The Book Club

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

I read this book a little while ago and, while I was reading it, I really loved it.  With interesting and absorbing back stories to each of the characters, and intelligent religious undertones, it's a fascinating book to read.  

What I really disliked about Martel's Life of Pi was his use of an Author's Note. Not the fact that he used an Author's Note, but what he used it for.  An Author's Note is traditionally a body of text that explains the purpose of a book: the inspiration behind the text, the research carried out and a multitude of personal anecdotes and semi-autobiographical contexts that help the reader to better appreciate the read.

In Martel's Author's Note, he is indeed semi-autobiographical.  He shares his trouble to write a book about Portugal, and so travels to India to seek solitude, rest and inspiration.  This much is true.  Martel tells us that whilst in India he met a man who encourages him to get in touch with Pi Patel who, coincidentally, happens to be living in Martel's home country of Canada.  

Author's Notes are supposed to be factual, so upon reading of Martel's gratitude to Mr Patel and his hopes 'that my telling of his tale does not disappoint him' (XIV) you'd be forgiven for believing that this is in fact a true, incredible story about a feat of human endurance and psychological stamina.  This façade continues for the entire length of the novel.  The author interjects time to time and relays his experience of the writing process and interview process with Mr Patel - each visit to his home, each meeting to relay more of the story.

Much to my dismay, I discovered that Life of Pi is not in fact a true story at all.  A whimsical, child-like part of me was slightly disappointed that these extraordinary events hadn't actually taken place.  But, mostly I felt like I'd been taken for a complete mug.  I was led to believe that this was a true story; a biographical account of one boys incredible journey and terrible circumstances.  I told people! I felt like an idiot.  

I admit that upon immediately finishing the book I was outraged and wrote off the entire novel, ignoring the moral metaphors and beautifully coordinated syntax, dismissing the vivid and rich descriptions. In my rage I wrote this:  

I dislike the way he has abused the author-reader relationship and over steps the author-character line.  I’m all for experimental literature, but an Author’s note should be just that.  Not some fabrication to enhance the quality of the story.  Yann Martel’s Author's note is nothing more than a prologue, and if had been stated so would have led me to love this book for its ingenious design and documented, interviewer-interviewee style.  However, I find myself irritated by the book.  That it couldn’t just be a fantastically written book, but that Yann Martel felt that he had to convey and confuse some sort of ‘true story’, of which I see no financial or marketing benefit.  A poorly deserved winner of the Man Booker Prize in my personal opinion.

A little harsh perhaps, but I agree in some ways with my outburst.  

One of my favourite books is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  In this novel, Atwood employs similar tactics to absorb the reader into the story, including 'Lecture Notes' at the back of the books discussing the events of the novel and leading the reader to believe that the extraordinary events actually took place.  This novel creates an entire, convent-like society that with a real sense of Orwellian despair.

For some reason Atwood's attempt to cause her readers to question the validity of her novel didn't anger me and in fact caused me to adore this book.  I'm not quite sure why Martel enraged me so.  It could be because Atwood saves her bait for the end of the book: you read the novel and accept it as fiction before being teased with a wild goose that causes you to question the novel. Brilliant! I immediately researched all I could find and became obsessed with The Handmaid's Tale.  Martel, on the other hand, has you reeled in from the start like a gullible imbecile.  

In hindsight, I can honestly say that the book is amazing and that any reaction so passionate is a good reaction in the literature world.  Had Martel conformed with the standard rules of book writing and entitled his first body of text a prologue, or even included it within the story I would have loved the book, but I probably wouldn't have thought much more about it after that back cover had closed.

At the moment, a lot of my posts seem to be either about books and literature; and knitting and craft.  So I thought I would create a separate page for all things book-related to create a bit more of a structured.
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You might fall asleep whilst in this little reading corner, or you might love it. Enjoy. Or don't