Rating: 
Summary: Just The Kind of Book I Like
Review: "Life of Pi" is not only an outstanding novel, but is also very interesting. First, the story is surperb with the Indian boy learning the many ways of life, animal life and religion. Second, it has the twist and turns that makes a book great. It has the story where the reader has to keep guessing and guessing to comprehend it. I love stories where your not sure what exactly is happening but you understand the main points. I love a good mysterious plot. This is the kind of book i like.
Rating: 
Summary: Interested but confused....
Review: The life of Pi was an awesome book. I felt that the character was really in depth about what happened. Although I felt as though the character used all of the animals to symbolize the people in the stury. In my opinion the familiy members were the tiger, hyena, orangutan, and zebra. Slowly, the family members are diminished and all that is left is Richard Parker (Pi). I thought that the symbolism in the book was excellent. I felt as though the book was explaining the personalities of those around us. The only part that fully confused me was the whole acid island. What was the point in that? But i would recommend this book to everyone. It is awesome
Rating:
Summary: Soul Searching Story
Review: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a remarkable novel that deals with a God-loving boy. Pi Patel, the main character, practices the religions of Christianity, Hinduism and Muslim. The main conflict in the book deals with Pi on a lifeboat out at sea. While on the lifeboat, Pi's only companions are a zebra, a Bengal tiger, and an orangutan. Throughout the book the reader may wonder if Pi will survive out on the oceans or if he will ever find land.This is a must read book. It is a really adventurous novel that will make one believe in the unbelievable. The religious context of the book shows how the main character gained hope in times of trials, religious perspective and personal morals. I enjoyed reading about how the conflicts of the book intertwined. For example, the author, Martel, provides a different translation of Pi's adventure of the boat, where the animals are replaced with human characters. He then asks us which version is better. Martel then likens that analogy to religious faith. I would recommend this outstanding book to anyone who enjoys reading soul-searching and adventurous novels.
Rating:
Summary: Another book I didn't get
Review: My friend recommended this book to me because she knows I'm interested in religion, and the beginning of the book features the main character's interesting perspective on Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. It's a pretty reasonable perspective, and the story is entertaining. Later, the book is filled with lore about how to train lions and tigers, or what happens at zoos, and so on. At times it's a zoological fantasy, as when a tiger fights an orangutan, or as a tiger fights a shark, or when the character discovers a floating island of carnivorous algae. The end is an imaginary transcript with some bewildered, skeptical Japanese businessmen. The book is very entertaining and absorbing, but other than that I'll admit I just didn't get it. One thing's for sure: it makes me wonder if truth really is stranger than fiction. OOPS -- I just read a bunch of the reviews here, and found out what the book is all about. Well, it might be better than I realized, and full of creative metaphors for spirituality, but I won't reread it. Anyway, here's the argument: believe in God because life is more interesting that way. Well, but anyone who takes the question seriously is surely not going to settle for such wishful thinking. Belief in aliens or astrology probably also makes life more interesting. The only serious question is, to the best of our knowlege, what appears to be the case? And how, then, should we live? (Anyway, isn't truth more interesting than fiction? I think so.) Realizing that this was the meaning of the book--to be blunt, that it is a complete waste of time intellectually--is so disappointing, because I thought the book was reasonably entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: a book with many looks
Review: this book was a book for my english class over the summer,
i had to read it because i had to.
i though it was going to be boring but it turned out to be fairly interesting book. "Life of Pi" is a book about a boy who belleved in three religions, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Their family operated a zoo in India until they decided to go to Canada.
On the way to Canada, the boat sinks and Pi survives by himself with only a hyena, a zebra with broken leg, an orangutan, and a tiger named Richard Parker. He gradually survives the journey. "Life of Pi" is a confusing book because there are many ways to look at the book. In the book Pi gives two stories at the end, so it sounds very confusing. I didn't know which story was the real one. Later, I find myself believing that this story is a fiction. I believe this book is fiction because this story is logically not right. I want to hear about what other people say to my opinion, so if you want to respond to my opinion.
All right I am done here. Bye
Rating:
Summary: The Life of Pi
Review: LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel Although touted as a story of survival against all odds, LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel is more than just that. As the title says, LIFE OF PI is the story of a man's life, Piscine Molitar Patel. "Pi" as he nicknames himself, narrates most of this book about his life so far, starting with his early school days, life at the zoo, and of course his time spent in the ocean. In the first part of the book, comprising nearly one third of the story, he talks about his beliefs and views on life in general, all of this taking place before his family's fateful trip to Canada in the hopes of a new life away from India. He then proceeds to tell the tale of his adventures and amazing survival in the ocean. Over 200 days he lives alone on a lifeboat after the cargo ship he and his family were on sinks without warning. He is alone, except for a few wild zoo animals including a human-raised Bengal tiger mistakenly named Richard Parker. The rest of the book is comprised of his adventures on this lifeboat, as he tries to stay alive and to outwit the wild animals that are with him. I enjoyed the writing style of this book and found that the narrator was very amusing, making the tone of the book, especially his time spent in the ocean alone, full of optimism and hope. His series of anecdotes of life at the Zoo, (his family owned a large zoo in India), was also very fascinating. He was able to relate to each animal and anthropomorphised each one. I enjoyed his stories of these zoo animals, as well as his tales of his conversion to Catholicism, Muslim, and Hinduism and found them all very funny. And although I did enjoy this part of the book, I was not sure why it was as long as it was, except for the fact that this book was entitled LIFE OF PI, as opposed to "THE ADVENTURES OF PI ON THE OCEAN". I felt that Martel was trying to give us the essence of what young Pi was all about, and therefore spent a big chunk of this book getting inside Pi's head. By the time the reader reaches the part of the novel in which the shipwreck occurs, we can sympathize with Pi and understand more of how he was able to survive. I don't feel I need to add anymore to this review, as there are hundreds of reviews of this book here on Amazon. I do want to add that I enjoyed the book, but do have one warning: if the reader is not focused on the book, it can be a difficult and long read. Because the bulk of the story is comprised of exposition and not dialogue, it can make it difficult for many readers to get through. Popular story writing almost always focuses on plenty of dialogue, but as this is an adventure tale, and for the most part there is only one human being in the plot, there definitely is not much dialogue. I give this book 4 stars, mainly because I felt I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I would have liked. I was easily distracted for some reason, and did not feel glued to the book as I have been with others. This is not a negative review by any means, but simply the taste of this reader dictates this book a 4-star rating.
Rating:
Summary: Self vs. Self
Review: The novel "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel is the story of a faithful and religious boy on a journey trying to find himself in God. Pi is constantly is riduculed and teased due to his name, afterall he carrys out a differnt lifestyle, he does afterall live in a zoo. Then on his way to move to Canada with his family the Japanese cargo ship begins to sink, and before Pi knows it he is standed in the middle of the Pacific ocean with a 450 pound Bengal tiger. Pi must learn to cope with his lonliness and fight the danger of hunger, the tiger, and the lonely Pacific ocean. Throughout all the trials and tribulations his faith in God is a key factor, "I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God." will Pi's faith in God keep him going? Will his faith give him the will to want to live? God plays a major role in this story, giving Pi the will to survive. It is up to Pi to defeat his fears of the tiger, the ocean and most of all himself.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: Sorry, but this book is boring, there's no way around it. Sure, it raised my eyebrows a few times, like when this "hero" started to taste the tiger dookie, but it's all just a fantasy of the author's imagination, which is not really that imaginative. I guess, if you really wanted to write an animal story, you would have to think of some "outlandish" (that is, no longer in the zoo or the wild)way to attract readers. Martel seems to have done that, but I predict this book will be forgotten relatively quickly. With the exceptions of the little "startle" incidents, like the tiger, Richard Parker, making a quick meal of another sea survivor, this book is more like a textbook than anything else. Boring recitation after boring recitation about zoo life, Indian cooking and religion, and that's about it. Yes, it will make you think, "Well, what if I were caught in the middle of the ocean with a tiger on a small boat?" But is that going to hold your interest for long? No, because it's too unlikely. This is just like the Japanese boat company representatives say at the end of the book, and frankly, they're right. The good thing about the book, if you are interested in zoos and Indian religion, then this is a slight step up from a textbook or college course in same, because there is a story, albeit slow and drudging. Diximus.
Rating:
Summary: Martel is unrivaled by anyone
Review: Let me start by saying that I'm a big fan of the life of pi. Let me also say that my all-time favorite book is make every girl want you by john fate and steve reil. So if that doesn't give you some info about me and my life, nothing else will. That said, this has got to be the best novel I've ever read! Maybe I found it so interesting because I too was born in India and moved to Canada as a child. Martel's descriptions are so vivid that you feel like you're on the boat with pi. Martel's imagination is unmatched; his ability to take what is in his imagination, put it into words, and captivate his audience: unrivaled by anyone. If the novels I was forced to read back in secondary school were written like this, I would have probably done a lot more reading in my life!!
Rating:
Summary: Survival with God
Review: I feel that this book was quite an excellent story of how a young male survived a 227 day journey in the Pacific ocean with the help of god. This story was a little slow at the begining, yet at the second part of the book, its paced picked up quickly. I feel that many people would enjoy this book no matter what they like reading. It is an interesting story for all to enjoy.
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