Un roman minunat.

Mi-as dori ca doar aceasta fraza sa poata descrie aceasta carte. Mi-as dori sa fie suficient si sa va conving sa cititi imediat aceasta carte. Dar stiu ca nu ajunge! 🙂

Life of Pi este un roman fantastic – si din punct de vedere tehnic (al constructiei), cat si din punct de vedere stilistic. Totul este atat de minunat, incat miracolul pare sa fie la fel de real ca si apa sarata a oceanului si ca sangele fiecarei victime nevinovate.

Romanul este structurat in trei parti.
In prima parte – introductiva – personajul principal, Piscine Molitor Patel, isi povesteste copilaria in gradina zoologica a tatalui sau. Pe langa o veritabila lectie de etologie, Pi ne face sa indragim toate fiarele salbatice din spatele gratiilor.

Ba mai mult, prin numeroase povesti si exemple, Pi sustine un interesant rationament (cu argumente logice), cum ca animalele nascute in gradina zoologica nu sunt de fapt chinuite si nu se poate considera ca ele sunt private de libertate. Atata timp cat un animal salbatic pretuieste cel mai mult rutina si teritoriul propriu, eliberarea lui ar insemna de fapt un gest mai crud decat tinerea lui intr-o gradina zoo.

In aceasi perioada a vietii sale, Pi descopera religia si se converteste. Sau mai exact, se converteste la toate religiile care ii ies in cale. Pentru ca el nu se incurca in aspecte dogmatice si vrea sa fie un hindus botezat crestin care se roaga lui Allah din simplu motiv ca Dumnezeu este doar unul.

Scenele in care Pi descopera cele trei religii sunt extrem de nostime:

„What? Humanity sins but it’s God’s Son who pays the price? I tried to imagine Father saying to me, ” Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas. Yesterday another one killed a black buck. Last week two of them ate a camel. The week before it was painted storks and grey herons. An who’s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti? The situation has become intolerable. Something must be done. I have decided that the only way the lions can atone their sins is if I feed you to them.”
„Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do. Give me a moment to wash up.”
„Hallelujah, my son.”
„Hallelujah, Father.”
A doua parte este cea care scoate romanul in evidenta.

Familia Patel isi face bagajele si cu catel si purcel (a se citi cu „toata gradina zoologica”) pleaca in Canada. Doar ca vaporul se scufunda pe drum si Pi este singurul supravietuitor.
Problema este ca in curand descopera ca nu este singur pe barca: l-au urmat o zebra, un urangutan, o hiena si celebrul Richard Parker – un imens tigru.

Aceasta este povestea lui Pi: povestea supravieturii timp de peste 200 de zile pe o barca impreuna cu un tigru.

Daca pentru inceput perioada petrecuta pe barca este o lunga si inspaimantatoare agonie, cu timpul Pi devine un nou Robinson Crusoe – mai inventiv si mai vitregit de soarta.

„I tried once to eat Richard Parker’s feces (…).
My cup arrived in the nick of time. At the second it was in position at the base of his tail, Richard Parker’s anus distended, and out of it, like a bubble-gum balloon, came a black sphere of excrement. It fell into my cup with a clink, and no doubt I will be considered to have abandoned the last vestiges of humanness by those who do not understand the degree of my suffering when I say that it sounde to my ears like the music of a five-rupee coin dropped into a beggar’s cup. A smile cracked my lips and made them bleed. I felt deep gratitude towards Richard Parker.”
Si chiar construieste mai multe planuri pentru a scapa de tigru:

” Plan Number One: Push Him off the Lifeboat
What good would that do? Even if I did manage to shove 450 pounds of living, fierce animal off the lifeboat, tigers are accomplished swimmers. (…) If he found himselg unexpectedly overboard, Richard Parker would simply tread wtare, climb back aboard and make me pay for my treachery.

Plan Number Two: Kill Him with Six Morphin Syringes
(…) I could remotely conceive surprising him once, for an instant (…), but to surprise him long enough to give him six consecutive injections? Impossible. All I would do by pricking him with a needle would be to get a cuff in return that would take my head off.
Plan Number Three: Attack Him with All Available Weaponry
Ludicrous. I wasn’t Tarzan. I was a puny, feeble, vegetarian life form. (…) If I managed to nick him, it would be a feat. In return he would tear me apart limb by limb, organ by organ.

Plan Number Four: Choke Him
I had rope. If I stayed at the bow and got the rope to go arpund the stern and a noose to go around his neck, I could pull on the rope while he pulled to get at me. And so, in the very act of reaching me, he would choke himself. A clever, suicidal plan.„
Pi este salvat. Richard Parker fuge fericit in padure.
Doi japonezi investigheaza scufundarea vaporului. A treia parte a romanului – desi nu se potriveste deloc cu restul romanului – este si cheia si indiciul unei interpretari filozofice (daca mai era nevoie) a aventurii lui Pi.

Life of Pi este un roman care il recomand cu caldura oricui. L-am citit cu suflet de copil, ca pe o aventura, o poveste despre supravietuire, si l-am inteles ca pe o complexa alegorie despre viata, moarte si credinta. Despre povestile noastre, cele care ne ajuta sa supravietuim si cele care pot fermeca o lume intreaga.