Progress Report on the Life of Pi

So I managed to get past a few pages of this "epic". I find it super boring so far. I wonder if these people write specifically for the Booker or whatever prize. I realise the value of elaboration and celebration of mundane and commonly-taken-for-granted aspects of life, but dude, please make it more romantic. Make it warm. The author debates on the value and purpose of zoos and how they trump against the natural wilds. This he has to do because the protagonist grew up on a zoo. Still, the narrative is slow, lacks, punch and romance. There used to be a running joke among my friends when I was in high school about how boring "award films" were. The same could be applied to award books too, I suppose. They authors play to the jury. The books are almost formulaic in structure and style.

The only author who got my attention and actually held it fast when going on for reams and reams about such everyday things as ploughing is Leo Tolstoy. ( ref: Anna Karenina. Anna's lover is a farmer and the act of ploughing is described in painful detail at one point in the book. I read this book a long time ago, but still there is no excuse for not remembering the name of the lover :-( Vladimir something? I do remember the glory of his farming, though).

I like award films. I like award books. I have enough patience to sit through them and absorb the celebration of life through the writer's eyes. I enjoy the intellectual journey. And the challenge they pose to the mind and sometimes, the heart. But Life of Pi has just made me impatient so far. Perhaps it is my state of mind right now and not the book. (Ah-ha! "Its me, not you - A love affair with a book". That's a nice idea for an essay!)

There have been instances where I was bored for more than a quarter way through the book but got hooked on to it later on. E.g., A Suitable Boy- Vikram Seth.

So I will reserve judgement till I am at least half-way through the Life of Pi.

The introduction makes us believe it is a true story. Is it?