Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Pi is a devout Christian, Hindu and Muslim. It may seem paradoxical, but to Pi God can wear different faces; after all what is reality other than a series of stories that you tell yourself to explain your observations? So when Pi is forced to explain how he survived months at sea, he tells two wildly different stories, and when you realize that both are true and untrue, every moment of the book comes together with perfect clarity. A true masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic, original and thoroughly enjoyable modern Read
Review: When I bought this book, I had no high hopes. In attempting to broaden my repertoire of modern literature I bought both this book and the equally excellent 'The curious incident of the Dog at night'.The premise for this book somehow left me with the impression that the 'animals' would start talking to each other as soon as the ship sank beneath the waves. You can rest assured, Richard Parker, the Bengal Tiger, and his compatriots speak in actions rather than words. The faith and religious connotations of this book are widely published, in my view unfairly so. Yes the boy, Pi, shows remarkable piety and faith, but this is much more an issue in his normal life. Once the liftboat starts to drift, with 226 and a half days left, Pi reverts to his own, marvellous, ingenuity. Despite occassional references to God, and a dogged resilience of faith (as the term suggests!) I feel that the miracle of the survival and the journey have much more pragmatic than theological roots. Much is also made of the ending of the book. To this I can only say that it is awe-inspiringly unique. The very idea which sets in slowly at first, left me thinking about it for days, as more and more implications surfaced. Buy this book. It is a fantastic, original and thoroughly enjoyable modern read.
Rating:
Summary: This is art
Review: This book is truly art. It's amazing that this was rejected by publishers before finally being successful. Of the three books I've read lately, BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, Brown's DA VINCI CODE, and this, LIFE OF PI is probably my favorite. With its mixture of faith, religion, survival, and fantasy, this stellar read has got to be the most unusual thing this side of India. Two hundred twenty-seven days on a boat with animals? That alone is a great premise, but what Martel does with this material is just fascinating. Also recommended: Bark of the Dogwood and Da Vinci Code
Rating: 
Summary: A surprisingly good book
Review: My opinion about Life of Pi by Yann Martel was completley different at the beginning of the book and at the end. I think the first 100 pages can be removed. I don't think they hold any real value. There are some good points about religion and such but I just don't think they have anything to do with the rest of the story, or Pi as a person. I guess the beginning could be a whole different story. I enjoyed the second part of the book, though, very much. It was very interesting to experience the detail in which Martel described what Pi had to eat to survive. I also thought the relationship built between Pi and Richard Parker was very clever. The ending so surprised me and if I read this book again I would read it with totally new eyes. There is symbolism that you could have not put together if you didn't know the catch at the end. So overall, Life of Pi was hard to actually get into but it turned out to be a very good book. I would recommend it to patient readers with great imaginations.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing work of Art
Review: Fantastic, profound, and at times more than painfully funny. I think that this is the least you can expect from a novel which chronicles a Hindu-Christian-Muslim son of a zookeeper in his pilgrimage across the Pacific Ocean with a single Bengal tiger as his only companion. Life of Pi defies definition, leaving you with no true expectations except to be surprised by nothing. The book is divided into three convenient, easily digestible portions, each of which focuses on a very distinct portion of Pi's journey. Book I opens with some pertinent biographical information. Piscine Molitor Patel was born to be the son of a kind zookeeper and named after the French word for swimming pool. His childhood was a wonderful blend of wild animals, schoolboy taunts, and various butcherings of his French name in British India. Early on he christens himself Pi, for simplicity and sanity, and the story can carry on once more. The highlight of this first section for me was the religious dialogues, as it is not common to find a boy practicing actively three generally mutual-exclusive religions. Author Yann Martel does an amazing job painting a striking commentary on the religious world and the way in which it works without overstepping any boundaries. The second section of the book, and the longest portion, seems to be the most engrossing and rapidly moving of the three. Book II follows Pi as his family's transport to Canada dies in the middle of the ocean with a "monstrous metallic burp". Within minutes Pi's life is changed forever as he finds himself alone in a lifeboat with a small menagerie, the sole survivors of the sunken Indian zoo transport. One by one the animals devour each other until it is just Pi and the Tiger, floating, thinking, praying on the Big Blue. It's a psychological ordeal, this survival of the fittest on the open sea, a battle of the wills to not lay down and bake to death under the southern sun, and at times it becomes exhausting to read, but it is never difficult to turn the page one more time. Book III picks up where Book II left off, but reviewing the end of a book can be downright confusing. To thoroughly examine and prescribe a level of rating without divulging the importancies of the plot is not necessarily possible. I can say however that Pi's story does draw to a fine close, and only in a remarkable manner such as Martel would allow it. Sufficed to say, the author crafted a masterpiece with Life of Pi, never ceasing to inspire and provoke questions and self-examination, and always with the trademark wit and dry humor for which I'm sure he will long be remembered.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I am only about 75 pages into this book but it is incredibly well-written and thought-provoking -- one of the best books I've picked up in a while.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most imaginative novels of the year
Review: Yann Martel's Life of Pi is perhaps the most imaginative novels of the year. It depicts the life of a kid and his youth in Pondycherry followed by spending 227 days with a Royal Bengal Tiger in the Sea. The novel is fantasy in its finest with different travails of the person and how hard it is for the kid. Unusually this book was rejected by a number of publishers before being published by "Canongate". Sometimes pearls are difficult to recognize. Before he is in Sea, he has philosophy about religion which is thought provoking and funny. The life is sea is hard and sad. The most imaginative part is the island. To people who have not read the novel, I do not wish to give the story away. Enough said that if you come to this part, you would wish that you had never missed this book. Unlike a lot of the other books that won the Booker, this was an unusual book that is difficult to classify. One thing is certain though, no one can complain about it lacking imagination, mixing genres or being morbid. It is a book that can appeal to all generations. This was an almost unknown author before this book. No one can question him for his literary style, content or imagination. However, in this book they come together wonderfully, which is a rare combination. His next book is supposed to be about the Holocaust, it will be interesting to see how that turns out.
Rating:
Summary: Quite Pleased
Review: Being an avid Non Fiction read in a book club-I was extremly pleased with this work by Yann Martel. It blends reality with fantasy in this inspirational piece about a childs journey through life. I would give this more than the 5 stars if I could and it is a highly recommended read that crosses the genre's.
Also would like to mention past works the club has read (all 5 stars): Running With Scissors,A Child Called It, The Privilege of Youth, One Child, and Nightmares Echo
Rating: 
Summary: I hated the book
Review: I thought the book was terrible, it was slow and uninteresting. I was extremely dissapointed. The hype about the book was so big. I thought it was going to be something great, but it could not hold my interest.
Rating:
Summary: Let's go Sailing
Review: Annotation: The Life of Pi is about a boy who lives with his parents in India. His father owns a zoo and the family lives at the zoo. Pi learns a lot about animals during his time in the zoo much of which ends up saving his life. Pi's father decides to move the family to Canada, but first, they must sell and deliver all of the animals. They take a ship from India across the Pacific Ocean with all of their belongings and animals. The ship sinks and Pi ends up stranded on a lifeboat with various animals. The majority of the story takes place on the lifeboat and is an amazing tale of survival. Author: Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963. His parents were of Canadian decent. He has lived many places some of which include: Mexico, British Columbia, and Alaska. He studied philosophy at Trent University. After College he began to write and has been living solely as a writer since the age of 27. He is the prize-winning author of The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccomatios. Evaluation: This is a very good book and I would recommend it to everyone. It's especially entertaining and inspirational. It's hard to believe but this story is actually based on a true story. This story has a spiritual side to it too; Pi is a very religious person who is part of three different religions. During his journey he prays a lot and that is perhaps why he makes it trough his horrible journey. Praying gives him the power to fight on when it seems hopeless. This is a very powerful story even if you aren't religious and everyone should read it.
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