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Summary: Martel's Point Misunderstood?
Review: This novel is one of the best novels I have ever read. I don't understand how anyone can call it boring. Far-fetched, yes. But boring, no. I think these readers must have missed the importance of Pi's interview with the Japanese investigators. Stunning novel. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.
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Summary: Beautiful Prose!
Review: I actually finished reading this delightful novel just a few minutes ago. Martel's prose is delightful and masterful. The story he weaves captivates and enchants. I do not understand the few (albeit minority) who did not like this novel... I would contend that they just didn't "get it." Like Hemingway, Martel's structure is simple, but pointedly powerful. Like the deft hand of a painter, he places his words on the page exactly where they should be and does not clutter. And the story he tells is insightful and thought-provoking. Truly an unforgettable yarn. Highly Recommended!
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Summary: The ending has a lot to be desired.....
Review: Very lengthy book. It could have been made concise and to the point. The raft and the animals was a novel way of a kid surviving the pacific. Is it believable - definitely NOT. It is an adventourous book however, I will NOT reccomend to any family with children and/or kids. After I bought the book and read it I was so upset with the ending - I threw the book away. In fact I discussed with my friends that it is time that Books too have a rating standard if publishers are willing to publish this gibberish. To give credit- Martel starts the book very well and tells a new kind of adventure for young boys. After that it is all downhill.
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Summary: Pi, the sea, the sky and a tiger
Review: I agree with other reviewers about the impossibility to put down this book once you get going. It is a refreshing book on several senses: it renews and reinvigorates the great tradition of sea and castaway stories, but it also refreshes contemporary literature by writing about an incredible accomplishment, instead of the now usual complains of navel-gazing intellectuals. It contains reminiscences of other authors, yet in a new light. I was reminded of Conrad and Melville, but also of Poe -Arthur Gordon Pym- and, of course, Defoe. It could be said that Pi is a Robinson Crusoe confined to an even smaller island and in worse company: his Friday bites. Beyond the great stroytelling skills of Martel, Pi is ultimately a story of pure survival under the most horrible conditions imaginable. It is also a story about the power of faith and the uselessnes of religious confrontations, since all great religions have the same core values and what's important is our personal relationship with the Divine, however you may conceive of it. By the way, I strongly disagree with one reviewer below who recommends skipping the first 100 pages. They are indispensable to understand Pi's attitude towards his predicament, as well as to understand his strategy to cope with the tiger, Richard Parks. Just as any other great adventure book, it goes well beyond the story itself: it has a message, and one that fortunately can be understood at different levels by different readers. Sometimes it resembles a fable, sometimes just a hallucination, but it fits perfectly in the tradition of sea-going adventures which confront Man with total solitude in the face of terrible circumstances, and hence, with Man's faith in God and in himself and the need to extract all his resources just in order to stay alive. A very welcome book that reveals the complete health of literature.
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Summary: Parts are excellents while others are tedious
Review: This is a very uneven read. The early parts of the book are fascinating, especially in their insight into the family dynamic that Pi faces. If the rest of the novel had matched the parts describing life at the zoo, his brother's interaction with him, and his dabbling at a variety of religions, then the life of Pi could have been much more powerful. Unfortunately, the better known part of the novel, Pi's stay adrift a lifeboat in the Pacific with Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger, is slow and relatively uninteresting. One must slug through this section of the novel. Looking through the reader reviews, some must not have found it this way, but for me, the lack of action of any kind mirrors the hopelessness Pi must feel at his own plight. The ending redeems much of this, and the character of Pi is well drawn throughout the novel. Again I am at a loss to understand the Mann Booker Prize being awarded to a seriously flawed novel when an excellent book like Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is passed over. If you are looking for a riveting read, go for Fingersmith ... its 500 pages go much faster than Life of Pi.
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Summary: the most wonderfully odd little book you'll read this year!
Review: What a wonderfully unique and absolutely refreshing piece of fiction this is! A little novel truly out of the ordinary - I was glued to it - it is so mesmerizing! For any teachers out there - it would probably make for a great novel to study at the highschool level; plenty of material to analyse here!!!
Read it! Read it! Read it!!
Rating:
Summary: A dissapointment
Review: This book was higly recommended in various publications, so I was looking forward to reading it. I generally like books that are "different" (Gabriel Garcia Marquez etc.) but this book left me cold. I think it might be that I had recently read "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex", which is a better (and true!) account of being lost at sea. Except for the fantasy element of the Tiger, this is basically the same story. I have to agree with another reviewer that the whole segment on the island was awkwardly out of place. The book simply did not live up to the hype.
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Summary: WARNING: AFTER THE FIRST READING, ANOTHER READING MAY OCCUR
Review: "Life of Pi" is simply great. There isn't another way to say it. Everything about it is beautiful. While it may seem simple, its is complex. While it is complicated, it is truly very simple. Don't get what the heck I just said? Then read "Life of Pi". "Life of Pi" was written in simple form: the novel is very straightforward in terms of word and sentence structure. But the way symbols are used and connections are made is astonishing. For days, maybe weeks, after I read "Life of Pi" I would think: "Oh my God! That chapter connected with another chapter! That gives an entirely new prespective!" and other thoughts of that nature (everyone followed by an awed "wow"). The highest honor a book can acheive is to make the reader think. "Life of Pi" certainly acheives this goal.
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Summary: Suspend belief and enjoy an enchanting ,unforgettable tale
Review: It's hard to write a short review of this book since it is complex and really unique. So many things happen that you will want to talk about this tale as it unfolds and discuss it after you finish.
An author's note sets up the tale and we are told how Martel came to hear of a story "that will make you believe in God" But this is not a religious story. It is a tale of a fascinating 16 year old boy, his life in India growing up in the environs of a small zoo, and what he learns there of animals and life.
When his father decides to move to Canada, the animals are packed up and they and the family board a steamer for the trip. As the ship sinks in the Indian Ocean, only a few survivors make it to a life raft. And there the fascinating tale begins in earnest. What is so compelling about this story--is it the personality of Pi, the Indian boy? Or the story of survival in the lifeboat for so many months? Or is it how he conquered his fears and lived day to day despite the terrors he experienced including living with a tiger in a small boat? It is all of it plus some gruesome events that Pi had to endure to stay alive and his philosophy that kept him going. As I read this book, I discussed the events as they happened with my husband (you won't believe what just happened...) When the story finally came to an end in a very surprising way, I really wanted to discuss how it all happened. If you can suspend belief and jump with both feet into this story, and you don't mind a few gruesome scenes along the way, you are in for a delightful treat. Highly recommended.
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Summary: I was caught up in the magic of this book for days.
Review: C.S. Lewis meets Dean Koontz. Our 16 year old hero is the son on an Indian zoo owner and is intent on his search for enlightenment. When the father decides to sell the animals and move his family to Canada the story is set in motion. The Japanese cargo ship upon which they travel sinks! Young Pi spends the better part of a year aboard a lifeboat, sharing his meger proisions with a hyena, an orantang and a Bengal tiger to name a few of his boatmates. His life is emeshed in pure horror as we follow his day to day activities of avoiding the sharks that surround him and the wild animals that share his small space. The constant quest for water and food to feed himself and keep the tiger at bay add to the daily misery he must endure. We have storms at sea and an enchanted island to wrap ourselves around while we turn the pages of this captivating book. One cannot give away an ending but it's fair to say that the book is not over until the reader closes the cover and and dashes to the kitchen to float a piece of fruit in the sink.
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