'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel - Discussion thread.

I am beginning a discussion thread if anyone cares to join in. You are more than welcome to add your thoughts or questions that have arisen with the reading of the novel. I will only chose to write about chapters that I find relevant and while ever time allows. Please feel free to write about what interests you regarding the novel.

The Author's Note & Chapter One:

Yann Martel begins his story of Pi with an author's note and from the beginning, sets up intrigue and interest. I wonder if this note is part of the fiction, or is this the way he wants to draw us fictitiously into the story? At any rate, it helps to set the scene in order to introduce the main protagonist in the first chapter.

His opening sentence begins: 'My suffering left me sad and gloomy.' From that first moment I want to find out what and why.

I personally feel that without the author's note, I'd be lost as to who the main protagonist is in the first chapter. We learn about his 'interesting' studies of three-toed sloths and we also find out that religion plays a strong part in the life of this particular character. Without the author's note, it would be hard to determine how old the character is, and whether they are male or female.

Three-toed sloths (specifically), in my opinion, are interesting in themselves as comparisons to God. What did others think?

The first chapter is full of reflective and  philosophical thoughts about life and I get a real sense of someone with a heavy heart with phrases such as: 'Death is in love with life - a jealous possessive love that grabs what it can.' and 'Gloom - passing shadow of a cloud.' These statements build a profile of someone who has gone through hell, perhaps.

'Richard Parker has stayed with me. I've never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart. I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once. That pain is like an axe that chops at my heart.' This paragraph is very powerful and I yearn to know who Richard Parker is? Why did he just leave and not look back and why is he so important to the main protagonist, who we still haven't learnt their name yet, only through the author's note.

And the last points I wonder about in this first chapter are his time in the Mexican hospital and, after his recovery, his bad experience in the Indian restaurant. He seems rather traumatised and this builds nicely for the reader and drives the story along.

What are your ideas?
Happy reading...