During my final teaching internship I got to read Life of Pi three times. I have never enjoyed a book or been so thoroughly rewarded for my immediate rereading as I was with this book.
So why would all of you in our little space find this book interesting? It has the most compelling argument for freedom of (and from) religion I have ever read.
The story is about a boy named Piscine Patel, a teenager from India who survives in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days in a life boat with a Bengal tiger. Pi's life is also interesting because he is a practicing Hindu, Muslim and Christian who claims he is so because he "simply wants to love God". While the book provides a great insight into the effect religion can have on a person, it is ultimately about choice and the need of many people to believe there is a power greater than us.
Pi not only chooses to believe in three religions but he also provides his reader with the option of two different accounts of his time on the boat and while he does not demand that you believe any particular version, he is explicit that your choice will not affect his beliefs.
If you are looking for a good read this summer (I will warn you it is a little slow) then pick it up, or let me know and I will lend you my copy.
3 comments:
It's good.
Mmmmm, Pi
That sound the tiger makes when it cries out to the night to prove that it exists? My cat makes the same sound, also in the dead of the night.
Does that explain why I wake up in the middle of the night screaming then?
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