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February 25, 2004
Life of Pi, Yann Martel
Before I start writing about my thoughts concerning this book, I'd like to just mention that I originally thought this book was about math, based on the title. Sort of like a history of pi, the discovery of it, the ancient uses for it, and the scholarly arguments that must have occurred regarding its utility. The feminist in me wanted to read that like many other inventions, a woman was behind it, and was somehow not credited with the work or idea. However, this is not to be, as the closest this book gets to talking about mathematics is when Piscene Molitor Patel introduces himself to his fellow classmates as "Pi - 3.14" to prevent them from calling him "Pissing". This is really a book about animal behavior, Indian culture, and religion.
Now that I have that cleared away, I have to say that I really enjoyed reading about the animal behavior aspect of the book the most. I consider myself to be quite ignorant when it comes to analyzing animal behavior. I chalk that one up to having been raised in the suburbs. Like any other person who enjoys watching animal shows on the Discovery Channel, I am at the same time, puzzled and fascinated about why animals behave as they do. This book does an excellent job of explaining cat behavior, for example. After I finished reading it, I looked at my two kittens, Apollo and Mercury, and determined that Apollo is the omega cat, Mercury is the beta cat, and I'm the Alpha cat (from their perspective, anyway). So, that explains why Apollo is so much more eager to win my favors. It's because he has a vested interest in being my favorite cat. This will help protect him against Mercury, because, presumably, I would be partial to Apollo. Of course, this logic breaks down because 1) Mercury is not threatening to Apollo in any way, just larger than he is, and 2) I'm a human being, not a cat, and both Apollo and Mercury are my kittens, so if they fight, my inclination would be to stop the fight rather than help one of the cats beat the other one up. Plus, Apollo and Mercury don't fight, they play fight. It's the side effect of being well-fed at all times and not having to fend for themselves outside in the wild. I'd say the biggest benefit Apollo gains is being fed more snacks.
Anyhow, I'm digressing. Really, this book talks a lot about animal behavior. I enjoyed reading about the Indian cultural aspects as well. Definitely makes me want to take a trip to India. Most amazing is the fact that this novel is based on a true story. My final verdict is that this story is a worthy read in a casual environment, such as an airport - which is what I did.
Posted by Kathy at February 25, 2004 10:51 PM