this is the kind of book that makes you grateful for bookclub discussions. it's divided into 3 parts and the 2nd was so bizarre, and so off-putting with it's depiction of decaying bodies, that I almost didn't reach the 3rd section. but this is Yann Martel, and I trust where he's going to take me.
it was the discussion we had in bookclub that made me see each part was about a contrasting reaction to grief and loss - there's anger, denial, and acceptance. and I discovered that the humor I found in part 1 was all the more developed in the 2nd part (how could I have not seen the bits about his cucumber and her nest as levity the first time around?!) meanwhile the final story just encapsulated all the threads that came before. oh, and satisfied the animal themes everyone has come to expect from him, but added an entirely new branch with his thoughts about slavery. he really is a masterful story teller and people who just don't get 'it' are not ready to see the allegory in all.