A community reads "Life of Pi"

The story centers on a boy named Pi (a shortening of his real name which he doesn't like). The very short version is he's on a ship carrying zoo animals (his father's) that sinks somewhere in the Pacific. He ends up on a lifeboat with a female orangutan, a fatally wounded zebra, a hyena and a tiger (named Richard Parker). In the end, as you might guess, only Pi and Richard Parker are left. From that point it's just those two on a rowboat in boat in the middle of the ocean. You wouldn't think that could make for much of a read, but it does. A lot of the story is just how Pi survives and how difficult it is. The other part is his spiritual ruminations (I suppose you could call his thoughts that). After all, this is a story that "makes you believe in God". Pi does, after all, he's a devout Christian, Muslim and Hindu. Whether you like the spiritual element or not, it is an interesting book. I mean, you wonder how a boy and a tiger could possibly survive together on a boat with little to no supplies and no hope. It's portrayed very realistically. The boy has no illusions about his chances, nor does the author pull any punches. There's some very graphic scenes when the animals fight and die. I guess I can't say if the tiger's behavior is portrayed absolutely correctly, but I can say that there's no shades of Lassie here. The tiger never becomes the boy's pet or friend.

Anyway, it is an interesting read and definitely one I recommend. As a matter of fact, it was my second favorite for the "One Book, One Irving" program that the Irving Public Library is beginning tomorrow. Although the program itself is not new, this will be Irving's first time. I know plenty of other cities that have held it, including Richardson, Dallas, and Houston (and libraries do share information through associations like the Texas or American Library Associations). Evidently it's been highly successful in getting communities involved in reading and a lot of people have enjoyed it. We hope they do here.

During the month of March there will be a community discussion on the official blog (and yes, that's a retarded choice for an interactive forum supposed to be used by hundreds of people). Questions will be posted to the blog regularly for readers to comment on. There will also be reading groups organized by the library. The program is open to all adults. If this is even a moderate success, we'll definitely be doing this again.