LIFE OF Pi, Bye, Bye

Hi. This is Bernie's wife, he's involved in a few things this summer which takes him away from his blogging duty. He promised me he would finish the BBQ pit and patio extension before the end of the summer---he's been at it since May. He's also involved in some environmental things....he's busy. He also wonders whether the task of blogging is worth the outcome; to what point does one blog?(he said that). He also said that in late September he will consider whether to proceed or not.

He gave me a few notes on the LIFE OF Pi that he wants me to relate. Here the are. First, Yann Martel is a very good writer who has the capacity to grab his readers attention and sustain their interest in the novel. (I can't read Bernie's writing) I can't make out some of this, so I'll shorten it. Much of the first of the novel is rambling, useless information that has nothing to do with the themes presented. The story of the boy and the tiger in the boat was excellent although it rarely gets goes beyond the drive to survive---which is a pity. The Island scene near the end of the novel became ridiculous and halted any potential in this novel from being truly great. The hospital scene at the end was a bore and the whole novel became questionable.

Bernie says here that he believes that this novel truly had the potential of being absolutely great, but failed on many levels. Bernie believes that a really good ending would have been for the boy to offer himself up to the tiger as food in order to reestablish nature's dominant position. He also says to get rid of the rest(not sure what that means). He says that the symbolic meanings to such an act would keep college professors busy for years---I think he means the tiger eating the boy.

He also wants me to list the two books he bought and will read over the summer. They are: THE ANGEL'S GAME by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and THE STRAIN by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan---this is a vampire book, suppose to be very good.

ciao