Believe the Hype

I just finished reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Everyone was right: it's an excellent book. One reviewer goes so far as to make the lofty claim that it will make you "believe in God". I don't know about all that, but it is a damn good story. Like I mentioned in my previous entry, I am one of the few people out there who hadn't already read this book, but for the handful of y'all out there who haven't read it, I suggest picking it up.

The story opens with the very unassuming tale of a god-fearing boy growing up in India raised by zookeeping parents. When the family embarks on a journey to Canada by boat with several of their animals, however, things get a little out of the ordinary. Without providing any more detail than you would get from the outside of the book jacket, the ship sinks and the boy finds himself alone on a life boat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger floating somewhere in the Pacific.

Martel is an excellent story teller. He spends about two-thirds of the novel in the exact same setting on the life boat, with the exact same two characters (only one of whom actually speaks) and somehow tells a riveting story set in a seemingly mundane environment. While on the one hand, I was eager to learn what would happen next, on the other hand, I didn't want the book to end.

Anyone's who's read it, please do drop me a line. After briefly discussing the "believing in God aspect" of the book over a beer last night, my friend Mark made a very interesting point. I don't want to make the point now because I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone.


In a rare move away from contemporary fiction, for my next book, I've chosen The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. Although I feel that Professor Sachs could have chosen a more compelling figure to write the forward than Bono, Sachs is one of the most interesting people in development economics today. As the head of Columbia University's Earth Institute, professor at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, and Kofi Annan's appointee to spearhead the United Nation's Millenium Goals Project, Sachs is definitely an intellectual force to be reckoned with. I just picked up the book this evening. I'm about 20 pages into it, and already I'm a big fan. I'm looking foward to getting deeper into it and also for the opportunity to discuss some of the major themes with Professor Sachs when I start my Masters of International Affiars program at Columbia in the fall.