Rating: 
Summary: In a word, captivating
Review: "Life of Pi" is quite possibly one of the best novels that I have ever read in my life. It is funny, touching, intriguing, it provokes many thoughts about many subjects, and is, in a word, captivating.
"Life of Pi" addresses a touchy issue - religion - in a way that makes one wonder about the same things Pi ponders and struggles with. One truly begins to question the way society functions and why it is not possible to simply love God, which is Pi's desire, but he wants to do so through different religions. The novel raises questions like these and has a serious side, but throughout the entire book Yann Martel always keeps a comical side and makes even the simplest description of a person or place extremely entertaining. From the stories about Pi's early childhood years to anecdotes about his family, to Richard Parker, Martel's humor is priceless.
"Life of Pi" is very well written, but there are things that do at times get in the way of it being a so called easy read. The sections in italic words are often a little bit confusing because it is jumping to another time and place, but eventually it is not such a problem.
One of the most interesting things about "Life of Pi" is the zoological references that Martel works into the book. Chances are the average reader will not be a zoo keeper, and so all of this information will be strikingly new and unknown to them. The idea of a zoo and its many facets and characteristics are portrayed in a way that addresses human society. You have to think about why zoos are good and bad, how they work, and the fact that the human is the most dangerous animal in the zoo. The minute details that Martel gives about certain animals and their habits immediately made me want to go to the zoo and just observe the animals to watch for these things that are described!
The story of Pi's adventure is somewhat unbelievable and far fetched. With faith, however, I think that it is feasible - and that is what this book is about, faith. As Martel said in an interview, "Fanatics do not have faith - they have belief. With faith you let go. You trust. Whereas with belief you cling." With faith, this novel becomes much more meaningful. It allows you to absorb the thoughts and emotion that Pi experiences. At the end of the book, when he presents two stories about what had happened to him, it is difficult to decide which of the two outcomes is true, and/or which of the two you prefer. But it is maybe this unknowing that increases faith, because when things are unclear, it is the faith that you have in whatever guides you that brings them to light.
"Life of Pi" is an equally wonderful read for pleasure or for intellectual challenge. I would recommend it to everyone as a must-read, and say with confidence that anyone who reads it will be fascinated and touched.
Rating:
Summary: We're All in the Same Boat!
Review: Rarely does a book break the boundaries of past fictional conventions to communicate a fresh story about spirituality in an unforgettable way. Life of Pi is such a book. Those with great faith often receive enormous trials to test their faith. That's exactly what happens to Piscine Molitor Patel (who later shortens his name to "Pi" to make it easier to remember and to avoid jokes). As a lad, he finds himself inextricably drawn into practicing the Christian, Hindu and Moslem religions at the same time in his native India. While his practices annoy his religious advisors and puzzle his parents, Pi finds himself content in his continuing appreciation of God. Life is always interesting for him, too, as he helps out with the family zoo. From observing the animals, he finds out a lot about how animals relate to one another and to people. Annoyance with the Indian government leads his father to decide to emigrate to Canada. He sells the animals and boards a ship with his family to transport them to North America. At sea, the ship quickly sinks . . . with one human and four animal survivors from the zoo crowded together in a single lifeboat. The largest survivor is Richard Parker, a full grown Bengal tiger who takes up half the boat. There's also a hyena, a female orang-utan named Orange Juice, and a zebra with a broken leg. What will happen next? The remainder of the story is a fable-like adventure that reminded me of a cross between Robinson Crusoe and all of the books about survival at sea in a lifeboat that I have ever read . . . except with the twist of how animals and a human can survive together. The book's beginning and end of the book are especially delicious for their hinting about the true nature of the story and what has happened to Pi. In the end, you will find yourself wondering . . . did that story really happen to Pi . . . or did another thing happen? You'll find yourself pondering that question often. Ultimately, the book asks the question, "What is our responsibility to God . . . to one another . . . and to ourselves? I suspect that this book will raise new answers and questions for you.
Rating:
Summary: Mmmm...mmmm...good. Pi is yummy.
Review: My Grandmother made an excellent peach pie in her day. But it doesn't compare to Yann Martel's "Pi". It is comfort food for your mind. I also recommend The Little Guide To Happiness.
Rating:
Summary: Story of a boy who did NOT end up with a tiger in a lifeboat
Review: Reviewing some of the reviews of this book (currently at about 870 entries), I wonder whether most of us readers really get to the point of this extraordinary novel. Most readers, it seems, have been so charmed by the "survival" story which is at the core of the book - that they too easily forget about the framework. The lifeboat tale is so captivating that you can easily take it as a seperate book. But it is not.
Martel takes his time to introduce the characters at the beginning of the book. Criticized by many, this seemingly slow introduction is indeed crucial for the understanding of the story. Without it, nothing in the book would made sense. This is a book about belief, religion and also - it seems to me - about the ability of mankind of dealing with reality and its dependance on belief for survival.
Ultimately, the key to understanding the whole is to be found on page 417, when Pi tells the second, more believable and dry-sounding story of his journey, and then says: "Solitude began. I turned to God. I survived." There cannot be much doubt after all about what this means. This is NOT the story of a boy with a couple of animals on a lifeboat. But who ended up with God alone on a lifeboat.
The great thing in this very carefully crafted novel is that you can make up your own mind about what it all "means" for you personally. For me, philosophically speaking, it offers a relatively depressing outlook. But the book is most certainly well worth exploring.
Rating: 
Summary: Life of Pi: A 3.14 out of 5 Star effort.
Review: I have to start by saying that I didn't finish Life of PI. Rather, by page 200 or Chapter 57 (as in my edition of the book) I made a terrible realization: Two-thirds of the way through and I didn't care if Pi made it off the lifeboat or not. In fact, I was rooting for the tiger (or the orangutan, or the hyena, or the crippled zebra) to do me a great favor and make mincemeat of Pi. Facets of the book are enjoyable. I have a new interest in learning more about the Hindu religion. The concept of a boy being a practicing Hindu/Christian/Muslim is also a smart theme. I wish Martel had leaned more toward the struggle of a boy trying to find his way in his native land under scrutiny from his 'Wise Men' rather than marooning the protagonist in the middle of the ocean for the second act of the book. And yes, I have examined what it meant metaphorically for this to occur and it simply didn't work for me. But in Martel's book, the biggest flaw is that it can't just be an ocean, the ocean has to be blue and mirror-like and tossing and full of white caps and shark-infested and deep and mysterious and blah and blah and blah. The author's overly descriptive nature (excuse me if I fail to care about the physical characteristics of a rope) of EVERY thing, person or idea Pi encounters makes for a long, boring, frustrating read. Martel's adventure is a prime case of a good idea gone awry, sent to die a drawn out death by means of toxic filler. This book could have been so much more, if only Martel had allowed it to be much, much less.
Rating:
Summary: Life Of Pi
Review: This novel showed an intriguing introspection of a mature adolescent's life. Pi Patel is he intelligent son of a zoo owner living in Pondicherry, India with his mother and father. Pi spends most of his time at the zoo; it is the only place he is accepted by someone or something and he able to think there without being interrupted. As the reader you are told alluring stories of how animals behave in their new habitats and how various animals interact with each other. In the story we grow with Piscine Patel through his life until an event that will completely change his life forever.
Pi is an interesting sixteen year old Hindu child that is now a practicing Christian and Muslim. He is moving with his family to Canada along with their zoo animals. Boating through the Pacific Ocean to Canada the Japanese cargo ship they are on sinks. Pi is left by himself on the life boat while his family is still sleeping in the cabins and all of the zoo animals are trapped beneath in the cargo area. Pi is the only human who makes it alive safely and along the way he is joined by a wounded zebra, orangutan, spotted hyena, and Richard Parker, the 450 pound Bengal Tiger. Struggling through the incoherent, stark black nights and 227 unbearably long days we are swept into the adventures created within his psyche the struggles of his unexpected journey, and the myriad of thoughts spinning through his head. For instance, Pi often thinks that everyday will be the day he will be rescued, everything will be perfect, his family will join him on the boat along with Ravi his best friend, and they will then move about their lives. Pi is afraid of the nights. He doesn't know if there will be a ship that will pass by and if it does, will it see him. One by one, these animals are eliminated off of the rescue boat and all that is left is Richard Parker and Pi.
This captivating novel makes you want to keep on reading. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes a thought provoking and audacious plot. The book can be at times, slow moving, but without the details you wouldn't completely understand the climax of the book. Besides having a completely engaging story line, there is also a great deal to learn from this book. Martel understands and tells us about animal behavior, the importance of how the habitat must be thoroughly perfect and similar to the old habitat, and the way the food must be placed and served or the animal won't eat it. Not only that, but there is much more to learn. Religion is a major key in the conflict of the book. The reader is presented with the different religious philosophies and how some of the beliefs of Pi differ from his beliefs and this is why he practices so many religions.
The end of this novel is simply the best part. The way that Martel wraps up the ending scenarios is very periodically done. Without the knowledge of survival, religion, and even the smallest amount of enthusiasm, Pi Patel never would have survived his long journey.
Rating:
Summary: Very creative story
Review: At the beginning of this book, the reader is informed that the main character, Pi Patel, survived a terrible ordeal aboard a life boat many years ago. During the course of the book, Pi tells the story in great detail of how his zookeeper father attempted to move his family from India to Canada. Pi, along with his parents and brother, was aboard a ship that sank. He ended up on a life boat with a small group of animals, which his father was transporting to various zoos. By his wits and by the grace of God, whom he worships as a Christian, Muslim and a Hindu, Pi does survive an experience which would have killed a person with less hope or fewer survival skills. At the end, Pi is questioned by two Japanese men who represent the company who owned the ship that sank. They do not believe his story and so Pi tells the story again, in a condensed form which changes many of the important details. The reader is left with the dilemma as to which story is true. This is an extemely creative book which you won't soon forget!
Rating:
Summary: The Most Complete Novel I Have Read In A Long Time
Review: 'Life of Pi' is quite possibly the most complete novel I have ever read. By complete I mean this book not only contains a wide range of emotion (love, hate, fear, etc.), but it taught me more about my life and the world itself. Yann Martel touches on just about every subject he can. From religion to animal behavior. Pi tells the story of his life starting from his young days at school to how he came to be stuck on a 26-foot long lifeboat. For 226 days Pi and his fellow tiger are drifting on the great expanse of the ocean. Martel goes in great (some times graphic) detail of how the two different species co-exist on the long lifeboat. I do not know what else to say except: Buy This Book.
Rating:
Summary: A major factual error that detroys my enjoyment
Review: A muslim cleric will never have the name of Satish Kumar. This error which will not be noticed but anyone but an Indian, kept me from enjoying this book. All seemed a lie thereafter. Didn't he ask someone from India check the book for him before publishing?
Rating:
Summary: The Life of Pi
Review: Set in a French settlement in South India, this charming (and sometimes graphic) tale of survival rests heavily on a religious theme. Not in a bad or preachy way, but in a way that will definitely get your wheels turning. Was religion, God, and "the higher consciousness" something that has always existed, or are these things man-made products, created for the purpose of dealing with a world that's not quite sane? Interesting ideas, and in many other author's hands this material would be a turn off. But Martell is a master storyteller and the way he weaves this theme and others, into the lifeboat survival idea, is just beyond anything else I've experienced. Also recommend two other books that were equally enjoyable lately: The Birth of Venus and The Bark of the Dogwood.
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