Lately, I’ve been guzzling books like a freshman college guy on beer. I’m, like, thirsty for intellectual stimuli of the literary sort. Thirsty for the relaxation reading offers, the intellectual, emotional and personal rewards reading brings. It’s my ultimate break, my sweet escape.

When I was studying English literature in grad school, reading was a chore, and it was my job. What a gift to be able to read for fun, escape and relaxation. To write a review, like this one, without the pressure of being graded on it, and for the sole purpose of putting the novel to bed, of saying goodbye to the book and its characters.

I just finished reading Yann Martel’s award-winning novel Life of Pi. It was one of the most intense and tumultuous rides of my life. The novel starts off very slowly, like a weary lifeboat on a windless, wave-less sea. Then, BANG, it storms all the way to the end — one insane, beautiful, terrifying, sublime event after another. Until the end, which left me in an enjoyable state of shock and of questioning.

One of the most rewarding aspects of reading this book is the fact that I was so far removed from its protagonist. Pi Patel is a 16-year-old Indian son of a zookeeper who’s lost at sea with a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger. Could that BE farther from fair-skinned, female, twice-his-age, land-bound-among-little-cats moi? Also fascinating were the philosophies, and discussions of theology and zoology presented so beautifully in the novel’s slow beginning. As an animal lover, the entire book was particularly illuminating. It’s about nature at its rawest, humanity at its barest. A fascinating, enlightening, rewarding read. Check it!

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