Life of Pi - Yawn Martel

Well. Now I know.

I mean I knew, but I didn't "know" know.

All my instincts about this book were right. First I gave up on the paper version 75 pages in, and then I read Beatrice and Virgil. This book SCREAMED leave me a alone, and yet I was so curious to see what all the hullabaloo was about.

I really don't get the popularity of this book. I found it, first and foremost, exceptionally boring. How a shipwreck and 227 days at sea with a Bengal tiger could be boring, only Yawn knows. And of course, I found it pretentious as well.

Here is an excerpt:

"I opened it and found the following:

A paper Map
A list of skin conditions
Wet Ones Antibacterial singles (3 packages, 1 used)
An ink pen
Motion sickness pills
A pack of wooden matches (Bare: Las Vegas) 6 matches in the box
An empty eye-glass case
Deserving Thyme Lip Care Balm
A generic ibuprofen bottle containing 12 Advil brand caplets
an open package of trident original flavor gum, 4 sticks left, one covered in old tobacco
One half-eaten bag of Chocolate Twizzlers"

Oh wait. That's the contents of my purse. My bad.

This is how the story went for me.

Blah blah blah, how cool am I that I believe in 3 major world religions? blah blah blah.
Blah Blah Blah, tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker, blah blah blah tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker
Blah Blah Blah, tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker, blah blah blah tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker
Blah Blah Blah, tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker, blah blah blah tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker
Blah Blah Blah, tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker, blah blah blah tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker
Blah Blah Blah, tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker, blah blah blah tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker
Blah Blah Blah, tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker, blah blah blah tarpaulin, blah blah blah Richard Parker

Incidentally, I've apparently been pronouncing the word "tarpaulin" wrong my whole life. Fortunately, I've never had a Martel-like occasion to use it.

I'm just baffled.


SPOILERS:

Seriously. The whole section at sea was "OMFG! I'm about to die, Richard Parker is killing me right now....oh, that was just a rain drop. I've got to make that tiger my bitch."

"OMFG! I'm about to die. Richard Parker is killing me right now .... Oh, that was a flying fish. I've got to make that tiger my bitch."

"OMFG! I'm about to die. Richard Parker is going to pounce on me right now. Screw that. I'm going to make eye contact with him." (75 hour dissertation on why that will work.) I made Richard Parker my bitch.

SERIOUS SPOILER:



Incidentally, and I know it's primarily because I didn't like this book so I don't care which ending was true, but I DEFINITELY think the 2nd ending was the "real" ending. And that the RP/Tarpaulin adventure was what he made up to keep himself company on the journey, like Wilson in Castaway.

2 many taurpalins out of 5