Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was quite excited to read this, but despite a great introduction, I found the book mediocre and, frankly, pretty gross. Don't read this if you have a sensitive stomach--the descriptions of zebra's being eaten alive from the inside out and the deliciousness of turtle blood is a bit much to take. It just never had the payoff I expected. A very disappointing book.
Rating: 
Summary: A story about the essence of life
Review: The novel is rich in thought, but a bit surreal. Parts of it our funny.
Searching for a story, the author flies to Madras India where an elderly man tells him "I have a story that will make you believe in God." (p.x) The story is about Piscene Molitor Patel, an Indian named after a swimming pool in Paris, and his relationship with a tiger with whom he shared a lifeboat.
The author acknowledges his indebtedness to "Mr Moacyr Scliar, for the spark of life." (p.xii) Twenty-one years earlier, Mr. Scliar, a Brazilian writer, wrote Max and the Cats, a book about a young Jew shipwrecked on a lifeboat with a panther.
At age 16, Pi sails from Madras with his mother, father and brother and his father's zoo animals on board the Panama registered Japanese cargo ship Tsimstum bound for Canada. Twelve days later the ship sinks. Pi drifts for 227 days in a lifeboat from the Philippines to Tomatlan, Mexico. "Winds and currents decided where I went." (p.193)
Pi saves Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger, from drowning, but then has second thoughts: "Wait a second. Together? We'll be together? Have I gone mad?" (p.99)
Pi's environment in the lifeboat is like that of a wild animal, "an environment where the supply of fear is high, and the supply of food low and where territory must constantly be defended and parasites forever endured." (p.16)
Reason, that "fool's gold for the bright" (p.5), is Pi's defense against fear: "Reason is fully equipped with the latest weapons technology. But to your amazement, despite superior tactics and a number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low. You feel yourself weakening, wavering. Your anxiety becomes dread." (p.161)
In the lifeboat he adapts himself to the three religions he embraced growing up: he practices "solitary Masses without priests or consecrated Communion hosts, darshans without murtis, and pujas with turtle meat for prasad, acts of devotion to Allah not knowing where Mecca was and getting my Arabic wrong." (p.208)
Pi wishes for a Gideon Bible but all he has is the survival manual "which I must have read ten thousand times over the course of my ordeal." (p.208) He tries to keep a diary, writing in tiny letters for fear of not having paper, but in the end his pen runs out of ink.
Pi's emotions run deep. He experiences "the worst pair of opposites . . . boredom and terror."(p.217) Like a pendulum his life swings from one to the other. As the oil tanker powers past, paying no attention to the lifeboat, Pi turns to Richard Parker, the Bengal Tiger who is his companion, and says "I love you." When the lifeboat hits the beach in Mexico and Richard Parker leaps into the jungle, Pi cries because their relationship "ends so unceremoniously."(p.285) Pi's describes his separation from Richard Parker as "an axe that chops at my heart." (p.16)
The juxtaposition of a vegetarian Indian teenager and a carnivorous 450 pound tiger, adapting to each other, makes Pi philosophic: "Things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it." (p.91)
Rating:
Summary: Well Deserving Of It's Booker Prize Win
Review: If I can say one thing about this book it is this, it will be unlike anything you have ever read. Our main character Pi tells our writer that he has a story that will make him believe in God. A tall order, as Pi is a practicing Catholic, Muslim, and Hindu. The story Pi tells is an amazing one. Now at first the idea of a teenage boy shipwrecked on a life boat with a tiger, a hyena, a orangutan and a zebra seems almost ridiculous to say the least, but trust me, it's anything but. I read this book in one sitting, it had me that hooked.The feel of this book is almost indescribable, yes it's surreal but by stripping down life to its' most basic elements (survival, strength, weakness, compassion, cruelty, resourcefulness and faith), it makes painfully clear how fragile our existance truly is. I can't predict what you will believe after it's over, I know however you will be thinking about it for some time. You will just have to read this one for yourself, now.
Rating:
Summary: loose and disappointing
Review: The power of the Booker Prize to promote mediocre works is impressive. This novel is sometimes amusing, but often careless and self-indulgent with loose writing. It's a fantasy with one character and that character not deeply known. It's pretensions of religious insight are more flashy than wise, and too often the author seems to be straining to keep the story going with pointless invention. This is far from the best among current novels.
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre and compulsively readable!
Review: This is a story that will make you believe in God. And so Martel begins his book. Reading such a statement, I certainly had to see if the story is indeed worth such a life altering claim. Martel has cleverly and convincingly brought together a Zebra, a Hyena, an Orangutan, a Tiger, and a boy, on a life boat. Nature's takes over and man and beast are brought to the same common denominator. Who will adapt? Who will survive? How? It must be said that this book has a deeper meaning I am still resolving. However, since the story kept getting more fantastic and weird, it was all I could do to just keep up with the plot. Martel makes some poignant remarks regarding the search for God and other reviewers have hinted the struggle on the life boat is merely an allegory. Ultimately, I just enjoyed it because it was a fun and interesting story that was just so bizarre. I still can't believe Martel was able to pull this off. I hear he is currently working on a novel about an elephant in a submarine.
Rating:
Summary: Rudyard Kipling Would be Proud
Review: It took me three weeks to finally find this book. It flew off the shelves like hot cakes once it won the Man Booker Prize in England. However, once I got my hands on a copy, I read it from cover to cover. From the very beginning, Martel is able to enticingly draw the reader into a world that most of us in the western world have never seen before. His travels in India are apparent in the detail he uses when describing Pi's hometown of Pondicherry, and his talent for developing the main characters is done very well in my opinion, delivering enough detail to make it extremely authentic, but not overpowering the reader at the same time. Martel's style is simultaneously powerful, confident, and unassuming. The "meaty" part of the book is used to describe Pi's incredible (and harrowing) journey across the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat with a tiger. Don't let the description fool you. This book isn't sweet and cuddly; as is apparent by Martel's description of Richard Parker and his various companions on the lifeboat. This journey is one of life and death. I've never read anything quite like "Life of Pi", apart from Kipling. This is on the same level in it's fableistic qualities. Instantly a classic in my opinion, it won't ever be outdated. This is the type of book that could be read a hundred years from now and still be great. 5 STARS!!!
Rating:
Summary: So vivid, I was convinced this was an autobiography
Review: Beautifully written. A real testatment to the human spirit and certainly the best book I've read in a long time.
Rating:
Summary: A Book of Life, also read SB 1 or God
Review: This book is one huge adventure into the life of seeking out. Not at all what it outwardly conveys, the theme is in fact our journey, what most people search out. Tells tales of who we are through characters other than humans. Pi's life is changed in a ship sinking. The ship wreck, reveals our first dive into life, the mix we suddenly become aware of and how we would like to meld in. The dive in can't be manipulated, however we can choose many different routes, even almost to the point of ignoring the journey we are on, a form of spiritual blindness is revealed. We all seem to carry these thoughts around with us all our lives. this book offers real portals which a reader can take great advantage of. As far as writing style and editing, the book flows amazingly well, there are no characters or events in the book that can be forgotten or confused with, very clear throughout. I have to say this is one of the most intelligent themes I have ever been able to comprehend, a similar book which should be read in conjunction with this is SB or God
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Voyage
Review: When hearing about the premise of this book, I thought it was intended to be a fable at best. I mean, a story of a sixteen year old Indian boy and a Bengal Tiger that share a life boat after their ship sinks couldn't be a real premise, could it? Man was I wrong. This fantastic adventure story is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit, a fascinating study of the way we relate to animals both behind and in front of bars,as well as a raw example of the human instict for survival. Pi Patel's sometimes violent recounting of his over 200 days at sea is one of the most engaging books I've read this year.I've already started stocking up on copies to give to people for the holidays.
Rating:
Summary: Simply fantastic
Review: At age 43, I am amazed that there are still any books left in this world to grip and amaze me. Life of Pi....I cannot even put into words what a fine write it is. The intelligence, humor, history, fun, oh...forget it. Just read it. Sarah
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