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Book Discussion
Questions
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1. There is a lot of storytelling in this religious novel. Is there a relationship between religion and storytelling? Is religion a form of storytelling?
2. Pi defends zoos. Are you convinced? Is a zoo a good place for a wild animal?
3. Pi believes passionately that animals kept in good conditions in a zoo are no worse off than those in the wild. Do you agree?
4. In chapter 23, Pi sparks a lively debate when all three of his spiritual advisors try to claim him. At the heart of this confrontation is Pi's insistence that he cannot accept an exclusively Hindu, Christian, or Muslim faith; he can only be content with all three. What is Pi seeking that can solely be attained by this apparent contradiction.
5. How do the human beings in your world reflect the animal behavior observed by Pi? What do Pi's strategies for dealing with Richard Parker teach us about confronting the fearsome creatures in our lives?
6. Pi's knowledge of zoology and animal is important for his ultimate survival. Discuss how he uses the alpha and beta animal roles for his benefit.
7. In his interview with the disbelieving shipping officials Pi is forced to tell a more credible account. He asks the officials which story they
prefer, "since it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the questions either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?"
8. One reviewer said the novel contains hints of The Old Man and the Sea, and Pi himself measures his experience in relation to history's most famous castaways. Considering that Pi's shipwreck is the first to focus on a boy and his tiger, how does Life of Pi compare to other to other maritime novels and films?
9. Initially Life of Pi is a wrenching shipwreck survival story. Pi utilizes the survival items he finds on the boat. He also employs his knowledge of animal behavior learned at the knee of his father, the zookeeper. The story of survival is far-fetched to begin with but with each of Pi's careful explanations the possibility of survival becomes more plausible, particularly because we know from the beginning that Pi is alive and safe living in Canada. At what point did you begin to question the credibility of the story? What were the clues? Did the final twist come as a surprise? Is it important that fiction is believable and realistic? Or can fiction be purely imaginative and still have significant impact?
10. Many of the names used in the story have double significance. Pi entertains us with a detailed explanation of how he came to be named for a French swimming pool, the Piscine Molitor. He describes how his classmates tormented him with a particular mispronunciation of his name and how he shortened it to Pi. The anecdote about his name is humorous and whimsical and yet the Greek letter pi stands for a mathematical fraction that is used to bring order to and explain something that is unexplainable. What is the significance of Pi's name? What does Pi himself say about names near the beginning of the novel? Does Pi live up to the promise contained in the meaning of his name?
11. Richard Parker is another interesting name. For a zoo animal, and a tiger no less, to be called by such ordinary human name is absurdly comical. Pi explains this was due to a clerical error when the tiger arrived at the zoo. Richard Parker also is a reference to a historical survival story. The yacht Mignonette that sunk on its way to Australian the 1870s had four people that survived on a lifeboat - the captain, two mates and the cabin boy called Richard Parker. The three ultimate survivors sliced up poor Richard Parker and ate him. They were later tried and found guilty for murder, a legal precedent for cases involving survival and self defense. (Read more about the reference to Richard Parker on
http://www.canongate.net)
Why the reference to Richard Parker in Life of Pi?
Discuss what is acceptable for survival in extreme circumstances.
12. The charm of a good story is what reels the reader into Life of Pi. But the real judge of an author's storytelling talent is whether or not the author handles particularly wrenching subject matter with some element of humor. Where did the author use humor in this story? How did his use of humor set the overall tone of the story and of Pi's character? Did it make the story more or less believable?
13. The layers of this story peel back like the skins of an onion. Pi's fascination with religions is at once provocative and confusing. By the end of the book, the reader realizes the story is much more than ”survival shipwreck story." Is the author drawing a parallel between zoos and religion? If so, what is the connection? What does Pi say about our "illusions" about freedom? How did Pi use zoos and religion to illustrate his points?
14. The story is about opposites: the rational as opposed to the picturesque; the skeptical and the faithful; fact and fantasy. Is Pi giving us the "facts" of his story? Or is he giving us the "meaning" of what happened in his story? Is the story the "truth" or is he aiming for the "deeper truths" within the meaning of the story? Is his story so irrational when our lives abound with things that are irrational and unexplainable? If we cannot rationally explain things like "love" or "happiness" or "fear" or "faith," can we categorically dismiss Pi's tale of survival on the basis that it is irrational? |
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| Tips for Starting a Book Discussion Group |
Organize the nature of your group.
· Decide where your club will meet. You could meet in your own home. You may want to rotate meetings to a different member’s home each time. Check your local public library, bookstores, community center, or coffee shops. They may have space available for use by your discussion group.
· Decide whether or not you want refreshments at your meetings. And if so, who will provide the refreshments.
· What type of books do you want your group to read? Establish some criteria for your book selections. Only fiction? Only classics? Only books available in paperback? Do you want your selections to be based on a theme? For example, prize winners, multi-cultural subject matter, gentle reads, or a particular genre (mystery, science fiction, thrillers).
· Decide if the same person will play the leadership role each time or will leadership be rotated between all of the members.
· Will the leader make the book selection or will the entire group make the book selection?
· Decide how often your club will meet. Once a month? Once every two months?
· Make your book selections several months in advance. Make sure that a enough copies are available at bookstores or the library. If possible, hand out copies of the upcoming book at the end of each meeting.
Prepare for your book discussion.
· Now that you know what your group will read, when and where you will meet, you can start preparing for your discussion.
· Whether you write your own discussion questions or use prepared questions, you will want to read the book with a critical eye.
· Make notes as you read. Analyze the author’s style. Pay attention to the author’s message. Look for symbolism in the book. Notice the structure of the book.
· Focus on: Who wrote the book. What do you know about the author? Who are the characters in the book? What do they do? What is the book about? Where does it take place? Why do you like or dislike it?
· Prepare ten or twelve questions. Keep the conversation moving. Keep the questions broad with lots of room to answer.
· Questions for many books (but certainly not all books) prepared by the book publishers are available on the Internet. Amazon.com provides links to Book Discussion Guides. Ballantine Reader’s Circle books come with the reading guides bound in. A general Internet search for book discussion guides and the title of book will generally yield a discussion guide if it is available.
· And finally, enjoy! Remember what the book club is all about, reading books and enjoying an evening of camaraderie and conversation. This is supposed to be fun. |
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