Book Reviews Part One: Life of Pi, Mothertrucker, Everything is Tuberculosis

Hello! It’s been a minute since I’ve reviewed some books. Sorry for the delay, I’m working two part time jobs right now, and I’ve been applying for teaching positions. Hopefully I land my own classroom this fall. Here are my three picks for right now with a Part 1 and a Part 2 of the blog post: “Everything is Tuberculosis” by John Green, “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, and “Mothertrucker” by Amy Butcher. The first book I haven’t finished reading yet, but the second two books I finished in June and July.

Dr. Butcher’s book, “Mothertrucker” is a memoir in which she finds a social media account of a woman who is a truck driver in Alaska, and through messaging her via Instagram, Dr. Butcher is able to accompany her on one of Joy’s trips through the James Dalton Highway. Throughout the book, it is a detailed account of Dr. Butcher’s journey with Joy, their deep conversations about religion, men, domestic violence, and how their journey affects Dr. Butcher’s life. Dr. Butcher was my creative writing professor at OWU back in 2017. 

The book “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel describes the story of the main character Pi who is 16 and alone in the pacific ocean with a Tiger on a life boat.  Although the book has three sections, both Pi and the tiger, Richard Parker are at sea for most of the book. 

The book, “Everything is Tuberculosis” by John Green is a nonfiction historical account about Tuberculosis, with some memoir and opinion writing included. I haven’t finished reading this book entirely, but there will be more information and opinions at the book in the next post.  

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Dr. Butcher’s book is well written because her writing style is direct and simple. Her writing style makes her novel easy to read and easy to understand. She explains herself and her actions when they aren’t clear to the reader. 

 A large part of the book focuses on Dr. Butcher’s relationship with her boyfriend back in Ohio. I’m not a fan of the relationship Dr. Butcher has with her boyfriend Dave. He becomes verbally abusive (or clinically insane) throughout her time dating him. While he seems perfect on paper, and there are sections where she mentions that he is good looking, he has strongly defined expectations of dating a Christian woman with conservative values, and he never speaks to Dr. Butcher about those expectations directly. He knows that she is not extremely Christian or conservative.

 The relationship conflict between Dr. Butcher and her boyfriend, Dave is slightly concerning because he sounds younger than her in almost every way. He disregarded her work with the importance of having a full set of emojis keyboard, and he had friends back home in California that judged her for not being as Christian as he was. Both are indicators that maybe she should have left the relationship before he started verbally screaming at her. Although not stated directly, he may have had an issue that she had the higher paying job in the relationship. It was slightly confusing because if he was extremely musically talented, he would be in a band or highly sought after from a university. He also has an issue with Dr. Butcher after losing his virginity to her, and then said that he had made a mistake and he didn't want to sleep with her. She also states that Dave was physically intimating her on purpose.

During the course of the trip, both Joy and Dr. Butcher discuss the importance of God and religion, which I wasn’t expecting in the novel. Dr. Butcher highlights that her religious views changed from atheist to Christian because of her trip with Joy, and how she is able to see God in small moments throughout her day. She also states that Christianity can be taken too far when Dave is randomly roaming around through a Californian city trying to listen to God’s voice. 

It’s sad that Joy dies a couple months after Dr. Butcher’s trip to meet her in person. Joy has a fan base from her trips on the highway because she is one of the only females that will drive a semitruck on the famous Alaskan road. She also had the Instagram handle "Mothertrucker" which was a name that other drivers called her: Joy Mothertrucker. Dr. Butcher and Joy made a lasting friendship throughout the novel, both of them helping each other with positive words and sharp perspectives to each other's problems. Joy was more religious than Dr. Butcher, and sometimes that showed in her responses to Dr. Butcher’s question or problem.  

The facts about the James Dalton Highway are scary, and Joy died because of conditions of the highway and the weather. In the book it states that there aren't enough mileage marker signs, guard rails, or delineators to separate the road from terrain. There aren't enough weather notifications for high mileage winds or snowstorms, with sections of the trip not having cellphone service or data access for phones. 

There are some beautiful scenes in the book that Dr. Butcher mentions, including the skyline multiple different times and the vastness of space on the highway. At one point Dr. Butcher writes about the permafrost and “sundogs” in the sky (clouds that have sunlight and crystals that are only seen in Alaska).

Overall, I enjoyed Dr. Butcher’s writing style, and the problems discussed in the book. I’m glad Dr. Butcher ended her relationship and found a friend/ mentor in Alaska. Her book also shows a reader how to be open to new ideas and to be brave enough to reach out to strangers. It shows sometimes someone you don’t know has the ability to tell you their life story and help you understand your own more clearly. 

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“Life of Pi” written by Yann Martel has three sections, explaining the main character’s life: his early childhood, him at sea with a tiger, and lastly, him being investigated by investigators after his lifeboat lands in Mexico. 

While Pi is stuck on a lifeboat, navigating the ocean in order to find land, he is stuck with a handful of his father’s zoo’s animals killing each other,  and not having enough food or water. He is also a victim of hot weather, thunderous rainstorms, and the ocean sea life. Pi ends up on a carnivorous island, and escapes because he is terrified he is going to be eaten alive by trees. At the end of the book, there are two investigators who do not believe Pi’s sea narrative so he creates a story where he is still on the lifeboat, but this time with his mom and a cannibal cook and ultimately he has to kill the chef.

The first part of the book is Pi’s life before being on the boat, his upbringing and his childhood in Pondicherry, India. The first part of the book drags because it is only Pi’s narration without interruption, and this narration continues for the rest of the book. The first section of the book has flashbacks, and has some detailed scenes of Pi’s family’s zoo along with some life advice from Pi’s dad about the upkeep of the zoo and how to understand dangerous zoo animals. 

  The second section of the book is Pi surviving at sea with the tiger without knowing when he will find land. The tiger’s name is Richard Parker, and he was adopted by Pi’s dad when he was a cub. Richard Parker still has animalistic instincts and kills the other animals on the boat. Although Richard Parker wasn’t the first animal to start the fighting, he is the last one. Pi describes having to mark his territory on the boat, and signaling through eye contact to Richard Parker that he is the smarter and dominant creature. Although Richard Parker is a grown tiger, I wish he was more domesticated  because he is terrifying to Pi. Pi believes that Richard Parker may kill him during the months they are at sea.  

The island scene was interesting because the plants were sugar flavored, and the island had teeth from another human that were in a tree that looked like nuts. There were meerkats on the island. The island was deceptive, and although it gave Pi a place to stay for a couple nights, it wasn’t a safe place. Pi was concerned because there was no sand on the island, only moss and trees. 

Pi was at sea for 227 days.

The book touches on themes of survival, wilderness, independence, and loneliness. The author’s writing style was clear, but sometimes the main points got overlooked because of small details in the text. At times, Martel’s writing was too wordy. There wasn’t much dialogue in the book besides the first book, and the ending with the investigators. 

There are long sections in the book that could have been simplified for the reader, and I wish there was a bit more editing from Martel during Pi’s time on the boat. The sections are lengthy, and many of the scenes sound the same. Pi is in the ocean, it’s hot outside or it’s raining, there isn’t enough food, and Pi has to hunt sea animals. Without directly stating it, Martel implies that Pi’s life is hard and he is lonely. 

Pi speaks about religion a bit in the book, and he mentions that he would like to practice all three religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although the Martel touches on religion, unless it is seen through symbolism or allegory, the theme of religion isn’t as direct as the theme of survival on the boat.

There weren’t many flowery or inspiring quotes from the book that stood out to me. I think the concept of the book was interesting. 

I’m not sure who I would recommend this book to, it won the Man Booker prize, and the movie is highly rated. I was proud of myself for reading the book, but I think anyone who is looking for a book about independence and perseverance, would enjoy it.