Reviews

• An amazing book, must read!

  This book is one of my favourite stories. Martel blends reality and fantasy so well that I had to keep examining the book jacket to see if it said "based on a true story" anywhere.

• 動物達の存在にハラハラ

  最初は主人公のインドでの境遇・生活の描写がつづくんですけれど（ちょっと長いかも）、たしかに色々な宗教の入り混じった土地としては最も適した土地なのかも知れませんね。それにしても、少年とトラが小さなボートにのって漂流するというアイディアが秀逸です。これが読者をハラハラドキドキさせてくれるでしょう。最後に若干の謎を残す作品ですので、「う～んどうなんだろう」と頭をひねって悩んで考えてみてください。 また、本の最後にREADING GROUP GUIDEがついているのですが、これを見て物語を思い返すと物語の構成がしっかり分かってくると思います。

• 映画観賞後に是非。

  映画鑑賞後の勢いで即ダウンロードして読んだ。あんな終わり方をしたら原作を読まぬ訳にはいかない。 ・・・で、文字通り、「飛ぶように」読了。あっという間に引き込まれた。紙の本なら480ページだが 長さを全く感じなかった。 「漂流」前の記述が退屈、という指摘もあるようだがわたしはそうは思わなかった。 漂流するパイが思い・考える様々なことの伏線が前半部にある。 動物や魚の名称など馴染みが無い単語にやや戸惑うかもしれないが、kindleなら語句の意味は すぐ調べられて楽チン。 映画は若干賛否が分かれるようだが、映画が良かった人は原作もきっと気に入るはず。おすすめ。

• Absolutely Amazing Story!

  この本を読んだきっかけは、ロンドンのTIMES紙にここ10年に出された本１００選の中で第７位の傑作とされていたこと。２００２年のBooker賞も受賞している。 軽妙な語り口。ユーモアもある。意表を突くストーリーの展開がとても巧妙で、冴えている。これが傑作の所以だろう。巻頭の謝辞には、主人公となった本人や日本貨物船の事故調査にあたった日本の係官への言及もあり、単なるフィクションではなく、実話が混ざっているのかと思われる要素もある。 そして、これは、短なる漂流冒険小説ではない。宗教論、動物学などいろんな要素がちりばめられている。僕はインドに住んでいたことがあるので、主人公であるインド人の若者が帰依するヒンズー教やイスラムには若干の馴染みがある。が、「神」について思いの深い人であればもっと含蓄がある物語なのだと思う。

• 途中まで、かなり退屈でした

  この本との出会いは、ロンドンの本屋さんの店頭。ベストセラーに挙げられていて、表紙のよさにもつられて買いました。（実はトラが大好きなので） ですが、一度目は途中で挫折。余りにも退屈で、とても読み進められず。でも、もう一度挑戦してみることにしたのです。 もう一度手にとってみても、やはり退屈なLife Of Pi…特に船が沈むまでは正直かなり飛ばし読みしました。説明がくどくどと長く、もどかしい。漂流し始めてからもやっぱり長く、「最後がスゴイ、最後がスゴイ」と念じながら読み進めること相当間。 やっと最後まで、、、。「もう一つの物語」を真実と捉えるか否かで「スゴイ」かどうかが決まるということですね。解釈は、読んだ人それぞれで分かれるところでしょう。退屈なんだけど、でもこの本が面白いのかつまらないのか判断するには、最後まで読むしかないんですね（この本に限らず、どの本でもおなじですけど） 最後の展開はともかく、途中があまりにもダレすぎるという印象は否めないため、3点献上。

• 映画を観た後に＿

  日本語訳の書籍を読み、その後に購入してみました。原作のニュアンスを味わいながら、改めてDVDで映画を見直してみようと思います。

• 不思議な物語

  「ページが飛ぶ」とはこのことでしょうか。 一気に読んでしまいました。 主人公は船が沈没して漂流します。 「ロビンソンクルーソー」のような「コンチキ号漂流記」のような不思議な感じです。 家族は全滅して悲惨な状況なのですが何故かユーモアがあります。 ひさびさのヒットでした。

• 最後の展開は．．．。

  １章は正直なところ退屈。２章は空想も働かせながら読み進める。そして３章。あんなラストが待っていたとは！ えっ？えっ？って、解釈を間違ったのかと、何度も読み直してしまった。２～３日は余韻冷めやらぬって感じ。

• When I finished reading, I was stunned and lost for words. Lots of wonders and lots of thoughts. This book reminds me of "Lord of Flies." Deeply hidden human weakness and strength surface when small numbers of people (and/or animals) are trapped in a small space in pressing life-threatening conditions. How do we react from our fears, hopelessness, and desperation when we face the power of wild animals and wild nature? It is when our human strength, power, and wisdom as well as vulnerability come out. Some readers may react because we don't want to face our potential weakness or evil that may exist within ourselves. But I personally think it's good to face and realize, so that we can minimize risks that come from human weaknesses. This book is full of implications, symbolisms, and philosophical, religious, and moral questions. What makes humans being humans? What makes animals being animals? What is a crime? How far is self-defence justified? Facing death, what kind of actions are crimes and what kind are not? Where can we draw a line in moral code? We can find a few dozens extremely challenging questions to ponder in this book. Some readers may simply enjoy the breath-taking, fast-moving adventure aspect of this book. Some readers who are interested in zoology and animals may find the detailed information interesting; while some who are not interested find boring at the beginning. This book is intellectually stimulating and emotional moving from time to time. My favorite quotes: "You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if you fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you." I'm hoping that people don't simply label or judge this book because the topics are quite taboo matters. They are not light-hearted, simple, and easy matters. I applause the courage of the author who challenged these profound topics together with his great writing skills.

• Tertemiz ve elime hızlı ulaştı teşekkürler

• delivered as promised

• Recommend fir those who seek unexpected adventure!

• I only bought this book because it was 20p and was supposed to be good. I really wasn't expecting to like it much. The fact that it had won awards planted a thought in my head that it was going to be a load of arty farty gibberish, that was too clever and fancy for the average person to enjoy. However, if that turned out to be the case then I had only lost 20p and a small amount of time. Then I started reading it. My opinion was slowly changed over the first few chapters. This book is beautifully written without being pretentious. The author describes scenes and events in a way that makes them easy to imagine and worth picturing in your mind as though you were there. Often a film will outdo a book on the fact that it can show beautiful scenery that can't easily be described in words. If that is the case here then I can't wait to see the film because to outdo the imagery possible from this book it will need to be spectacular. The first third of the book builds up the character of Piscine (Pi) and often goes into details of religion. It never goes so far as to preach in any way though. It doesn't say that any one religion is, overall, better than any other. It is even funny when an argument breaks out regarding the subject. I am atheist but I am also fascinated by religion so maybe that was why I didn't find this section of the story boring. I can, however, see why some people would and would only urge them to persevere because the book picks up considerably afterwards. The idea of a boy being stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger and a few other animals sounds ridiculous. That someone could write a book based on this event and make it interesting is almost unbelievable. How can you write so much about such a small group of characters trapped in a miniscule almost featureless setting and keep people from falling asleep? I had wondered whether all of the animals would start talking because I went into this book with no idea of how the characters interacted with each other. The answer again lies in the authors ability to describe everything so amazingly well. Whether it is about the confines and yet territorially broken up small boat, the vast emptiness of the ocean, the beauty and terror of the weather, the despair of being alone, the elation of discovering a way to continue surviving, or the fear of, and respect for, a 450 pound tiger, it is stunningly written. Different people will interpret the words in different ways too. Some will read it is an adventure with a bit of survival ingenuity thrown in; some might read it as a kind of spiritual journey giving events a religious meaning; others could interpret it as a view of life itself. The way it is written means that there will be different parts where readers suddenly think, "Ahhhh! So that's what the author is trying to say." I personally had my moment of realisation, (I won't say at what point), and saw it as an interpretation of life. Everyone has there own little area in a vast world, with their own hopes and fears, their own limited provisions, their own moments of suddenly working out how to do something, their own loneliness and their own dark times and light times. You may read it and find some other explanation. That is what this book does. It leaves you to make up your mind, and it does it not out of laziness. Some readers have been disappointed by the ending. I thought it was great. In one respect it answered everything and yet, in another respect, left me wondering about whether it was a definite answer or not. Life of Pi falls into a small group of things that are surprising in their brilliance. The film "Buried" is another, where the director managed to make ninety minutes of a man in a buried coffin with just a lighter and a phone compulsive viewing. Another film, "Lebanon", is similar. The entire film is viewed from the confines of a tank with its four occupants trying to get away from trouble after taking a wrong turn. In a similar, but also unique way, Life of Pi also turns a cramped scene into a fantastic story. Those who read this book will remember it for a long time afterwards. It has certainly gone down as one of the greatest books I have ever read. Stunning! The best 20p I am ever likely to spend.

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