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Life of Pi By Yann Martel "The reason death sticks so closely to life isn’t biological necessity – it’s envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it..." - Pi Patel media type="youtube" key="aJYS9SQn1LA" height="364" width="445"

What others have said: "An impassioned defense of zoos, a death-defying trans-Pacific sea adventure à la "Kon-Tiki," and a hilarious shaggy-dog story starring a four-hundred-and-fifty-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker: this audacious novel manages to be all of these as it tells the improbable survivor's tale of Pi Patel." //The New Yorker//

"If Martel's strange, touching novel seems a fable without quite a moral, or a parable without quite a metaphor, it still succeeds on its own terms." //The ALA//

"I speak in all modesty as I say this, but I discovered at that moment that I have a fierce will to live. It's not something evident, in my experience. Some of us give up on life with only a resigned sigh. Others fight a little, then lose hope. Still others--and I am one of those-- never give up. We fight and fight and fight. We fight no matter the cost of battle, the losses we take, the improbability of success. We fight to the very end. It's not a question of courage. It's something constitutional, an inability to let go. It maybe nothing more than life-hungry stupidity." - Pi Patel

More Reviews: "A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction." //Los Angeles Book Review//

"//Life of Pi// could renew your faith in the ability of novelists to invest even the most outrageous scenario with plausible life." //The New York Times Book Review//

"[W]ithout Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story." - Pi Patel

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Why I Chose the Items I Chose Quote One: I chose this quote because it not only gives great insight into one of the themes of this book, but it made me think a lot about the relationship between life and death. In the novel, Pi seems to be tip-toeing on the line between life and death. At points, although he is alive, I am sure that he wished he could just end his pain and struggle and leave life behind. Also, it is funny to think about how closely death can follow life. While most of us do not sit and contemplate this often, one never knows how much life they have left to live. Death could be following close behind, getting ready to steal the life that is has fallen in love with.

Quote Two: I chose this quote because I hope that I could feel the same way Pi does at this point in the novel. He has gone through so much at this point, and as I read it, I wasn't sure that I would be able to have the same strength and courage that he had. I try to live by the poem "Don't Quit" that I gave my volleyball players, but in the face of severe adversity such as being stuck in the middle of the ocean with a tiger on a lifeboat, I am not sure I could stay strong. It is comforting to believe that we, as humans, have the ability to fight and fight beyond all reason and hope; even if that fight might make us "stupid: as Pi alluded to.

Quote Three: I chose this quote because I like the way that the author speaks directly to the reader at some points in the novel. At this point, the reader is not sure who Richard Parker is, but we know he is important to the story and to Pi. When the narrator makes these side notes directly to the reader, it gives Pi a sense of reliability that we might not otherwise get. At the end of the novel, everything Pi said (everything we have read thus far) is questioned. The fact that Pi has been stopping to speak directly to the reader most of the time makes is harder to believe that he could be lying in the end. It is part of what makes the book a story with controversy.

Video One: I chose this video because Yann Martel explains the book and why he chose to make certain choices that add to the meaning of the book. I think that if a person read this book without contemplating, they may not realize that Martel is giving them a choice larger than just what story to believe. It extends to all stories that we read or hear. If they seem improbable, are they? Sometimes the truth is ugly and scary, so is there an alternative to it? He leaves it up to you, but the interview gives great insight into his reasoning behind the book.

Video Two: I chose this homeade video preview because it gives a good preview of the book. The kids who made it used great one-word descriptions to sum up some of the main meanings in the book. They also had vivid pictures, songs, and excerpts from the book. This helps people know that this book is full of excitement and adventure. I think it is also important that random people took the time to make this fake preview. It shows that the book is entertaining enough to motivate others to make a preview to spread the word. They want others to be interested in a book that spoke to them.