Rating: 
Summary: Can't We All Just Get Along?
Review: This an excellent book. The beginning is a little slow but interesting and the rest they say is history. Pi is a very mature 16 year old, but most children of others countries are. He is well educated in zoology and it is much needed to survive. I thought he was clever but at times some things seemed a little far fetched - even for a fiction novel. It is the ending that made me really think about the entire book. I just finished it yesterday and am still thinking about it. The book is more about faith than it is about God. The scene on the waterfront was very amusing. Being "religious" is not a requirement to read the book. All walks of life would appreciate it's candor. It is entertaining and one of the better books I have read! Hurry up...what are you waiting for?
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing is an Understatement
Review: After reading so many positive reviews of this book, I went right out and purchased it. It was a mistake. I kept thinking there had to be some redeeming quality. After reading about a goat being given in sacrifice to a large predator to teach children a lesson, a zebra with a broken leg being eaten alive from the inside out and a detailed description of collecting and eating tiger feces by Pi, I think the author should take up another line of work and the people who gave it the Man Brooker Prize should be fired.
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Summary: Book of the Year
Review: I read at least 3 books a week and while some would question how that impacts the rest of my life, I can respond with an amazing experience like this book. It is the best book I have read thus far this year. I usually find that I cannot submerge fully into the story, but after the first 50 pages or so, I am not sure I came up for air. The ending was a delight. Clever, articulate, and thought-provoking... ...this book had everything. The beginning was a bit slow, until the author establishes where you are going, but he really unleashes the story and his talent thereafter. I gave it to my sister and my mom after I was done. Fabulous! Also, this book would make a great gift - if you are a non-reader and are afraid that a book may offend - there is nothing of that nature here, just a great story.
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Summary: THIS BOOK IS QUEER,UNIQUE, AND WORTH READING!!!!!!
Review: Life of Pi is a story of survival, of endurance,of faith and of determination. the way Pi survives in the most dire circumstances and the most weird aspect is that he is stuck with a tiger(Richard Parker) on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific...Yann Martel has included many things to make the book a stunner...the humour, the mystery, the breath-taking challenges, the extent of testing one's belief...one asks himself if that is possible...can someone have really survived months?the questions we ask ourselves are sometimes left without answer...the last part Pi tells a second story...it is left up to the readers to decide which one they will prefer to believe...the story is incredible and one i;ve never encountered before.i really recommend the book...just one advice, the book at the beginning may seem very confusing and not understandable, but just wait for the second part!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Adventure at Sea
Review: "Life of Pi" brings together a swirl of beautiful turns-of-phrase with an eccentric tale about a 16 year-old Indian boy lost at sea for 7 months. With him on the lifeboat: sparse water, a make-shift raft, and a 450 pound bengal tiger. Pi, the main character, must tame the lion well enough to survive the sea. Martel's writing style is at once whimsical and profound. He claims that he has found a story that will make you believe in God (Pi is a Christian/Hindu/Muslim). But the beauty is not the punchline, it's the process. Martel sees "riots of flowers," teachers who "came into my dark head and lit a match," and neckies that are nooses, "inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless." Often you will stop the story to muse over the words. The only downpoint of the book is that after about 100 pages of beautiful writing, it falls away for the real story of the lifeboat. Interesting though it is, you will probably find yourself longing for the established style and wondering where it went. Fortunately, the story will then carry you through to the end--a hilarious and profound explanation of the boat wreck to a couple of insurance agents. Definitely worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Adequate Light Reading
Review: Life of Pi is the equivalent of a 3-star movie with higher aims. Its jokes are not so funny, its inventiveness is not so inventive, its action nearly nonexistent. The story concerns Pi, an unlikely young Indian boy who decides to worship God through various religions (well, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian - I suppose, the main religions in India). When the boat carrying his family to North America sinks, he is forced to share a boat with a hungry tiger and master the skills of survival in the opean sea. To be fair, Pi is well-written, lucid, and absorbing at times (Pi's adventure on the island and some moments with the tiger). However, it falls short of the kind of nuanced survival story once told by Daniel Defoe. I would recommend this book to junior high-high school aged readers. My other problem with the text was the awful treatment of Pi's family's demise, although it's possible to treat the rest of the book's tone as a way of dealing with grief while avoiding it.
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Summary: Martel's Fine Contemporary Fantasy
Review: What is "Life of Pi"? Is it just a bizarre contemporary adventure about a teenage Indian boy lost at sea, adrift for 227 days, on a lifeboat with only a ferocious male tiger for company? Or instead, is it an interesting look at faith and how one acquires, and then, sustains it during an arduous trial? Or is it really a profound exploration on the nature of reality, as seen through the eyes of the young protagonist Pi, and his two Japanese interviewers at the end of the tale? Without a doubt, it is a splendid mix of all three, told brilliantly via Martel's sparse, often lyrical, prose. His young protagonist Pi is truly one who seems much older and wiser than his actual chronological age, an ecumenical spirit who feels at home being a practicing Christian, Hindu and Moslem all at once, to the great consternation of his parents and local priests from all three faiths. I was especially impressed with Pi's adventures with the tiger and Martel's sympathetic portrayal of zoos. Regrettably, his natural history descriptions don't quite rise up to the eloquent heights attained by the likes of novelist Patrick O'Brian and essayist Stephen Jay Gould. Otherwise, I would grant this fine novel five stars. It succeeded in keeping me hooked, fascinated with Pi's tale of survival, and then be astonished by the unexpected dual endings reported by Pi to his Japanese interviewers at the end.
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Summary: Gets better each time I think about it
Review: When I first started reading this book, it was really a struggle. The first 50 or so pages were really slow moving. Once the story started flowing, it moved along at a reasonable pace, and it turned into one of those books that I couldn't put down, because I needed to find out how everything would turn out. As it turns out, the more I think about this book, the better it becomes. It certainly makes you think what the underlying message is in this story, and it's great for discussion.
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Summary: A modern day fable
Review: I completely enjoyed "The Life of Pi." The writing was brisk, the story well-developed, and (as the mark of most great novels) it can be read (and enjoyed)on many different levels. However, Martel hints (in a not-so-subtle-way) that his story will, "Help renew your faith in God." I have to say, it definitley fell short on this promise. In fact, especially at the begining Martel's description of Pi's various beliefs is both convuluted and confusing. Who knows, maybe I am in the minority in my misunderstanding.
So we are back to having a book that delivers heavily on being a great fable. The book drives homethe concept that man has an overiding fear of death despite the odds of living. That while even the most miserable of people can find the fear of death more unbearable than the thought of living. Pi overcame many hardships on his life on his boat (Boy there is an understatement). Simply put- if he can remain alive for 9 months stranded on a lifeboat with a Tiger, surely we can make do with 8-hours a day with an grumpy boss. Definitely worth the read
Rating: 
Summary: Life of Pi
Review: Confusing, dark and way too discriptive. I enjoy an author who develops an idea to help the reader view the story accurately but I do not need 10 descriptions of the sky, or the ocean or any other part of the book. I found myself skimming parts because they were unnecessary. The only reason I finished it was because of a book club and I resold it immediately. I would not recommend it.
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