Book Review: Life of Pi

Before We Begin: A Little About our Book Reviews

Disclaimer: If you are looking for reviews that discuss the juxtaposition of imagery and mood, the symbolism behind the broken flower pot in the garden, and the existential interpretations of a character’s motivation then this site is NOT for you. We’re just a couple of gals who love reading and know what we like and what we don’t. Simple as that.

How We Pick Our Book Selections: Whatever we feel like reviewing. There won’t be a rhyme or reason to what we pick except that it will either be something we have read, heard about, or wanted to read. There are plenty of new book reviews out there, so we’ll probably focus more on older books. Do you have a suggestion of a book you think we should review? Let us know in the comments. Disagree with our review? Let us know in the comments – nicely, of course. (You don’t want to get Christy mad – she’s brutal.) Do you have a bottle of a good vintage Bordeaux you’d like to get off your hands? You can send that directly to Kristi.

At the end of each review will also be a Random Movie Recommendation for the month – just because. Some new releases and some oldies but goodies.

So without further ado, this month’s pick is…..

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Warning: Contains Spoiler Alerts)

Why did we pick this book? Yes this is an older book but one we thought that would be a great introduction to each of us personally. As you will learn, one of us LOVED the book and the other one was ready to jump out of the boat and drown herself from reading it. That being said let’s see what we have to say.

Ratings: Kristi (K): Georgia Peach

Christy (C): Rotten Banana (even past rotten for banana bread! We’re talking

MOLDY banana!!)

K: I absolutely LOVED this book. I found it heartbreaking and read it as if it were the boy and his mother on the raft. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I work in Mental Health, but I often see people who distance themselves from severe trauma by using symbolism through dreams, etc. I felt like at the beginning, the boy witnessed his mother’s murder which was too much for him to handle.

C: Huh?? All I saw was some poor kid on a raft who started hallucinating random animals next to him. I’ve worked in Mental Health too and I did NOT see any symbolism or I didn’t care too. I found the writing terribly boring and not at all interesting. I realize I am among a very few select readers who found this book boring because all I’d ever heard were rave reviews but I couldn’t stop thinking – just drown yourself already and spare us all the misery!!

**Insert Special Note here – We are both members of the same book club who read this and the group was split among the thoughts of the animals as metaphors. Half of our group agreed with K and there were also those who shared C’s beliefs as well. The group never did reach a consensus.

K: I think it’s one of those books that demonstrate how the reader of the book impacts how the book is perceived.

C: Funny because even though that doesn’t say a whole lot about me, (or maybe it does) I agree with that in some ways. Like I said, I know I’m one of very few people who did not like this book yet have heard that it’s affected people so profoundly but apparently I am just of in la la land because I just found it painful.

K: I don’t know, I just loved it. I remember the boy being absolutely ingenious with how he continued trying to survive.

C: Sorry, not me. I just kept thinking he was out in the sun too long and was starting to lose it.

Wow, how’s that for opposite views. But that’s what makes this blog so fun. We can agree to disagree and don’t feel the need to change each other’s views. We’d also love to hear your views. Feel free to send us your comments about this book or any that you’d like to see us review – we’re always looking for a good excuse to read a book.

Coming Next: We picked yet another book we both enjoyed but that still sparked some good discussion. See you in November!

Random Movie Recommendation: Coco Before Chanel

We both seem to love our little indie movies and this one was no exception. It is the story of Coco Chanel and how she came to be. It is French with subtitles so get ready to read (some more) but it’s very worth it. Audrey Tautou is absolutely brilliant in this role. Here’s the website if you want to see a preview:

www.sonyclassics.com/cocobeforechanel/

We braved Denver’s latest snowstorm (Oct. ’09) to see it and it really was worth it. We both loved it. Added note by Kristi: As often happens when I watch great foreign films, I forgot I was reading subtitles within the first minute of the movie. C: Me too!!

Side Note: Christy is working on another little random entry (name to be determined) that will focus on random book series and authors. Hopefully it will be as fun and informative as our regularly scheduled programming!!

Happy Reading!!!