The moment the reader finishes the novel the reader is filled with two ultimately opposing feelings; part of the reader feels completely satisfied and content while the other half of the reader is pained to see that the wonderful novel has finally come to an end. It can be difficult to separate a good book from a excellent book, but this is not the case when dealing with Yann Martel's Life of Pi. The novel clearly stands in the top tier of 21st century books. The emotion captured in the novel was felt deeply in both my heart and mind. A boy's fear rides within the reader himself as if he were in the rescue boat with the bengal tiger himself. The mutual respect between Richard Parker, the bengal tiger, and Pi Patel fascinates me in the sense that an understanding of such a strong magnitude is extremely rare. Even more captivating is that the respect comes from two animals that are completely opposite on the spectrum. Think about it. Pi Patel is a boy full of fear and Richard Parker is an animal that prides himself on his fearsome attitude in the wild. It was the connection of the two that to me made the novel excellent. One of my favorite passages was at a time when failure and death seemed so close to both Pi and Parker. Neither had eaten anything for several days and both felt weak as if any minute they could drift into death without knowing it. Richard Parker easily could have settled his hunger and attack Pi, but respect prevented Richard Parker from attacking.
"I peered into his eyes. They looked no different from any other day. Perhaps there was a little more discharge in the inner corners, but it was nothing dramatic, certainly not as dramatic as his overall appearance. The ordeal has reduced us to skin and bones. I was staring into his eyes as if I were an eye doctor, while he was looking back vacantly. Only a blind cat would fall to react to such a stare."
Richard Parker was by no means blind, in fact for the first time he was seeing things clearly. He understood that Pi had tried his hardest to keep him alive by catching him fish and providing him with protection. Richard Parker was starring into the eyes of a friend and he came to the conclusion that he could not hurt Pi, even if it meant he would have to die of hunger. This novel made me feel the connection and to me that is simply excellent.
James--I like the way you were drawn to the connection between the boy and the animal. If Richard is indeed a tiger and not a cook. But the tension between fear and survival, and, as you say, the mutual respect that develops on the boat between them would be one of my most memorable moments in that novel also. Thanks for sharing a good example.
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