Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining read - what really happened?
Review: I found this book to be a very entertaining read. I did think it was odd that the boy's views on religion were more enlightened than many scholars. The story of his survival at sea was captivating. I particularly enjoyed the ending to the story which left the reader scratching his or her head and wondering what the real story was after all.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!!!!
Review: This is one of the most beautiful and moving books I've ever read. It didn't make me believe in God, but then nothing can! It did make me believe in the power of the human spirit and the joy that can be found within ourselves. Even againest a background of truly terrifying and horrific events, Pi continues to want to live. The constant thread of humour is used to great effect, stopping the reader from being overcome by the horror of the situation. And the ending? I won't ruin it, but to my mind it was perfect!!
Rating: 
Summary: Lost at sea with a Bengal tiger.
Review: Pi Patel is a teenager when, on June 21, 1977, he and his family set sail from India bound for Canada with a boatload of animals. Pi's father sold the zoo that he owned in India, and he is bringing quite a few animals with him to Canada by cargo ship. When the ship suddenly sinks, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. "Life of Pi" is the story of how Pi and Richard survive for 227 days under unspeakable conditions of cold, heat, thirst, and starvation.Martel's prose is lyrical and vivid as he brings to life the feeling of being lost at sea with little hope of rescue. The descriptive passages are outstanding. The reader can feel the searing sun burning Pi's body and the maniacal rocking of the life raft during a sudden squall. Some of the passages are brutal and gory, as Martel depicts the depths to which a living being will sink in order to survive. "Life of Pi" can be understood and enjoyed on several levels. As a story of survival against overwhelming odds, it is a thrilling and suspenseful tale. Pi shows great resourcefulness and courage when he tames the tiger, obtains food and water for both himself and Richard, protects his body from freezing cold and searing heat, and somehow retains his sanity throughout his terrible ordeal. There are many humorous passages that make this otherwise grim tale a little easier to take, and Martel also sprinkles the book with some fascinating animal lore for the zoologically minded. The book can also be interpreted as an allegory about how human beings approach the inevitable challenges that we all must face sooner or later. When we confront tragic losses and failures, do we wallow in self-pity and curse our bad luck? Or do we make use of whatever resources we have to rebuild our lives anew? Although Pi is very young, he is deeply religious and wise beyond his years. He understands that "you must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it." These are words that we would all do well to heed as we make our uncertain way through the obstacle course of life.
Rating:
Summary: Imaginative Journey
Review: To be honest, I began reading this book out of sheer boredom and didn't expect to get much out of it. I was delightfully surprised! Not only is the book smart and humorous, the characters are utterly real and likeable. I couldn't put the book down. I don't know if it will make you a believer in God, as the book cover claims, but it will certainly make you question the "dry yeastless factuality" inherent in our "reality." This book is full of imagination and heart, a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Very inspiring and well written
Review: I bought this book because of the sense of adventure the writer imposed on my mind. After reading it I got more than I thought I would. Mr. Martel tells a GREAT story with details that only a lone soul stranded on a raft in the middle of the sea would know. This is simply a great book that I now recommend to all my friends.
Rating:
Summary: A good book makes you think long after you have put it down
Review: Have you ever read a book (or seen a movie) that you weren't sure you liked but couldn't stop thinking about it? And you had to find someone to discuss it with? I began to really enjoy this book after Pi was shipwrecked, and then I found the story compelling. After I finished reading the book, I wasn't really done with it. I discussed it with others, went back and reread passages and thought quite a bit about the alternate endings. I still think about it. This, I think, is the definition of a good book, regardless of the story.
Rating: 
Summary: A most unusual journey, but not much more
Review: The majority of the book depicts a single strand of thought of a 16-year-old Indian boy name Pi, lover of animals and lover of religions, who seeks to survive on a lifeboat alongside a Bengal tiger on the Pacific Ocean. Pi's narrative is full of detailed information (on animal behaviorism and skills of survival), humor (Pi is ultimately optimistic in the sense that he is capable of laughing at himself under such hardship), graphical violence (depictions of slaughtering dorados, fly-fish, turtles, etc for food; a hyena devouring a zebra live), and most of all, warmth (he never loses his faith for his multiple gods; he builds up a companionship with the tiger, Richard Parker). The narrative is thus very much engaging. Yet the lack of substance beyond what is depicted holds the book back from being a truly great novel. What you read is pretty much all that you get.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable, on many levels
Review: This is such a wonderful, intriguing book on so many levels. On the most basic level, it's a gripping adventure story of Pi's attempt to survive being stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. It is much more than that, though. The book explores issues of religion, ethics, science and human/animal behavior. With undercurrents of the struggle between rationalism and spiritualism throughout the book, it culminates in a remarkable twist that challenges you to choose between the two. An amazing read, that I could not stop thinking about after finishing it. I have recommended it to several friends, just so I would have the opportunity to discuss it with them afterwards!
Rating:
Summary: excellent writing and imaginative story
Review: I never really noticed what was on the cover till I started reading the book .... it is a lifeboat with a person and a tiger in the middle of the ocean. The entire story is about HOW this situation came to be and what happens afterwards. Like a Greek chorus, we are told in the beginning that Piscine Molitor Patel (he is named for a French swimming pool) --- better known as Pi --- grows up to be a married man in Canada. But how it came to be that he left his father's zoo in Pondicherry, India and traveled to Canada on a ship that sank 4 days into its journey -- that, my friends, is the real story. Before this disastrous trip, Pi's father instructs him and his brother Ravi not to assume that these animals are their friends. He demonstrates by feeding a live goat to a tiger. He points out that the hyenas won't wait till you die to eat you, that an orangutan can break your arms, etc etc etc. Even the ones who were once pets will turn on you if the circumstances threaten their survival. so imagine the ecosystem when a zebra, hyena, tiger and orangutan end up with 16-year-old Pi on his little lifeboat... I thought it was funny that the tiger is named Richard Parker, due to a clerical error when the hunter named Richard Parker turned in the tiger cub he had dubbed "Thirsty". Throughout the book, Pi addresses him by his full name, a la "Charlie Brown".
Rating: 
Summary: What did I miss?
Review: After all the hype I decided this would be a book I would really get into. I wasn't that interested in the search through the religions or life in India. The reading was ponderous, but I pushed. After putting the book down for a month I went after it again with a renewed commitment to find out what everybody was seeing in it. So I finished it. Life in a life raft with a tiger--big deal. Plot? Where? I still don't get it. I've read a lot of books and I don't have enough time for all the ones I want to read. That was time I can't get back. I'd have to put "Pi" pretty low on my list.
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