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.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun and insightful too
Review: Parts of this book were actually laugh-out-loud funny, reminding me of McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or other expertly crafted novels that are not only funny but also have something to offer spiritually, intellectually, or emotionally. Pi, the son of a zookeeper, is saved only by his wonderful imagination, a bit of luck, and some oblique forays into religion. Like a cross between THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA and a Fontaine fable, this highly unusual book is guaranteed to be like nothing you've come across before.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow start but picked up...
Review: When I first started reading this book, I have to admit that I was somewhat bored, so I stopped reading it for a month or two and continued later. Probably 1/3 into the book, it started to pick up and finally, I felt better about purchasing this book. Very imaginative and well thought out. I couldn't believe how a book describing a situation of a boy at sea with a tiger could actually be interesting! Might be slow paced for some, but I think it's a good read.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST-READ!
Review: There is much to learn from Martel's careful study into animal and human behaviour. These animals come to life and bring different elements to the story. Each one is believable and comparable to humans, and Pi does just that in relating his second story. Cast into the direst of situations survival and its simplistic need demolish the line between animal and human. Soon Pi comes to the realization that his ravenous eating habits have paralleled that of the tiger. To survive the elements he himself has become an animal and surprisingly the boy feels little shame and accepts this fate. At the end of the book we are being tested when Pi relates a second story altogether more believable but dry and factual. By now we are such believers to Pi's incredible story that we still accept it even in the face of the far more sensible one. His adventure is so wondrous, so full of fantasy we do not want to accept cold hard facts. This book is a study into what it is to be human and the motions it goes through are natural and effortless. With storytelling at this high a quality one can not help but be completely drawn in and surrender themselves to the story. This book is wise as it is original and I can honestly say that reading it will change you. I congratulate Martel on such a wonderful read and the thoughts it provoked in my mind. A good book makes us look at life in a new perspective and I can say with complete confidence that Life of Pi exceeds in this respect and then some. Once it has drawn you in there is honestly no returning. There are such fresh insights and wisdom to be found in this book and a universal quality that has it destined to become a classic. It's a strange and wonderful read deserving of the booker prize and I'm sure anybody can and will enjoy it. Another Amazon pick I loved is THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez
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