Life of Pi

I should have read this book before I became a writer…  I read the jacket cover which told me it was a story about a boy and a tiger shipwrecked on a lifeboat – which sounded really interesting!  Then I had to read 97 agonizing pages of a ‘Part One’ in which nothing really happened except give background story.  (One of the first no-no’s for an author.)  This was a great story, but badly written… I spent the first half of the book wondering when there was going to be a point to it. By the time things started happening I was so mad that I could have cared less about the interesting aspects of the story or even the main character. I’m glad it was a book club discussion because I came to appreciate the nuances but I still hated the actual reading of it. The author has a great way with description but sifting through the meandering of the mono…more In a nutshell, this was a great story, but badly written. I spent the first half of the book wondering when there was going to be a point and, by the time things started happening, I was so mad that I could have cared less about the interesting aspects of the story or even the main character. I’m glad it was a book club discussion because I came to appreciate the nuances through the eyes of my fellow readers but I still hated the actual reading of it. The author has a great way with description but sifting through the meandering of the monotony made it not really worth it.

I wonder if I’ll ever be able to read for the mere enjoyment without critiquing and analyzing what I would have done differently.  One thing is for sure, I have morphed into more of a writer than a reader and sometimes I lament the loss…