Oh, gosh. Where do I start?
Yesterday my brother and I had a discussion on the discrepancy between a book being good and a book being enjoyable. We came to a conclusion that good is, well, a rather vague term. Good relies on the standards and values of the reader. So, I thought, while I may think a book is good by my standards, someone with different expectations may think it's rather unenjoyable. However, a book can't be good to the reader and at the same time not enjoyable for the same person. It's rather irrational. The problem is, you see, that this book is not entirely rational.
So the question is this: Is Life of Pi a good book? Answer: Yes.
Question: Was it enjoyable? Answer: No.
"How can this be?" you ask. Let me tell you.
At the beginning, it didn't have substance. The plot was exactly as you see on the book cover. It was merely about a boy and his experiences with a tiger in a lifeboat for 277 days. It finally got good (according to my standards, that is), although rather late, I think. While reading, I occasionally - nay, frequently - stared at the page and said, "Really? Really?!" But, alas, I was wrong in thinking that the book had no value. The main character eventually reveals everything and makes total sense, not to mention adds profundity to the story that had previously been quite shallow. Now, I have previously said that I do not wish to reveal anything of great worth to any of the books, but I'll make an exception here...kind of. So if you're pretty anal about spoilers, I would suggest you leave this page. Otherwise, I've watered it down to something that doesn't quite parallel "Darth Vader is Luke's father," or, "Bruce Willis was dead the whole time." The chapters prior have - how should I put it? - a bit of fabrication interwoven through the story. (For those of you who tend to overlook textual sarcasm, try reading that again. I know it's hard, but it's a skill I think we should all learn.) The whole truth is revealed and, well, it changes the main character, and therefore the entire meaning of the book and many, many other things substantially.
"Now," you may be thinking, "why wasn't it enjoyable?" To put it in perspective, let me first tell you that there are one hundred chapters. This moment that I've just described happens, as I said, later than I would have liked: the ninety-ninth chapter! For ninety-eight chapters, I suffered through a not-entirely-true story before I finally found some depth in the novel! Imagine a swimming pool that is one-and-a-half feet deep, that is, except the last three feet which drop down to your average twelve-feet deep pool. It is so inconsistent it makes me cringe. I feel like if I read it a second time, I will notice so many things that I previously didn't notice. The problem is that I'll probably never want to read it again.
My recommendation? I don't know. Ambivalence is kind of a crappy feeling, if you've never quite felt it.
Note: I feel like I have been a tad unfair with the book. You know that feeling when you're just super angry and every little thing will make it even worse? Now replace angry with extremely critical. After the chapters describing his tri-religious practices (he was Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. At the same time!!), I started scoffing at every little thing. For example, at one point he pees in a beaker so that he could pour it in the middle of the boat in order to assert his dominance over the tiger. He was tempted to drink his own pee ("Mockery be damned, my urine looked delicious!"), even though he had solar stills that convert sea water into fresh water, an apt raincatcher, and ninety-three day's worth of canned water. Another instance, which is coincidentally also about consuming waste, is when he attempted to eat the tiger's turd. He popped the little nugget in his mouth, but spit it back out. No, not because the taste was "acrid," but because he immediately realized that it had no nutritional value. Usually when you are about to do something irrational, say, eating poop, you don't think of the rational consequences, like eating only those things that are nutritious.
At the beginning, it didn't have substance. The plot was exactly as you see on the book cover. It was merely about a boy and his experiences with a tiger in a lifeboat for 277 days. It finally got good (according to my standards, that is), although rather late, I think. While reading, I occasionally - nay, frequently - stared at the page and said, "Really? Really?!" But, alas, I was wrong in thinking that the book had no value. The main character eventually reveals everything and makes total sense, not to mention adds profundity to the story that had previously been quite shallow. Now, I have previously said that I do not wish to reveal anything of great worth to any of the books, but I'll make an exception here...kind of. So if you're pretty anal about spoilers, I would suggest you leave this page. Otherwise, I've watered it down to something that doesn't quite parallel "Darth Vader is Luke's father," or, "Bruce Willis was dead the whole time." The chapters prior have - how should I put it? - a bit of fabrication interwoven through the story. (For those of you who tend to overlook textual sarcasm, try reading that again. I know it's hard, but it's a skill I think we should all learn.) The whole truth is revealed and, well, it changes the main character, and therefore the entire meaning of the book and many, many other things substantially.
"Now," you may be thinking, "why wasn't it enjoyable?" To put it in perspective, let me first tell you that there are one hundred chapters. This moment that I've just described happens, as I said, later than I would have liked: the ninety-ninth chapter! For ninety-eight chapters, I suffered through a not-entirely-true story before I finally found some depth in the novel! Imagine a swimming pool that is one-and-a-half feet deep, that is, except the last three feet which drop down to your average twelve-feet deep pool. It is so inconsistent it makes me cringe. I feel like if I read it a second time, I will notice so many things that I previously didn't notice. The problem is that I'll probably never want to read it again.
My recommendation? I don't know. Ambivalence is kind of a crappy feeling, if you've never quite felt it.
Note: I feel like I have been a tad unfair with the book. You know that feeling when you're just super angry and every little thing will make it even worse? Now replace angry with extremely critical. After the chapters describing his tri-religious practices (he was Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. At the same time!!), I started scoffing at every little thing. For example, at one point he pees in a beaker so that he could pour it in the middle of the boat in order to assert his dominance over the tiger. He was tempted to drink his own pee ("Mockery be damned, my urine looked delicious!"), even though he had solar stills that convert sea water into fresh water, an apt raincatcher, and ninety-three day's worth of canned water. Another instance, which is coincidentally also about consuming waste, is when he attempted to eat the tiger's turd. He popped the little nugget in his mouth, but spit it back out. No, not because the taste was "acrid," but because he immediately realized that it had no nutritional value. Usually when you are about to do something irrational, say, eating poop, you don't think of the rational consequences, like eating only those things that are nutritious.
I liked Life of Pi, but I read it a long time ago so I don't really have a rebuttal for you.
ReplyDeleteInstead, I would like to point out that I am deeply disappointed that The Da Vinci Code made this list.