Life of Pi

Rating:
Summary: Very creative story
Review: At the beginning of this book, the reader learns that the main character, Pi Patel, survived a terrible ordeal aboard a life boat when he was a young boy. He tells the story in fascinating detail of how his father attempted to move his family from India to Canada. Pi, his parents, and his brother were aboard a ship which sank. He ended up in a life boat with a small group of animals, which his zookeeper father was transporting to various places. By his wits and by the grace of God, whom he worships as a Christian, a Muslim, and a Hindu, Pi survives an experience which would have killed a person with less hope or fewer survival skills. At the end, Pi is questioned by two Japanese men who represent the company who owned the ship that sank. They do not believe his story and so Pi tells another version of what happened to him. The reader is left with the dilemma as to which story is true. This is an extremely well-told and creative story which you won't soon forget!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written but gross
Review: This has been very popular, and gotten great reviews not to mention winning the Mann Booker award, but to be blunt, I didn't enjoy it much. The story was interesting and the main character, Pi, a sixteen year old boy, was wonderful. But despite the fact that I read and enjoy the goriest murders and such in the thrillers that I love, this book was just too disgusting for me. I did enjoy the first half - Pi's family owns a zoo in India, and reading about the lifestyle of a child being raised in a zoo was fascinating, as was learning about all the animals, that was very interesting and informative. And Pi's search for religious enlightenment was touching and at times, laugh out loud funny. But the second half of the book is basically a survivor story, and it left me cold. I found myself skimming through pages of detailed information on one animal eating another while still alive, and various methods of staying alive while eating fish eyes and so forth. I just don't enjoy that sort of thing. Yes, the writing is beautiful and descriptive and the story is compelling. But it's just gross.

Rating:
Summary: Very creative story
Review: At the beginning of this book, the reader is informed that the main character, Pi Patel survived a terrible ordeal aboard a life boat many years ago. During the course of the book, he tells the story in great detail of how his father attempted to move his family from India to Canada. Pi, along with his parents and brother, was aboard a ship that sank. He ended up on a life boat with a small group of animals, which his zookeeper father was transporting to various zoos. By his wits and by the grace of God which he worshipped as a Christian, a Muslim, and a Hindu, Pi does survive an experience which would have killed a person with less hope or fewer survival skills. At the end, Pi is questioned by two Japanese men who represent the company who owned the ship that sank. They do not believe his story and so Pi tells the story again, in a condensed form and changes some of the details. The reader is left with the dilemma as to which story is true. This is an extremely creative book which you won't soon forget!

Rating:
Summary: Life of Pi
Review: It sounds like the start of a bad joke: A boy, a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger are stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific. The format makes it clear from the beginning who survives, but it is the how that propels the reader, as Pi's voice emerges with an as-told-to memoir quality that relays the tale of a young man who explores a variety of faiths and learns much about human nature through watching the animals at his father's zoo. Everything he discovers through his observations becomes applicable in the oceanic adventure that takes place after the sinking of the ship carrying his family and a few select specimens from the zoo toward a better life in North America. Although ordinarily science and religion are at odds, the lessons learned through spirituality and biology become Pi's salvation. The novel takes an allegorical twist when Pi reveals that his highly imaginative tale of animals corresponds to a more horrific one, peopled with family and crew from the sunken ship. The plot hooks, the writing is vivid, and the tone is engaging after a slow start. Although the gore and physicality are not for the weak of stomach or faint of heart, teens who enjoy reading to learn something about the world around them or themselves will delight in this Booker Prize-winning novel.-

Rating:
Summary: I missed the point
Review: I have to agree with Paul R. Gagnon. I liked the premise and Pi probably would have made a great short story. Unfortunately it really didn't pan out to a great novel.
I feel the author has talent but needs to get more of a story line to develop a fantastic story-telling ability.
I'm waiting for Martel's next book!

Rating:
Summary: False Pretense
Review: "I have a story that will make you believe in God." This is the presumptive theme of the book. But reader beware. After you have navigated Pi's fantastic South Seas adventure, the narrator will slap you in the face with a very different theme: "which story do you prefer?"; or in other words, God is good precisely because he is a fabulous relief from vile humanity.

If yours is a postmodern devotion, then you will enjoy this book from beginning to end. You probably also enjoyed Umberto Ecco's "Island of the Day Before."

Otherwise, you're likely to finish the book feeling disappointed after you skim through it, or manipulated if you read for meaning.

Rating:
Summary: Elegant, excellent, enjoyable
Review: This truly elegant (yet disturbing) little book found its way into my hands via a friend at work. While it's one of the most unusual stories ever to come out, what makes it unique is not the subject so much as the telling of the material. Martel has a knack for storytelling, and the elegant way the tale weaves in and out of various aspects (religion, survival . . . life) is pure magic. Highly unusual and very enjoyable, this book, along with two others (THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD by Jackson Tippett McCrae, and THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY) is one of my favorite reads. Not everything on a bestseller list is good, but these three are.

Rating:
Summary: Boooooooooring !
Review: Along with Cold Mountain, this is probably the most boring piece of literature I have ever read. I kid you not. I'm 55 years old, so I've read quite a few in my time. I almost threw it away a third of the way through... It's just a lot of Blah, blah, blah with absolutely NOTHING happening. Don't waste your money on this overly-hyped, meandering and pointless book. You have been warned !!!

Rating:
Summary: What reading a book should really feel like...
Review: I have always enjoyed short novels about murder mysteries or comedic mad caps. Books that could take you nowhere but tell a pretty good yarn. Books that last me about a week tops and then i feel as though I need to start another book because I am not completly filled up from the last.
Well, I had enough of that and decided to dip my hands into something alittle different from what I was used to. Books labeled literature. I admit I was scared, but I picked up Life of Pi anyhow. Now I must admit that the only reason I did pick up this book because the cover looked enjoyable. Now, I know basing a book by it''s cover is completely wrong, but I am glad i did. This book has changed my whole perspective on reading. How a book, a small, bound, pile of pages, inked and marked, could create such a world full of laughter, sadness, adventure and religion and at the same time keep it going with a strong plot and fantastic characters has not been seen by me. I actually felt like I was there with him and Richard Parker as they were on the boat, watching with wide-eyed wonder. The ending of this book still sends shivers down my spine and now makes me second guess even the simplist of explanations. If you want a book that takes you far away from the small fiction stories that just give you snapshots of a long series of events and will actually bring you along for an outstanding ride, pick up LIFE OF PI.

Rating:
Summary: Good reading
Review: I got this audiobook CD from the library. The first couple hours of the book are devoted to philosophical musings and odd insertions of observations from another writer from another time and place. The description of southern Indian life is interesting. The details of life at sea are very believeable and amazing in their detail. The book becomes confusing in the closing hour or so, where they land on some magical island. Other than that, the book is very believable and interesting.