Jenny's Reviews > Life of Pi
Life of Pi
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** spoiler alert **
Once, while riding the bus, I told a friend I hated this book. A guy I'd never met turned around to tell me that he was shocked and this was a beautiful book. I can sum up my hatred of this book by saying this: At the end of the book a character asks "Do you prefer the story with animals or without?" I can say with conviction I prefer the story without the animals--the stupid, boring, symbolic animals.
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Mindi
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rated it 5 stars
Sep 15, 2008 06:47AM
![Mindi](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1710189727p1/649485.jpg)
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But it was the author who brought in all the symbols and meanings. If it was just about the practicalities of surviving on a lifeboat with a tiger I would have love it!
![Neil Scott](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1400626889p1/4277449.jpg)
I agree with you, and many of the comments regarding your review, that the flow and charm held early in the story is lost once Patel is lost at sea. There were some parts where it seemed Martel added something seemingly for no other reason than, 'well, I researched it, it doesn't fit here, but I might as well add it anyway'.
![Neil Scott](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1400626889p1/4277449.jpg)
The paragraph that was deleted in my unintended paste and switch stated that you might agree with the intro that appears in at least one (the most chronologically recent) of my two copies of J. R. R. Tolkien's "Fellowship of the Ring", where he states that most of the symbolism he was made aware of by readers and literary critics of his works were entirely perceived by the audience, and almost always never intended by the author himself. He further clearly states that he places little fanfare in literary symbolism, and finds it to be essentially the product of windbags (like me, the second "guy you don't even know", albeit the guy not riding the bus). I thought I should ensure that this corrected second paragraph find its way here, especially since you prefer straight forward stories, I couldn't be sure you might find these feelings of Tolkien yourself, as his fantasy works are much less straight forward than Martels symbolism.
Overall, I appreciate your comments, and the opposing, yet intellectually stimulating discourse they provide, which along with finding great new reads, is what makes Goodreads such a worthwhile source for me.
![Jenny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619189117p1/327785.jpg)
When I read this for book club, we all joked about how when we read the statement "This book will make you believe in God" we were all like "Challenge accepted!" and I admit that I had unfair expectations about that line. And at the end seeing what he was trying to do about faith and symbolism just kind of reinforced my general life view that I want you to tell it to me straight without all of the fanfare. I am more comforted by the idea of something being straight forward (when you're dead, you're dead and that's it) than I am with any of the religious stories I'd grown up with.
So by the end I got what he was trying to do but it just made me think "like everything else in life, I want the story without the animals" - whether it's a talking snake in the Garden of Eden or a friendly tiger on a boat - I'd prefer you just tell me what you really want me to know.
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