Nearly one third and Life of Pi

by Kit Munro

The vinnie who works in the same vineyard as me was listening to the audiobook of Life of Pi today and yesterday. She uses speakers, not headphones and since I was working in the row next to her I could hear Pi Patel’s voice all day.

I had already read and listened to Life of Pi by Yann Martel but it is good to hear it again. I do not know if I have ever had such mixed emotions about a book before. I cannot decide if I love it or hate it. At the very least I am glad to have read it.

Yann Martel seems to have had a fairly intimate and practical knowledge of animals. Or at least an approach to animals that I liked, purely because it largely mirrored my own. The role of a zookeeper is not that different to a farmer. I suppose the zookeeper gets greater variety and the farmer gets greater numbers. I particularly liked this passage:

Well-meaning but misinformed people think animals in the wild are “happy” because they are “free”. These people usually have a large, handsome predator in mind, a lion or a cheetah (the life of a gnu or of an aardvark is rarely exalted). They imagine this animal roaming about the savannah on digestive walks after eating a prey that accepted its lot piously, or going for callisthenic runs to stay slim after overindulging. They imagine this animal overseeing its offspring proudly and tenderly, the whole family watching the setting of the sun from the limbs of trees with sighs of pleasure.

Not only did I have the pleasure of Pi’s (and Richard Parker’s) company today, as well as having an author confirm my own prejudices, but we reached a milestone with the wrapping [for more on wrapping in a vineyard see this post]. One third of the vines are now wrapped. Roughly 5,500 vines are wrapped so there is a little over 10,000 to go.

Here is what we have done:

Here is what we have yet to do:

Here I am, enjoying wrapping, Pi and Richard Parker:

And yes, I do know my hat makes me look ridiculous and no, I do not care. It keeps the sun and rain off me. Very well.

I found my copy of Yann Martel’s   Life of Pi here. If anyone knows of another place this audiobook is availible please let me know in the comments below.