Rating: 
Summary: A wonder and a fun page-turner
Review: You can't help but smile.
Meet 16 year old Piscine Mollitor Patel, aka Pi ("Pie" so as not to be nicknamed Pissing.) He is an Indian boy, living with his family is in a zoo in India. (His father is the entrepreneur zookeeper.) Pi loves God and Life so much he becomes a devote Hindu, Muslim and Christian, just because he wants to learn all the ways he can to love God and pray. Then his father decides the family will move to Canada and take the animals too so they can sell them to American zoos... that is all just the first 100 pages.
But when the ship sinks in the pacific, and the only survivors are the boy (Pi), a 350 lb bengal tiger, a zebra with a broken leg, a hyena, and an orang-utan named Orange Juice, Pi must balance the equation of being a vibrant vegetarian drifting across the Pacific. He becomes kind of like a wonderful little McGuyver on the 26ft lifeboat sharing quarters with a rapidly diminishing crew of wild animals. He must learn his place in the predator/prey relationship; he must master the master of the food chain ... or become the final meal to a fierce carnivore.
Overall the book is very entertaining and is a good page turner, full of love and wonder and a bit of terror, but not at all in a horror way. Full of human nature, and animal nature for that matter, LIFE OF PI reminds us lovingly to keep the faith and live a good life. I imagine this book will probably become standard summer reading if it hasn't yet already been so designated. I feel light and and in touch with a deeper youthful part of myself while reading.
Rating:
Summary: (4.5 stars). a fable-like novel
Review: Like a M. Night Shyamalan movie, "Life of Pi" reveals its secret in the very ending but don't worry, the novel doesn't rely solely on its conclusive revelation (which, by the way, you can either believe or not)!
Basically "life of Pi" is the tale of Pi Patel, a 16-year-old Indian boy who is shipwrecked in the Pacific and manages to survive for 227 days, all of this in the troublesome company of a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
Soon he realizes that the only way to prevent Richard Parker from attacking, is to tame him (being the son of a zookeeper Pi is somewhat advantaged in this). There is a wealth of research behind this novel, mostly zoological and botanical (in the midst of his drifting across the ocean the lifeboat bumbs into an island that eventually turns out to be something else, adding a further sprinkle of magic realism to the novel).
I found this novel greatly enjoyable and well written (it won the Booker after all) and I practically devoured the last part, starting with the discovery of the inslan onwards, till it's final, upsetting, ending.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent example of imaginative fiction
Review: This book was a joy to read. The mixture between religions and the commentary provided by Pi Patel was incredible. He is so descriptive and so human; he tells you all of his doubts and his desires, the way he wants things to be. What I noticed about this book the most though was how beautiful he made everything. Even the most disgusting things were transformed into poetic objects of beauty. His family owns a zoo, it's bound to be loud, noisy, and smelly, yet he makes you picture it as though you were there and could feel the animals, actually know what it was like to be in love and care for them. It was funny because I didn't know this book was fiction at first. When you take it from that approach it's much different than reading it as fiction. I liked it better from the non-fiction approach. It made his struggles more realistic and courageous. The one part I didn't agree with though (in truthfullness) was the part about the island and the muskrats. But that's for one to decide on one's own. ^^ This book on a whole was great. Yann Martel has a great gift of writing and imagination. His characters were well developed (Pi mainly) and the way he centralizes it around three different religions is a relief from the normal devout so-and-so faithful person. Pi's genuine belief in these three religions was wonderful, making one think that maybe all the religions out there are somehow right. I recommended this book to my boyfriend and my family. There's a reason it has been on the bestsellers list for so long. Read it and enjoy it - it's a nice bit of light reading that makes you think afterwards.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book
Review: First off, this book rocks!! I usually cannot get interested in books, but this one is great. It's a beautiful book, combining the importance of faith and the realities of life. Impossible to put down, and highly recomended!
Rating:
Summary: life of pi
Review: am i well read?.....yes!
am i emotional?......no!
do i ball my eyes out when reading a book...however sad?..no!
do laugh out loud at peoples misfortunes?....yes! is "life of pi" the best book ive read for a decade?....hmmmm YES!!! i found reading Pi a rollercoaster of emotion......it totally ruined my weekend break at a bush camp with gathered family from around the world...(im in south africa)
our three day break consisted of me reading this bloody book for two days, and the final day me busting into tears every half an hour...(much to the embaressment of others)
i cant help it
i loved it
in reading that book, I found god, humanity, suffering, humour, repulsion, happiness....and hope...I hate sequals, but long to know about richard parker and how he did...as pi said "i love you richard parker"
Darren
Rating:
Summary: It soars
Review: I listened to the Life of Pi in my car during my daily commute to work each day. I would actually get upset when my trip was over and I had to leave the car. The narration and the story were superb... I felt every bit of angst, fear and joy that Pi was going through. It was a lovely novel and I'm going to listen to it again.
Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly entertaining book!
Review: The Life of Pi is a captivating story - so wonderfully entertaining! The main character is a spiritual, deep thinking teenage boy from India, whose simple life as the son of a zookeeper is turned upside down after he becomes a survivor of a sunken ship at sea. There a suttle lessons learned throughout the storytelling, which the author is expert at weaving in between the lines. The end of the story lends a surprising, profound twist - both unusually humorous and thought provoking. After finishing this book, it has become clear to me that a simple life can be a satisfying and meaningful life as long as the spirit is focused on what is good. A great piece of literature - I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: YAYAY
Review: EXCELLENT BOOK YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY, yup, thats what I thought, it was that gooooood!!! Read It!!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing adventure
Review: I was totally captivated by this book. Every aspect of it felt real, and considering the premise, one could imagine this book spinning wildly into fantasy. Martel always seems to know just how much physical detail to give to make the emotional story resonate. Simply brilliant. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing story but ending is lacking
Review: Survival stories are always intriguing because one is always second guessing what they would do in that particular situation. This story about a teen boy stranded with various zoo animals seemed to way out there to bother with. In fact, I must have picked up this book and put it back down in the bookstore 20 times before I decided to buy it. Pi is a great character. His extraordinary faith in religion was endearing to me as a nonbeliever though never made me want to go in that direction. The author did a great job at developing Pi as a charcter. The book can be divided into three sections. The first section is where you get to know Pi as a human being. I really enjoyed this part of the book. Pi is the type of character you really want to come out on top. The second part of the book is Pi and the castaways survival at sea. As mentioned I like survival stories so this part of the book was probably my favorite. The third section of the book deals with Pi basically retelling his story to the company that owned the boat that sunk. I came away a little empty here. Sure, make what you will with what 'really' happened but I think that the book fell flat here. All in all The Life of Pi is definately a better than average book.
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