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Jim Fonseca's Reviews > Life of Pi
Life of Pi
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[Revised, pictures and shelves added 2/28/23]
For years I noticed this book on display, particularly its cartoonish paperback cover. Was it a children's book? This Pi stuff -- was it something about math? (Was it plagiarized? See story at end.)
It's a castaway story and like all castaway and shipwreck stories it's about human endurance, indomitable spirit and man vs. nature. The things that distinguish this story from Robinson Crusoe or Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away, is that the main character (Pi, short for Piscine) is trapped in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.
Pi is Indian and he's multi-religious - a true believer in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. He comes from a family of zookeepers who were transporting their animals by freighter. This is how he wound up with a tiger in his lifeboat.
It's an inspiring book, but drags in spots -- more than 200 days at sea is a lot of fish and storm stories. I kept waiting for the multi-religious theme to play a real role in the story but it did so only peripherally, so the plot seems a bit disconnected from that theme.
In the end, we are offered two stories: one of murder and cannibalism and one of a journey in the lifeboat with animals. A key line comes at the end of the book as a throwaway: 'Which story do you prefer? So it is with God.' It's a decent read and an interesting plot but as I revise this review, with hindsight, I'm downgrading my rating from 4 to 3.
Life of Pi won the 2002 Booker prize and was a huge seller worldwide � 12 million copies and 1.5 million ratings on GR. But here’s a story I came across when I reviewed another book, The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes, by Brazilian Jewish author Moacyr Scliar. Here’s the (paraphrased) story from the NY Times obituary for Scliar in 2011 and from Wikipedia:
Scliar wrote a novel, Max and the Cats, about a Jewish youth who flees Nazi Germany on a ship carrying wild animals to a Brazilian zoo. After a shipwreck the boy ends up sharing a lifeboat with a jaguar. The book achieved fame twice over. Critically praised on its publication in 1981, it touched off a literary storm in 2002 when the Canadian writer Yann Martel (b. 1963) won the Man Booker Prize for Life of Pi, about an Indian youth trapped on a boat with a tiger. Mr. Martel’s admission that he borrowed the idea led to an impassioned debate among writers and critics on the nature of literary invention and the ownership of words and images. Martel admitted he got the idea by reading a review of Scliar’s book but said he never read the book itself. “In a certain way I feel flattered that another writer considered my idea to be so good, but on the other hand, he used that idea without consulting me or even informing me,� Mr. Scliar told The NY Times. “An idea is intellectual property.�
Top image is a still from the movie on npr.org
The author from theguardian.co.uk
For years I noticed this book on display, particularly its cartoonish paperback cover. Was it a children's book? This Pi stuff -- was it something about math? (Was it plagiarized? See story at end.)
It's a castaway story and like all castaway and shipwreck stories it's about human endurance, indomitable spirit and man vs. nature. The things that distinguish this story from Robinson Crusoe or Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away, is that the main character (Pi, short for Piscine) is trapped in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.
Pi is Indian and he's multi-religious - a true believer in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. He comes from a family of zookeepers who were transporting their animals by freighter. This is how he wound up with a tiger in his lifeboat.
It's an inspiring book, but drags in spots -- more than 200 days at sea is a lot of fish and storm stories. I kept waiting for the multi-religious theme to play a real role in the story but it did so only peripherally, so the plot seems a bit disconnected from that theme.
In the end, we are offered two stories: one of murder and cannibalism and one of a journey in the lifeboat with animals. A key line comes at the end of the book as a throwaway: 'Which story do you prefer? So it is with God.' It's a decent read and an interesting plot but as I revise this review, with hindsight, I'm downgrading my rating from 4 to 3.
Life of Pi won the 2002 Booker prize and was a huge seller worldwide � 12 million copies and 1.5 million ratings on GR. But here’s a story I came across when I reviewed another book, The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes, by Brazilian Jewish author Moacyr Scliar. Here’s the (paraphrased) story from the NY Times obituary for Scliar in 2011 and from Wikipedia:
Scliar wrote a novel, Max and the Cats, about a Jewish youth who flees Nazi Germany on a ship carrying wild animals to a Brazilian zoo. After a shipwreck the boy ends up sharing a lifeboat with a jaguar. The book achieved fame twice over. Critically praised on its publication in 1981, it touched off a literary storm in 2002 when the Canadian writer Yann Martel (b. 1963) won the Man Booker Prize for Life of Pi, about an Indian youth trapped on a boat with a tiger. Mr. Martel’s admission that he borrowed the idea led to an impassioned debate among writers and critics on the nature of literary invention and the ownership of words and images. Martel admitted he got the idea by reading a review of Scliar’s book but said he never read the book itself. “In a certain way I feel flattered that another writer considered my idea to be so good, but on the other hand, he used that idea without consulting me or even informing me,� Mr. Scliar told The NY Times. “An idea is intellectual property.�
Top image is a still from the movie on npr.org
The author from theguardian.co.uk
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Reading Progress
June 14, 2012
–
Started Reading
June 17, 2012
–
Finished Reading
October 5, 2013
– Shelved
February 28, 2023
– Shelved as:
action-adventure
February 28, 2023
– Shelved as:
canadian-authors
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message 1:
by
Lilo
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rated it 5 stars
Jul 13, 2017 09:17PM
The book is nice, but the movie is absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you see it.
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Lilo wrote: "The book is nice, but the movie is absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you see it."Thanks Lilo, I have not seen it yet
Jim wrote: "Lilo wrote: "The book is nice, but the movie is absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you see it."Thanks Lilo, I have not seen it yet"
You MUST see it!
And then, I'd appreciate if you could tell me if you have any idea how they could shoot the scenes on the boat (yes, I know it is a trained tiger--still!) without the leading human actor being eaten (or at least, shred to pieces) by the tiger.
I have never seen any comparable scenes with wild animals in a movie. I have watched many of these scenes over and over, trying to find out how they could have used tricks to shoot these scenes, but did not find any answers.
I also liked the much clearer ending of the movie
better than the ending of the book, which I had found a bit unclear.
Run and get the movie from the library, so that you can watch it tonight. You won't regret it.
Lilo wrote: "Jim wrote: "Lilo wrote: "The book is nice, but the movie is absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you see it."Thanks Lilo, I have not seen it yet"
You MUST see it!
And then, I'd appreciate if you could..."
Ah, maybe they "doped up" the tiger? !!!
Very nice review Jim ! And I thought this was such a beautiful book and loved it. I also suggest you seeing the movie as well.
I love the way you worded that at the end! I read this in high school but would like to revisit it again one day. And the tiger in the film was 85% CGI. ;)
Ann (Little Bear) wrote: "I love the way you worded that at the end! I read this in high school but would like to revisit it again one day. And the tiger in the film was 85% CGI. ;)"
LOL on the CGI!
Emelia wrote: "Very nice review Jim ! And I thought this was such a beautiful book and loved it. I also suggest you seeing the movie as well."Thanks Emelia
Michelle wrote: "Nice review, Jim."Thanks Michelle!
And now I'll recommend Moacyr Scliar's "Max e os felinos". Which was published in 1981.
Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "And now I'll recommend Moacyr Scliar's "Max e os felinos". Which was published in 1981."I haven't read that Linda, but I know the story as I imagine you do too. I happened to have read and reviewed Scliar's "The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes" - which is a good book itself, and in that review I wrote this:
Scliar was a Brazilian Jewish physician and author who had an interesting connection to Martel’s The Life of Pi. Here’s the story about a novel of Scliar’s published two decades before Martel’s book (this is from the NYT’s obituary for Scliar in 2011):
“Max and the Cats,� about a Jewish youth who flees Nazi Germany on a ship carrying wild animals to a Brazilian zoo and, after a shipwreck, ends up sharing a lifeboat with a jaguar, achieved fame twice over. Critically praised on its publication in 1981, it touched off a literary storm in 2002 when the Canadian writer Yann Martel won the Man Booker Prize for “Life of Pi,� about an Indian youth trapped on a boat with a tiger. Mr. Martel’s admission that he borrowed the idea led to an impassioned debate among writers and critics on the nature of literary invention and the ownership of words and images. “In a certain way I feel flattered that another writer considered my idea to be so good, but on the other hand, he used that idea without consulting me or even informing me,� Mr. Scliar told The New York Times. “An idea is intellectual property.�
Jim wrote: "Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "And now I'll recommend Moacyr Scliar's "Max e os felinos". Which was published in 1981."I haven't read that Linda, but I know the story as I imagine you do ..."
In this interview, he says it wasn't so much that he used the idea, because writers have been borrowing from each other/in dialogue for centuries. It was the way he blew it off that bothered Scliar.
Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "Jim wrote: "Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "And now I'll recommend Moacyr Scliar's "Max e os felinos". Which was published in 1981."I haven't read that Linda, but I know the story as I ima..."
so Martel has no class.
I believe Scliar used the word "immaturity", referring to his statement that he'd "only read a review".....
@ Jim: The tiger didn't look doped at all.
@ Jim: I had never heard of Scliar's book. I think Martel's book would be borderline "theft of intellectual property".
Lilo wrote: "@ Ann: What is CGI?"It's what broke my heart! "Computer generated images"......the day i found out that Rivendell, the land of the elves in the film "Lord of the Rings" was all CGI and not a real place in NZ that i could visit, was a sad day indeed. . ..
Lilo wrote: "@ Ann: What is CGI?"I guess a lot of it was done by computer animation
Lilo wrote: "@ Jim: I had never heard of Scliar's book. I think Martel's book would be borderline "theft of intellectual property"."yes I guess it caused quite a flap in the book world
Jim wrote: "Lilo wrote: "@ Ann: What is CGI?"I guess a lot of it was done by computer animation"
There weren't enough peopke in NZ to supply that orc army ! :P
Thank you, Linda & Jim.I didn't know that they could do THAT MUCH with computer-generated images.
Is computer animation the same as CGI? I thought the former was just having cartoon characters move as has been done in Disney movies.
Well, I am certainly "behind the hill" with all technology. And being an ESL reader, I also am not up-to-date with abbreviations.
Lilo wrote: "Thank you, Linda & Jim.I didn't know that they could do THAT MUCH with computer-generated images.
Is computer animation the same as CGI? I thought the former was just having cartoon characters ..."
Sorry to bust the abbreviations out; that one's been around for a few years, so thought it was more mainstream by now.
If I understand it correctly, animation is drawing/creating something that doesn't exist. What they did with the orc army in LOTR was to film a group of, say, 100 people. Then they simply copied that group and somehow "pasted" it in. It's way more complex than that, but I do know that when I re-watch the film now and then, I"m always looking for the "seams", that place where the group ends and the copy begins. Can never see it. I can't remember whether or not this was also done with Gibson's "Braveheart" armies.....I want to say that it wasn't. As for my dear Rivendell, it was a table-sized model (a very large model at that), plus a couple of studio sets. Sigh.......
@ Linda:Thank you for all the technical information. I didn't se any of the other movies you mentioned. I want to watch "The Life of Pi" again at some time and look for the "seams". I probably won't see them because I already looked the first time for some signs of trickery but could not spot any.
Lilo wrote: "@ Linda:Thank you for all the technical information. I didn't se any of the other movies you mentioned. I want to watch "The Life of Pi" again at some time and look for the "seams". I probably wo..."
Hi,
I really don't know too much about it. You wouldn't see any "seams" with the tiger, because there's only one tiger. If they'd had to create an army of tigers, then you'd look for "seams". Or (I haven't seen the film), the meerkat scene, perhaps.
Here's a quick view of what they do (the dots on the actors' clothing and faces are there to capture their facial expressions, and that's transferred over). Includes Life of PI and other TV shows and films. Apparently, out of the top 50 highest grossing films, 49 used CGI.
This one is on LIfe of Pi, also short (two minutes long)
Similar, and also short. Hope this doesn' t ruin the magic for you, but you can appreciate how much more difficult that acting is than you ever thought!
And more specifically, the tiger itself:
Thanks Linda, for explaining what I meant! I almost felt kind of mean for "ruining the magic", but I think it still has that magical/ "how did they do this?!" effect when you watch the film.Since you mentioned the LoTR films...think about how much different they would be if they didn't have computers to do all that work for them. The armies would certainly be less impressive, or they wouldn't be able to do those pulled back shots where you can see the entire army. It took decades for them for finally make Tolkein's beloved books into movies because it just wasn't possible before CGI. The dragons, the trolls, the massive armies, the magical cities...none of that was possible to create from scratch by man alone. (Watching Return Of the King last week, I noticed some scenes (Eowyn and Merry riding into battle) are a bit cringey with the effects even now. The technology is always advancing.)
Life of Pi, too, wouldn't have been possible to make as a film without using such effects. A tiger is a tiger, no matter how tame. Not to mention is would not be humane at all to put a tiger in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean.
Thanks for the info on that original story, Jim and Linda. I had no idea! Martel just lost a ton of respect from me.
Ann (Little Bear) wrote: "Thanks Linda, for explaining what I meant! I almost felt kind of mean for "ruining the magic", but I think it still has that magical/ "how did they do this?!" effect when you watch the film.Since..."
I think I notice it most when Legolas goes swinging up onto one of those mastodon-like creatures and, after finishing them off, goes sliding down its trunk, catches air, and skids to a landing.
Not to mention Gollum and Smaug! But yes, I'm still feeling guilty :(
@ Ann & Linda:Don't feel guilty. The magic is there even knowing that it is all trickery. I wanted it to be trickery anyway. I did not wish the human actor endangered. Neither did I wish the tiger endangered, terrified, or harassed. (I love cats of all sizes. [We have 19 1/2 ordinary house cats.] Actually, I love all animals.)
And thank you for the YouTube links. I will have my husband to finally--FINALLY!--install speakers to my monitor so that I can watch the scenes.
Lilo wrote: "@ Ann & Linda:Don't feel guilty. The magic is there even knowing that it is all trickery. I wanted it to be trickery anyway. I did not wish the human actor endangered. Neither did I wish the tige..."
I remember something about kitties on another thread, Lilo! I'm the same, all animals except sharks and special love for cats, horses, monkeys.....:)
The last link above really does talk about how much work went into every hair, every muscle on that tiger.
Ironically, a short time before they won an award for those visual effects, the company went bankupt. Apparently, they see very little of the money that these blockbusters make. Just on the front end, I guess.......
Linda Abhors the New GR Design wrote: "Lilo wrote: "@ Ann & Linda:Don't feel guilty. The magic is there even knowing that it is all trickery. I wanted it to be trickery anyway. I did not wish the human actor endangered. Neither did I ..."
In case you might have wondered about the 1/2 cat, it is a feral. :-)
I love all animals except sharks, crocodiles, and all stinging, pinching (earwigs!), and biting insects.
I must see these YouTube videos. I'll make sure my husband installs the speakers tomorrow. (I had them installed 2 years ago, but the electric cords were always getting in my way. So I had asked my husband to remove them until he has time to install them properly, which never happened.)
I also felt the book dragged on needlessly with regards to descriptions of being lost at sea. I was bothered by Martel's treatment of religions i.e. the scene of the religious leaders arguing with each other was an obvious attempt to insult religions. I felt the book was overrated. I don't even feel compelled to watch the movie, despite great reviews of the movie. I checked my public library system for Max and the Cats. As usual, nothing, zip, nada. LOL You'd think with the huge Portuguese speaking population of Mississauga that it would be carried.
I found the story intriguing and was blessed to be at a preview of the film which was engaging to say the least. As with most adaptations creative liberties are taken which in this case were beneficial. Ang Lee is talented director and did a tremendous job
Jonathan wrote: "I found the story intriguing and was blessed to be at a preview of the film which was engaging to say the least. As with most adaptations creative liberties are taken which in this case were benefi..."This movie is one of the few I would like to watch a 2nd time.
Frank wrote: "I also felt the book dragged on needlessly with regards to descriptions of being lost at sea. I was bothered by Martel's treatment of religions i.e. the scene of the religious leaders arguing with ..."Sorry your library doesn't have it Frank. Like mine I guess, translations of foreign novels are very limited. In my case, it's mostly what I read. In Florida where I am the libraries used to have access to a nationwide interlibrary loan system. Now they have gone to a Florida-only system. All the libraries tend to have the same books, so that has greatly limited options.
Lilo wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "I found the story intriguing and was blessed to be at a preview of the film which was engaging to say the least. As with most adaptations creative liberties are taken which in this..."I've not seen the movie yet
Lilo wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "I found the story intriguing and was blessed to be at a preview of the film which was engaging to say the least. As with most adaptations creative liberties are taken which in this..."Thanks Jonathan, I'll have to ck out the movie
I’m reading this now. But I have read it before and then after I watched the movie. Everything feels different this time around. I don’t remember there being an option in it. Ah, well.
Shainlock wrote: "I’m reading this now. But I have read it before and then after I watched the movie. Everything feels different this time around. I don’t remember there being an option in it. Ah, well."I hope you enjoy it the second time around!
Thank you! I’m starting to remember some things thanks to your review. I remember the two options now.
I didn't like it either, "the life of pi."
Josephine wrote: "I didn't like it either, "the life of pi.""It could be trimmed quite a bit I thought
Jim: I appreciated the tenor as well as the content of your review of Yann Martel's bestseller, The Life of Pi. At least for me, the many references to the filmed version of the book are a distraction, except that one might see a certain similarity between a film with computer-generated images (artfully-simulated reality) and an author trading on another writer's story, altering it just enough so as not to be accused of plagiarism, at least not until it had become a hugely successful novel. Bill
Quo wrote: "Jim: I appreciated the tenor as well as the content of your review of Yann Martel's bestseller, The Life of Pi. At least for me, the many references to the filmed version of the book are a distract..."He had to be pretty brash even to attempt it, Bill. How much variation can there be in the plot? It would be like me saying 'I'm going to write a book about an old man who hooks a giant fish and struggles with it alone for several days, but I'll make sure it looks like an original story.' We could say he was 'foolish' to do so, but since he sold 1.5 million copies, foolish is not the right word, lol. Coincidentally, just this morning, I saw in a news feed that it will be made into a stage play.
You really don't like unspiritual boat rides do you Jim? Lol. Sad it failed to deliver as expected but glad you still enjoyed some anyway ;) . Fair review!
Federico wrote: "You really don't like unspiritual boat rides do you Jim? Lol. Sad it failed to deliver as expected but glad you still enjoyed some anyway ;) . Fair review!"Federico, yes I deep see anything deep in it. I may have missed it. I actually started thinking it must be a Young Adult book
Thank you for the info re: plagiarized from Moacyr Scliar. I really enjoyed "Life of Pi" and think it is very cruel, heartless, and sad that Mr. Scliar went to his grave and I never knew the backstory :( I really don't think I will read another Yann Martel -- his legacy is VERY tarnished!
Heather wrote: "Thank you for the info re: plagiarized from Moacyr Scliar. I really enjoyed "Life of Pi" and think it is very cruel, heartless, and sad that Mr. Scliar went to his grave and I never knew the backst..."Hi Heather, since you liked Pi maybe you would like Scliar's Max and the Cat that Pi copied. I haven't read Max but I did read Scliar's The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes and I thought it was pretty good.
�... he used that idea without consulting me or even informing me,� Mr. Scliar told The NY Times. “An idea is intellectual property.�No, actually it's not. Haven't read either book, so couldn't comment on the degree of overlap, but it's important to note that Mr. Scliar is wrong.
