Rating: 
Summary: A fabulous fable
Review: "Life of Pi" could well have been a simple child's fable that Martel has evolved into a brilliant novel, packed with surprises.The basis of the book is essentially a tale about a boy's survival at sea that the author ingeniously spiced up in all sorts of ways (with all sorts of animals). By telling us how he supposedly met Pi, the account of his childhood and giving immaculate details throughout the voyage, Martel presents readers with captivating roles and an uncommonly believable setting. Then there is also the dreamy side with those various miracles, unusual events and delusions towards the end. The final encounter between Pi and the Japanese could be a light attempt at some 'moral lesson' as a fable would, otherwise thought-provoking, and a time I took to recapture the moments in the story again. In the thoughtful 100 chapters, Martel's lively story-telling really takes us into Pi's voyage, puts the character in our hearts, or maybe even shed some light on tackling the tough times in life.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: This clearly deserving winner of the Booker Prize is one of the best books I've ever read. Yann Martel's brilliant storytelling is compelling from the first page to the last. The story was fantastical and thoroughly engaging. Humor and humanity are woven into every page.
Rating:
Summary: Want to read something different??
Review: This Booker Award winning book is well deserving of the high praise it has received.
In a nutshell, the book ostensibly is about Pi, a young Indian son of a zookeeper who survives a shipwreck only to find himself on a lifeboat with an odd assortment of animals.
The story is much more than a story about survival, although it reads as a wonderful adventure book with many thrills along the way.
The book is also a book of "religion", or a quest to find the meaning of life and of God. Meant for skeptics, agnostics and the religious, the book has meaning for everyone.
I also highly recommend this book for book clubs because when you finish the last sentence, you will want to talk about this novel.
This is a thought provoking, fun read, with enough ambiguity to keep any group discussion going for a long time.
Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Very Impactful Story
Review: Not really about religion even though it is billed as such; more about the serendipity of life and man's will to survive. It does give some interesting perspectives on zoo animals, the nature of animals, and man's relationship with animals. It is also a story of the human drama that makes you think about what's important in life and how incredible life can be.
Rating:
Summary: an amazing story - deeper than it looks
Review: This book truly deserves its booker prize, seemlessly weaving together a fascinating story of a boy and his adventure with a philosophical message of God and belief without being the least bit preachy. Without previous interest in religion, tigers, or India, I finished this book interested in all three. It writing is simple, beautiful, and powerful. A must read, and re-read.
Rating:
Summary: An Indian Robinson Crusoe with a Bengal tiger as his Friday
Review: Piscine Molitor ("Pi") Patel is the son of a South-Indian zookeeper. He is very much into religion, so much so that he decides to become a Christian, a Muslim AND a Hindu. His parents decide to move to Canada travelling by ship and taking most of their animals with them. When the ship all of a sudden sinks, Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger: a kind of Noah's Ark in the middle of the Pacific. After less than a week only Pi and the tiger remain and they settle into an unleasy relationship to survive their 227-day ordeal. The adventures are numerous, some times hilaric, sometimes tragic. An extremely well written book on a subject that could easily become either a tear-jerker or totally unbelievable, but Yann Martell finds exactly the right tone to make it (relatively) light-hearted, exciting with unexpected twists and turns despite the confined space of a lifeboat. The behaviour of both the animals and Pi are natural to the extreme, a joy to read. The first part of the book, which is mainly set in India, gives some very intersting observations on animal behaviour and on religion, the second part (at sea) reads like the adventure story it is and the third part (after rescue) puts everything in an unexpected perspective. I was also amazed by the fact that a Canadian writer writes an story book that reminded me of the stories written by great Indian writers like Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth and Vikram Chandra. Truely a masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Harmony on the Sea
Review: A boy, a tiger, and a lifeboat might seem to be some rather meager materials from which to concoct a novel about life, religion, the very basis of being. This book attempts it, and in many ways succeeds in its aims. Before we get to the lifeboat, Yann carefully develops not only his character of Pi but also shows some excellent slices of life in India, quickly throws both some heavy barbs and some praise for certain aspects of three of the world's major religions, and educates the reader in some basic rules on the care, treatment, and normal behavior of zoo animals. When the ship Pi is travelling on founders, taking down with it his parents and quite a few of the animals from the zoo that Pi's father was director of, Pi suddenly finds himself trapped on a lifeboat with the oddly (but logically) named tiger Richard Parker, and all of this earlier background material comes into play, making the situation not only highly believable but quite fascinating. Pi's resourcefulness in staying alive in this situation for 270 days is exceptional, and Richard Parker becomes a full-bodied character, while remaining very much a real tiger. The interaction between the two and the challenges of the sea is a broad canvas that Yann uses to investigate his larger questions of religion and life, questions which are answered on a very individualistic basis for Pi. But I think most people could recognize some points of contact with Pi's ruminations, and find their own lives richer for vicariously living through Pi's experience. Yann's style is very fluid, occasionally almost poetic, and he gets by with a minimum of description of places and scenes. The style and the carefully placed informational material did much to make me believe in the basic situation of boy and tiger surviving together. The detail work is impressive, from Pi's raft construction to cleaning out the lifeboat of Richard's wastes - details which enforce the feeling that this is a description of reality. However, there were a couple of places where I felt that Yann included some items merely for their shock value, and weren't really necessary to develop his theme or story, and a couple of other happenings did not strike me as at all believable. But neither does he unnecessarily drag out the survival story, and his wrapping of Pi's narrative in a surrounding story of a writer investigating the details of this tale from a much later date adds both cohesiveness and veracity to the story. I was disappointed by the end of the book, as it brings into play the literary artifice of the 'unreliable narrator', calling into question the entire earlier portion of the book. While this certainly led me to evaluate all the philosophical points Yann had raised, it left me with a large emotional let-down, an unhappiness with the overall gestalt of the book. I think I would have been happier if this final section had not been included, though many seem to think that it is this section that completes the thematic message of the book. Still, a fascinating read about a truly exceptional situation, with more than enough message to occupy my brain, and enough visceral happenings to keep me emotionally engaged throughout the book. --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Rating:
Summary: Very deserving of its award!
Review: This is one of the most unique storylines I've read in a novel in quite some time. A mixture of sadness and humor, of hardship and triumph -- Life of Pi is one novel that will stay with me for a long, long time. Yann Martel is 100% deserving of the Booker Prize. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this book when I first started it. It was slow to get into, and there were parts that seemed to go on and on. But while it felt bogged down, it also held my interest. I mean, how many books do you read involve a 16-year-old Indian boy and a Bengal Tiger adrift on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Perhaps the long-windedness of the story (in regards to zoo politics and descriptions of everything) was pertinent, a way of creating the atmosphere of boredom -- a feeling I'm sure was at the top of the list for Pi Patel as he floated endlessly in search of rescue. The book was set up in three parts -- part 1 gives us background information on Pi and his family and their zoo; part 2 sends the family and their zoo on a Japanese cargo ship across the ocean to their Canadian destination (which ultimately ends in disaster); and part 3 is the conclusion of the book (which will remain a secret...you'll just have to read!). I must say that all three parts of this novel were exquisitely rendered and toward the end I had tears in my eyes. The long, long wait (Pi's journey in the Pacific) is definitely worth the ending. Awesome, amazing, wonderful...I highly recommend this novel -- stick with it and you will absolutely be rewarded.
Rating:
Summary: Stupendously Good
Review: The structure of the book is dazzling, and, without giving anything away, it makes one believe the most seemingly audacious plot points. Martel's framework is so carefully crafted that the impossible becomes credible. As with Citizen Kane, the book opens with a reporter's attempt to learn the truth about an enigmatic episode in the life of a man. And just as with the Welles film, just when you think you have a handle on the story in Life of Pi, it veers left leading you to yet another twist. The biggest surprise could be the ending, which is reason enough, among many, to re-read the entire book. So often with a good book, the ending disappoints, but the ending here is jaw-dropping, mind-blowing and provocative. Like Joseph Campbell, Martel clearly wants to examine the very heart of myth, belief, hope and faith, but these weighty topics are handled in such a highly entertaining fashion that it makes the book a not-stop page turner.
Rating:
Summary: Like a Dream You Can't Shake
Review: Martel is successful in clearly constructing Pi's universe, leaving a reader to feel as if s/he is placed in the Life of Pi. I found myself gasping aloud and gripping my chest at certain parts. The story is an on switch of the imagination which serves to captivate a readers attention. The idea itself is luring and the story line is addictive. Even when I was not reading the book, it's tone stayed with me everday, even as I dreamed at night, the impression of adventure was always present.
Although some parts are gruesome, even the most sensitive of readers will not skip a line because of the value in every passing scenario. If I am ever abandonded on a life boat with wild animals, I am confident that I will survive because I have done so already with Pi Patel.
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