive amounts of detail are force fed into each page just like a parent feeding a toddler. For example, Pi describes a hyena, It is ugly beyond redemption. Its thick neck and high shoulder look as if theyve come from a discarded prototype for the giraffe.. seems to have been patched from the leftovers of creationlooks like symptoms of a skin diseaseears that look ridiculously mouselikemouth forever open and panting tail is scraggly and unwagging, (145). This is only a part of the seemingly never-ending detail of a hyena in over two and a half pages. If I would like to know every description of a hyena Ill go to National Geographic, not a survival novel. After thousands of sentences of detail, you will find yourself not only uninterested, but skipping pages.
The Life of Pi has many grotesque and extremely disturbing scenes that make you want to stop reading and put the book down, forever. Classics arent supposed to make you sick and utterly repulsed by literature. They say books dont hurt, yet Life of Pi has you wanting to scream and hurl. During a fight scene on the boat, Pi describes his mothers death, A line of blood struck me across my face I held my mothers head in my hands. I let I go. It sank in a cloud of blood. This is extremely revolting to think of your mother decapitated in front of you. Such a thing would be near impossible to witness, and is nearly impossible to read without hesitation. Later in the book, Pi illustrates his first kill. I stabbed him in the stomach. He grimaced but remained standing. I pulled the knife out and stabbed him again. Blood was pouring outI stabbed him in the throat... He only coughed up bloodHis heart was a struggle...It tasted delicious, far better than turtle. This scene will make anyone cringe with the thought of cannibalism. These two and many other scenes can leave you with frightening and gory nightmares from his intense imagery deeply described. The religion throughout this book is heavily dowsed through the chapters, like a storm. When religion feels forced, people are less likely to listen with open ears. As Pi describes the multiple religions he embraced and forsaken, it becomes frustrating to the reader. Many people can become offended by is ways of praying, to not only Jesus, but Allah and Krishna. Also, being without religion and reading this books, leaves you without any interest. Details about his religions follow, As for Ravi, if Lord Krishna had held a cricked bat rather than a flute, if Christ had appeared more plainly to him as an umpire, if the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, had shown some notions of bowling, he might have lifted a religious eyelid, but they didnt and so he slumbered(55). As a person without any of these religions, it becomes extremely impossible to understand and the references he bluntly states of the Bible and such. This can
create a very confusing read for the non-religious soul, and becomes less considered for any future classic. The Life of Pi is an over detailed, mentally disturbing and extremely religious book that should never be considered as timeless or a future classic. Its detail over every event, animal, and place has you drowning in a deep sea of excessive and uninteresting words, leaving little appeal to readers. Its disgusting events make you green and nauseous as Pi takes a bite of human flesh, Lastly, Pis religions can leave your offended or completely confused as he makes references to works you may not have read. This book is even to being classic and is better suited at the bottom of a stack of overdue, dusty library books then in the hands of any reader. Critics may say the indication of a good novel is a strong-gut reaction; however the strong reaction should not be one of disinterest, disgust, or obnoxious repetitious thoughts. The Life of Pi leaves a lot to be desired as a young reader.