L-Space 3- Season of the Witch

What's that, another week gone? I'm getting old. I had sat down to write another review in the perpetual Discworld series, but when I realised the next book to write about was the eleventh, Small Gods, I very quickly gave up. I love that book, it's easily my favourite Discworld book of them all- although in the Terry Pratchett bibliography top spot it constantly fights with the fantastic Good Omens, co-authored by Neil Gaiman- so I don't want to do it an injustice with my usual improvised ramblings. So instead I'm going go with my usual improvised ramblings and do an L-Space thing, which is an unimaginative title that I'm lazily sticking with.

On the book front I finished Absolute Sandman Volume 3 and it was brilliant, as is the whole series. I also started and finished the gothic horror classic (that I'd never previously heard of) The Devil's Elixirs by E.T.A. Hoffman. Published all the way back in 1815, it appealed to me as part of a genre I explored (or, more honestly, was forced to study) back in my student days, and it's on the full review pile now. Continuing the horror theme on into more contemporary settings, I've just started Richard Matheson's seminal fifties vampire novella I Am Legend, which I'm reading many years after I saw the Will Smith film. I liked the film, mostly, and I'm enjoying the book so far.

I'm always fascinated by book-to-film adaptations, and there's no shortage of them. The most notable of late (to me, anyway) was the Ang Lee-directed $120 million budget adaptation of Yann Martel's Life of Pi. If you don't want to read my full review, I basically said that I loved the book as a smart and spiritual piece of contemporary fiction, but I wouldn't put too much hope in the cinematic adaptation, which I would see as soon as it came out at the cinema. I didn't do that, because I'm full of lies and deception (alright then, laziness). Actually I rarely go to the cinema nowerdays, with the rare exceptions of going to see comic book franchise films, because it's really expensive and I'm the reincarnation of Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Thankfully though, Life of Pi on the big screen was a world away in quality from some of the more awful book-to-film adaptations I've been interested in, such as the deeply personal insult that was The Golden Compass or the treatment of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Essentially what's delivered here is a very faithful treatment, both literally and thematically, making the film safe from the most condescending reviewer objection of them all; deviating from the plot of the book. Personally I'm happy to keep and open mind about that sort of thing, since it's sometimes a necessary result of the nature of adaptation. The Lord of the Rings films had plenty of positive changes, I feel, such as the removal of the ridiculous Tom Bombaldi character, while The Golden Compass, the adaptation of the first of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials, felt totally gutted by its changes. But then again, the total subjectivity of the topic is summed up by the fact that I love His Dark Materials and I didn't particularly like the Lord of the Rings books.

But all of this is a roundabout way of saying I had no reason to unreasonably dislike Life of Pi, and I really enjoyed it. I'm no movie reviewer with technical terms and stuff so I'm not going to waffle on about why it was good because I don't really know. The special effects were sparkly and the Pi was well represented as both intelligent and emotional and as a quirky idiot in the way I saw him as in the book. Richard Parker the tiger looks amazingly believable at all times as co-star too, menacing and elegant in equal measure. Basically I enjoyed this film so much that I knew I needed to seek out another film about a young Indian boy fighting for his life against a Bengal tiger...

My favourite Disney movie from childhood, it's been a while since I'd seen The Jungle Book, but it quickly reasserted its status. I couldn't resist mentioning it on my blog because it is technically a literary adaptation, but obviously it's so far removed from the original tone of Rudyard Kipling's novel that it's not worth analysing as an adaptation. It is, though, the coolest movie I've ever seen. The famous King Louis scene and song is amazing. I know most people generally prefer either the really old Disney films or the late 80's-mid-90's renaissance, but those from this era appeal to me most because they're so (for lack of a better word) cool. I couldn't resist watching Robin Hood almost straight after. I'm planning on going on a Disney binge over the next year or so, so this probably won't be the last you hear of me rambling on about kids films for a while.

Until then I'm going to cut this short because I started writing it about a week ago and I still haven't finished it. But now I have.

Yann Martel- Life of Pi

Life of Pie

Cannongate

Yann Martel
2001

"I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality."

Okay, I've been lazy for far too long with this blog. My original excuse was that I moved house and didn't feel like writing anything while I was settling in, but to be honest it's just because I'm one of those people who finds it way easier to spend time reading or watching the work of others than actually composing something in my own words. That's probably why I write a book review blog. Anyway, now I'm finally forcing myself to catch up with the backlog of stuff I've read and haven't reviewed (so the Discworld stuff is going to have to wait), and it seems appropriate to start with a book that's soon to be released as a probably massive Hollywood blockbuster; Yann Martel's Life of Pi.

Before I started to read Pi, I wasn't honestly expecting to like it, because I'm constantly suspicious of any book I see that's been included and praised by a TV book club, because the type of people I've seen on those programs make me want to go to sleep for the rest of my life. I had the same problem with Cormac McCarthy's The Road before I read it, but I enjoyed that. So, after being promised it was brilliant, I gave Life of Pi a shot. Thankfully, it was brilliant.

I love this cover.

The initial attraction for most people to this book is its intriguing high-concept set-up; a young Indian boy named Piscine is shipwrecked on a lifeboat in the Pacific ocean with a Bengal tiger. It's very attention-grabbing, but obviously the reason why the book is such a successful and unclassifiable piece of work is because there's a great deal more than that. First of all, Martel presents the tale as a first-hand story being narrated to the author by Pi as an old man, recounting not just the primary tale but detailing his life from the beginning. From the beginning Pi is established as a very eccentric, but passionate and willful child (like Rudyard Kipling's Kim on Red Bull), who, despite being raised as Hindu, chooses to declare himself both a Christian and Muslim as well. Pi's family own and run a zoo in Pondicherry, India, and Pi enjoys an amazing childhood with the many animals he knows by name. But then the zoo is sold, and Pi learns he is to travel to Canada with his family on a large boat, with many of the zoo animals caged beneath deck. Guess what happens next?

As the ship sinks, Pi is thrown onto a lifeboat, alongside a Zebra with a broken leg, a ravenous hyena, an orangutang, and a  Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. What follows is a desperate fight for survival, with each day a battle of will and cunning between tiger and boy. Naturally events progress somewhat unexpectedly, but I'll stubbornly resist spoiling any of them. The third part of the book is different in style, as Pi has a long conversation with a third party of individuals in a manner which potentially changes the whole nature of the story we've just read. While I felt the main narrative was thrilling enough, it's this conclusion which elevated Life of Pi for me as something not just good, but great.

Hopefully at some point I'll re-read it, because it certainly seemed like a book that could improve and change with each revist, especially during the second reading when events can be approached in a much fuller context. Also, in hindsight I can see why Life of Pi was selected and highlighted by mainstream popular culture because it works well on several levels; not only as a surreal character odyssey but as an engaging human drama, and one that should be a pretty easy sell for the 20th Century Fox if they pitch it right. I'm pretty excited to see the film because a proper rendition of the novel could be stunning, but then I guess you should probably never get your hopes up in those cases.