Life of Pi (Paperback) by Yann Martel - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

rating	frequency	%
5		28%
4		36%
3		22%
2		7%
1		3%

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SUMMER CHALLENGE 2009	3878	4525	1 hour, 26 min ago
Novel Ladies: Author Alphabet	642	51	4 hours, 7 min ago
Gigi's Company: Author - Title Game	424	199	5 hours, 28 min ago

11/17/07

Eva rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

Read in October, 2002

It is not so much that The Life of Pi, is particularly moving (although it is). It isn’t even so much that it is written with language that is both delicate and sturdy all at once (which it is, as well). And it’s certainly not that Yann Martel’s vision filled passages are so precise that you begin to feel the salt water on your skin (even though they are). It is that, like Bohjalian and Byatt and all of the great Houdini’s of the literary world, in the last few moments of your journ...more It is not so much that The Life of Pi, is particularly moving (although it is). It isn’t even so much that it is written with language that is both delicate and sturdy all at once (which it is, as well). And it’s certainly not that Yann Martel’s vision filled passages are so precise that you begin to feel the salt water on your skin (even though they are). It is that, like Bohjalian and Byatt and all of the great Houdini’s of the literary world, in the last few moments of your journey – after you’ve felt the emotions, endured the moments of heartache, yearned for the resolution of the characters’ struggle – that you realize the book is not what you thought it was. The story transforms, instantly, and forever.

And in those last few chapters, you suddenly realize that the moral has changed as well.

You feel Martel’s words lingering, suggesting, and you find yourself wondering whether you are his atheist who takes the deathbed leap of faith – hoping for white light and love? Or the agnostic who , in trying to stay true to his reasonable self, explains the mysteries of life and death in only scientific terms, lacking imagination to the end, and, essentially, missing the better story?

There is no use in trying to provide a brief synopsis for this ravishing tale of a young boy from India left adrift in the Pacific in a lifeboat with a tiger who used to reside in his father’s zoo in Pondicherry. There is no use because once you finish the book you might decide that this was not, indeed, what the book was about at all. There is no use because, depending on your philosophical bent, the book will mean something very different to your best friend than it will to you. There is no use because it is nearly impossible to describe what makes this book so grand.

Read this book. Not because it is an exceptional piece of literary talent. It is, of course. But there are many good authors and many good books. While uncommon, they are not endangered. Read this book because in recent memory - aside from Jose Saramago’s arresting Blindness – there have been no stories which make such grand statements with such few elements. As Pi says in his story “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn’t be more simple, nor the stakes higher.” It is the same with Martel’s undulating fable of a book about a boy in a boat with a tiger. A simple story with potentially life altering consequences for it’s readers.

As Martel writes, "The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?" Like Feynman’s cat in the box, the way this book is understood, the way it is perceived affects what it is. There has been some talk that this book will make it’s readers believe in god. I think it’s a question of perspective. To behold this gem of a novel as an adventure of man against the elements (the “dry, yeastless factuality” of what actually happened) is certainly one way to go about it. But to understand this piece to be something indescribable, something godlike, is by far the greater leap of faith.

Oh, but worth the leap, if the reader is like that atheist, willing to see the better story.

(less)

Like this review? yes (106 people liked it)

10 comments

03/02/08

Trevor rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

I found a lot of this book incredibly tedious. I tend to avoid the winners of the Man / Booker – they make me a little depressed. The only Carey I haven’t liked won the Booker (Oscar and Lucinda), I really didn’t like the little bit of Vernon God Little I read and I never finished The Sea despite really liking Banville’s writing. So, being told a book is a winner of the Booker tends to be a mark against it from the start, unfortunately.

I’m going to have to assume you hav...more

Like this review? yes (42 people liked it)

28 comments

07/28/07

Marie sweeney rated it:

(review of isbn 0156027321)

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: people that can't get enough of Carl Jung and his wack-a-noodle ideas

Sift a pinch of psychology with a scant tablespoon of theology, add one part Island of the Blue Dolphin with two parts philosophy, mix with a pastry blender or the back of a fork until crumbly but not dry and there you have Pi and his lame-o, cheesed out, boat ride to enlightenment.
Actually I liked the beginning of this book- loved Pi's decleration and re-naming of himself, his adding religions like daisy's to a chain, and was really diggin on the family as a whole and then....then, the...more

Like this review? yes (32 people liked it)

13 comments

12/13/07

Tiffany rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

bookshelves: 2008, literature

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Tiffany by: media hype
recommends it for: atheists who want confirmation for their beliefs

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I discovered early in The Life of Pi why the main character was named after a infinite number - the book is an interminable bore. This book is sort of a Rorschach test for religious belief, so here's my take. If you haven't read Pi yet and want to, the rest of my review will spoil it for you, so be warned. The story is told in 3 parts. The opening is a reflection back on Pi's childhood at the zoo in Pondicherry. During this segment, he tells us that his story will lead us to have faith in God, a...more I discovered early in The Life of Pi why the main character was named after a infinite number - the book is an interminable bore. This book is sort of a Rorschach test for religious belief, so here's my take. If you haven't read Pi yet and want to, the rest of my review will spoil it for you, so be warned. The story is told in 3 parts. The opening is a reflection back on Pi's childhood at the zoo in Pondicherry. During this segment, he tells us that his story will lead us to have faith in God, and that the next part of the story "has a happy ending."
In the next section of the book, Pi is on a boat that sinks. His family dies and he floats on a lifeboat with several animals including a very dangerous tiger. At first, the tiger is hidden from Pi's view, but as he becomes more desperate to survive and more willing to stretch the boundaries of his civilized nature, the tiger emerges and the two survive together. The tiger is symbolic of Pi's animal nature, which allows him to resort to whatever he must do to survive such a harrowing experience. He resorts to cannibalism, eating feces, and several other disgusting things in his efforts to survive, and advises the reader not to judge him harshly.
In the meantime, he is performing religious rituals that he makes up and says that God helped him survive. My reading of this was fairly dark and I'm assuming this was tongue in cheek. He talks in one breath about atrocities and in the next about God saving him. It struck me as the opposite of Martel's stated intent to make someone believe in God; rather, he was making fun of people who do. Pi finds an island of algae where he floats for several days. It appears to be beautiful and a respite from his troubles - in actuality, it's an ugly, horrible place where innocent, peaceful creatures are gobbled up by the tiger, and Pi is happy for them to be sacrificed. Pi's feet are burned by the ground. Fruit has teeth. Nothing is at it seems. In my opinion, the island is a representation of the promise of organized religion. It looks beautiful and promises respite from grief and sorrow, hunger and despair. But in actuality, beliefs divide us; people are killed for religion. Many times we float "alone" but for the presence of God, or we face illness, pain, death, despair. We are left to ask ourselves why God has abandoned us if our faith is not strong. What should be good turns hideous.
In the final section, Pi leaves the island and is rescued. The men who come to interview him are told the story of Pi's journey to safety, and they don't believe him. Pi at first tells them that they should take his story on faith, much like we take our religion beliefs and Biblical teachings on faith.
When the men are not satisfied about Pi's account, he changes his story so that it's easier for the interviewers to understand - saying that each animal actually represented a person. Which is true is left open to the readers interpretation. Pi tells of the atrocities he committed, and the atrocities committed by the other survivors. He explains how he murdered one of his crewmates to survive. Then, after the other man's death, "Solitude began. I turned to God. I survived." It's over the top ironic - he only turns to God AFTER he murders someone! If he hadn't committed a murder, he would have been killed by the other man. God comes into play after there is nothing to fear.
Pi asks the interviewers which story they prefer - the cleaned up version with the animals, or the version with the people committing murders and atrocities against each other. They prefer the animal version. Pi says, "And so it goes with God." We prefer the nicer version, the cleaned up version. Not the version where God leaves us to struggle and we suffer, but the version where love triumphs and God stands beside us. The "happy ending" is one that is manufactured - Martel's truth seems to be that we people of faith are dupes; if only we would look at the darkness, we would see the humanity in it. He fails to understand that that is exactly the point of faith.
(less)

Like this review? yes (23 people liked it)

9 comments

06/06/08

Adrian Rush rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

bookshelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

No need to reinvent the wheel. Here's my Amazon.com review:

It doesn't matter whether what you tell people is truth or fiction, because there's no such thing as truth, no real difference between fantasy and reality, so you might as well go with the more interesting story. That's "Life of Pi" in a nutshell. Sorry to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet.

Remember that season of the TV series "Dallas" that turned out to be just a dream? That's kind o...more No need to reinvent the wheel. Here's my Amazon.com review:

It doesn't matter whether what you tell people is truth or fiction, because there's no such thing as truth, no real difference between fantasy and reality, so you might as well go with the more interesting story. That's "Life of Pi" in a nutshell. Sorry to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet.

Remember that season of the TV series "Dallas" that turned out to be just a dream? That's kind of how you feel after you've invested hours of your time reading page after page of a quite engrossing survival narrative, only to find out that it was all something the survivor made up.

Or was it? Ah, there's the twist that we're supposed to find so clever. But the officials from the ship company who tell Pi they don't believe his story are such hopelessly weak strawmen that the author pretty much forces you to accept the "better story." Pi, and, by extension, Martel, have no patience for the "dry, yeastless factuality" that the ship officials want, you see. Never mind whether it's closer to the truth -- it's just too boring, and we need colorful stories to make our lives richer. Besides, Pi and Martel say, as soon as something leaves your mouth, it's no longer reality -- it's only your interpretation of reality. So why bother grasping for the truth? You prefer the Creation story to the Big Bang? Then go with the Creation story, even if it defies logic and scientific discovery.

That's all well and good. Everyone likes a good story. But there's a time and a place for them, and the ship officials didn't need a story -- they needed to know what happened to their ship. To that end, Pi's entire tale is irrelevant anyway. And that, in turn, makes you wonder what the whole point of the book was. Other than, maybe, to laud the power of storytelling in a really hamfisted manner. Or to advocate for taking refuge in fantastical fiction when reality is too harsh. Or to champion shallow religious beliefs ("Why, Islam is nothing but an easy sort of exercise, I thought. Hot-weather yoga for the Bedouins. Asanas without sweat, heaven without strain."). Or to bash agnostics. Or something.

Be advised that this is not a book for children or the squeamish. Pi's transformation from vegetarian to unflinching killer, and Richard Parker's dietary habits, are rife with gratuituously gory details about the manner in which animals suffer and are killed and eaten.

The story promises to make you believe in God. Yet with Martel's insistence that a well-crafted story is just as good as or even preferable to reality, he leaves us not believing in a god of any kind, but rather suggesting that we embrace the stories that religions have made up about their gods, regardless of those stories' relation to scientific knowledge, since the stories are so darn nice, comfy, warm, and fuzzy in comparison with real life. Whether the God in the stories actually exists, meanwhile, becomes totally irrelevant. So ultimately, Martel makes a case for why he thinks people SHOULD believe in God -- it's a respite from harsh reality, we're told, a way to hide from life rather than meet it head-on with all of its pains and struggles -- and that's quite different from what he ostensibly set out to do. He trivializes God into a "nice story," a trite characterization sure to offend many readers.

Pi sums up this postmodern worldview by telling the ship investigators, "The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no?" Well, no, the world IS just the way it is, in all of its highs and lows, triumphs and tragedies, happiness and sadness. But Pi and Martel's solution is to avoid the whole messy thing altogether, pretend that the way things are don't really exist, and pull a security blanket of fiction over your head. Create your own reality as you see fit. That's called escapism. It's fine when you want to curl up with a good book on a rainy day and get lost in the story for a few hours, but it's a lousy way to try to deal with real life.

Pi would tell me that I lack imagination, just as he told the investigators they lacked imagination when Pi claimed he couldn't "imagine" a bonsai tree since he's never seen one, as a way of mocking the investigators' reluctance to believe in Pi's carnivorous island. (Nice cultural stereotyping with the bonsai, by the way -- the investigators are Japanese.) But you see the problem, right? It's not a matter of lacking imagination. It's a matter of conflating things that are obviously imaginary with things that are obviously real. They're not one and the same. It's ludicrous to suggest otherwise. You might as well say that the story of Frodo and the Ring is every bit as real as the American Revolution.

Pi also tells us, quite pointedly, that choosing agnosticism is immobilizing, while atheists and religious folks make a courageous leap of faith. Yet immobility is precisely where Pi places us, so that by the time the book ends, you're stuck not knowing what to think about what you've just read. Do you accept the original shipwreck story just because it's more engrossing, even if it's less believable? Or do you accept the plausible but boring story Pi gives to the officials after he's rescued? Fanciful religious allegories or cold, scientific recitation of facts that might come from the mouth of an atheist -- we're expected to pick one or the other.

But it's a false dichotomy. We needn't make a choice between embracing religious tales merely because they're more interesting or settling for the sobering realities of science and reason. We can go as far as our reason will take us and then leave ourselves open to further possibilities -- just as Pi himself suggests. That's not immobility. That's intellectual honesty -- an admission that I don't know all the answers but am willing to keep an open mind about whatever else is presented to me.

Seems better than saying you might as well just accept the better story since it really makes no difference. That's laziness. And it doesn't make for a very good story. (less)

Like this review? yes (20 people liked it)

7 comments

01/15/08

Mary rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

bookshelves: gave-up

Read in January, 2008

It's not that it was bad, it's just that I wish the tiger had eaten him so the story wouldn't exist.

I read half of it, and felt really impatient the whole time, skipping whole pages, and then I realized that I didn't have to keep going, which is as spiritual a moment as I could hope to get from this book.

Like this review? yes (15 people liked it)

1 comment

08/11/07

Teresa rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

bookshelves: readandreviewed

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in October, 2005

On the surface, it's the story of a 16 year old Indian boy named "Pi" who, when he and his zookeeping family decide to transplant themselves and some animals to Canada, ends up stranded on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-lb Bengal tiger named "Richard Parker."
Don't let the Rudyard Kipling-ness of the plot fool you! In reality, this book is an examination of faith in all its forms. Young Pi loves God, and to prove it he becomes Christian and Mus...more On the surface, it's the story of a 16 year old Indian boy named "Pi" who, when he and his zookeeping family decide to transplant themselves and some animals to Canada, ends up stranded on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-lb Bengal tiger named "Richard Parker."
Don't let the Rudyard Kipling-ness of the plot fool you! In reality, this book is an examination of faith in all its forms. Young Pi loves God, and to prove it he becomes Christian and Muslim in addition to his native Hinduism. He also loves animals, and much of the book examines animal psychology and its relationship to human psychology in a vibrant, interesting way.

This book had me asking questions about my life, my beliefs, and my society on just about every page....and when the reader gets to the end (which I won't spoil here), the reader is forced to ask themself the kind of person they really are. If ever there was a novel that could be called a litmus test, it's this one. "The Life of Pi" will, at the very least, entertain through its sharp storytelling, but it can also help a reader examine how they see the world - and isn't that the point of great literature?

Favorite quotes:

"I felt a kinship with him. It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith. LIke me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap."

"But I don't insist. I don't mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both."

"And so, when she first heard of Hare Krishnas, she didn't hear right. She heard 'hairless Christians', and that is what they were to her for many years. When I corrected her, I told her that in fact she was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims."

"Christianity is a religion in a rush. Look at the world created in seven days. Even on a symbolic level, that's creation in a frenzy. To one born in a religion where the battle for a single soul can be a relay race run over many centuries, with innumerable generations passing along the baton, the quick resolution of Christianity has a dizzying effect. If Hinduism flows placidly like the Ganges, then Christianity bustles like Toronto at rush hour. It is a religion as swift as a swallow, as urgent as an ambulance. It turns on a dime, expresses itself in the instant. In a moment, you are lost or saved. Christianity stretches back through the ages, but in essence it exists only at one time: right now."
(less)

Like this review? yes (14 people liked it)

2 comments

10/13/07

Annalisa rated it:

(review of isbn 0151008116)

bookshelves: book-club, fantasy-sci-fi, psychology

Read in March, 2007

recommended to Annalisa by: Crystalyn
recommends it for: book clubs, thinkers

I read this book two years ago, but when we discussed it this month for book club, I remembered how much I liked it, and realized how much I love to discuss it. If for the discussion alone, this is an excellent choice for a book club. A good discussion always ups my appreciation of a novel as does an ending that makes me question the story. I find myself reading contradictory interpretations and agreeing with both sides. That's the beauty of symbolism: as long as you back up your cause, it's pla...more

Like this review? yes (18 people liked it)

add a comment

10/18/08

Vera rated it:

(review of isbn 9792211063)

bookshelves: buku-boleh-pinjem, fiction, translated-into-indonesian

Read in January, 2009

Batang Bambu dan Tandan Pisang Majene
Republika, 14 Januari 2009

Hujan deras dan angin kencang tak membuat Kapal Motor (KM) Teratai Prima goyah. Kapal berpenumpang 250 orang yang bertolak dari Pelabuhan Parepare, Sulawesi Selatan, menuju Samarinda, Kalimantan Timur, itu tetap melaju.
...
Suasana laut yang memang tak bersahabat, makin membuat mereka tak kuasa menahan kantuk. Ahad dinihari (11/1),... bukan mimpi indah yang membangunkannya, tapi hantaman keras gelombang an...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

6 comments

07/14/08

Jesse rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Life of Pi was a fairly engaging story in terms of plot and character, but what made it such a memorable book, for me at least, was its thematic concerns. Basically, this is one of the most thematically interesting and thought-provoking books I've read in a while, even though it's a fairly simple story. Is it a "story that will make you believe in God," as Pi claims? I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I would say that many people who enjoy thinking about the nature of reality and the po...more Life of Pi was a fairly engaging story in terms of plot and character, but what made it such a memorable book, for me at least, was its thematic concerns. Basically, this is one of the most thematically interesting and thought-provoking books I've read in a while, even though it's a fairly simple story. Is it a "story that will make you believe in God," as Pi claims? I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I would say that many people who enjoy thinking about the nature of reality and the possibility of God would find this a compelling read.

To me, the entire thrust of the book [SPOILER ALERT] is aimed at the idea that reality is a story, and therefore we can choose our own story (as the author himself put it). So if life is a story, that leaves us two basic choices: we can limit ourselves only to what we can know for sure - that is, to "dry, yeastless factuality" - or we can choose "the better story." I suppose in Pi's world the "better story" includes God, but he doesn't suggest that this is the only meaningful possibility. In fact, Pi calls atheists his "brothers and sisters of a different faith," because, like Pi, atheists "go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap."

Pi's point, in my opinion, is that human experience always involves interpretation, that our knowledge is necessarily limited, that both religious belief and atheism require a leap of faith of one kind or another. It's not that you must believe in God to be happy (even though Pi clearly finds peace in his beliefs); rather, the important thing is that you make a choice to bring meaning and richness to your life, that you look beyond pure, uninterpreted fact and find a better reality, that you exercise faith and strive for ideals (whatever the object of your faith and whatever those ideals might be ). Or as Pi himself puts it: "To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."

In the end, I didn't necessarily read this book as an invitation to believe in God, but rather as a mirror held up to the reader, a test to see what kind of worldview the reader holds. [SPOILER ALERT] That is, as Pi himself says, since "it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without the animals?" Or, as I took it: Is it my nature to reach for and believe the better but less likely story? Or do I tend to believe the more likely but less lovely story? What view of reality do I generally adhere to?

Another equally important question is this: How did I come by my view of reality? Do I view the world primarily through the lens of reason? Or do I view it through the lens of emotion? For Pi, I think it's safe to say his belief comes by way of emotion. He has, as one reviewer noted, a certain scepticism about reason (in fact, Pi calls it "fool's gold for the bright"). Pi also has what I would call a subtle but real basis for his belief in God, namely, "an intellect confounded yet a trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." But belief still isn't easy for him. Despite his trusting sense of purpose, Pi acknowledges that "Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer." So it's not that a life of faith is easier, in Pi's opinion, it's that for him belief is ultimately more worthwhile.

This is not to say, however, that Pi holds a completely postmodern view of God or that he believes in God as a matter of art rather than in a sincere way. [SPOILER ALERT] True, Pi suggests that whether you believe his story has a tiger in it is also a reflection of your ability to believe in something higher. And of course it's easy to read Pi's entire story as an attempt to put an acceptable gloss on a horrific experience. Still...there are a number of clues throughout the book that give the reader at least some reason to believe that Pi's story DID have a tiger in it (for instance, the floating banana and the meerkat bones). As such, Pi's two stories could be seen as an acknowledgement that both atheism and belief in God require some faith, and therefore it's up to each of us to choose the way of life that makes us the happiest. He's not necessarily saying that the truth is what you make it, he's saying we don't have unadulturated access to the truth: our imagination, personalities, and experiences unavoidably influence the way we interact with the world. But that's not the same as saying whatever we imagine is true. I think Pi, for instance, knows which of his stories is true. It's not Pi but the reader who is left with uncertainty and who therefore has to throw her hands up and say "I don't know," or else choose one story or the other. And to me, this isn't too far off from the predicament we all find ourselves in.

[SPOILER ALERT] And that's what makes Life of Pi such a challenge to the reader: Pi's first story is fantastic, wonderful, but hard to believe. Yet there's some evidence that it happened just the way he said it did. And Pi's second story is brutal, terrible, but much easier to accept as true. Yet it's not entirely plausible either, and it leaves no room for the meerkat bones or Pi's "trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." If the reader personally dismisses the tiger story out of hand, I suppose that's another way of saying the reader, by nature, tends to believe the more likely but less lovely story. In the same way, if the reader gets to the story's payoff and still believes there was a tiger in the boat, the reader is probably inclined to believe the more emotionally satisfying story. But it should be born in mind that Pi doesn't definitively state which story was true, something which only he can know for sure. All we can really be sure of, in Pi's universe, is that he was stuck on a lifeboat for a while before making it to shore. [SPOILER ALERT] So which story do I believe? I struggled with that question for a long time. But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I'll end this review with the final lines from the book: "Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal Tiger." (less)

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

1 comment

09/30/07

Peter added it (review of isbn 0156027321)

Read in September, 2007

Life of Pi is a wonder.

It is the story of a boy of sixteen who is stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger. It is a tale of survival and man’s interaction with himself and the wild. It is a lesson in zoology and spirituality. And it is just plain great.

Part fable, part allegory, part memoir, part encyclopedia, and part philosophical text—Life of Pi is all of these things. But most of all, it is a story. And it reads like old-fashioned storytelling—the kind in...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

2 comments

07/10/07

CK rated it:

(review of isbn 0156027321)

Read in December, 2006

I love books about animals. This has a lot to do with my great-aunt Alice. Aunt Alice used to be an elementary schoolteacher and librarian, and she often whispered to us that Dad was her favorite nephew. Every Christmas that I can remember, growing up, we’d be sent home with a box full of old or damaged books that the school library didn’t want anymore, all about animals: Black Beauty, King of the Wind, The Incredible Journey, Charlotte’s Web, Lad of Sunnybank, Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows ...more I love books about animals. This has a lot to do with my great-aunt Alice. Aunt Alice used to be an elementary schoolteacher and librarian, and she often whispered to us that Dad was her favorite nephew. Every Christmas that I can remember, growing up, we’d be sent home with a box full of old or damaged books that the school library didn’t want anymore, all about animals: Black Beauty, King of the Wind, The Incredible Journey, Charlotte’s Web, Lad of Sunnybank, Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Lassie Come Home, and Beautiful Joe, among others. In each one, animals are the heroes of the tale, and are much more noble and beautiful than humans. Us humans like to think this about animals. Too bad that what we’d like to think isn’t always true.

So, I really like how Yann Martel wrote about animals in this book — they are animals! — and I really like how he compared the way that animals behave with the way that humans behave, especially how we behave about religion. This is the best aspect of the book. The main character, an ardent practitioner of religion, is simultaneously Christian, Muslim and Hindu, but finds himself resorting to “animal behavior” in order to survive.

I enjoyed reading it. He’s a good writer. Not great, but very good. He has a nice sense of humor, he writes good dialogue (which is difficult), and it’s a very interesting story that will hold your attention until the end of the book. I like how he wrote himself into the story as a character (I get all giddy and weak-kneed when authors do that). I also really like the way it ended.

Complaints:

1) Overall, the story seemed a little choppy; the three sections didn’t flow very well into each other and instead felt like three different books. I understand the point — the book starts out on a more “human” note, rather philosophical and intellectual, and then progresses to the more raw depiction of survival, so the tone and subject matter changes accordingly — but it comes off feeling like a bad editing job. Also, like I said before, he's not a great writer. A better editor would have made him better.

2) It was really violent in places. I know that it had to be violent because animals are violent (kill or be killed!), but did it have to be that violent? There were one or two paragraphs that were so bad it made me nauseous. Great authors can do more with less.

I’d still recommend it to most of my friends (except for those of you who can’t handle blood and gore).(less)

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

3 comments

03/04/07

John rated it:

(review of isbn 0156027321)

Read in January, 2002

A friend in Canada sent a hardback version of this book to me in 2001. I started reading it, after about 25 pages, I skipped ahead a few pages, a chapter, a bit here and there then put it down. I thought it was going to move slowly and seemed...a little too heavy post 9/11. In fall of 2003 I was leaving for a long trip through Mexico when I decided to pick up a few books to take with me. I saw the paperback and felt like the book was familiar and bought it and a couple others. I started to...more A friend in Canada sent a hardback version of this book to me in 2001. I started reading it, after about 25 pages, I skipped ahead a few pages, a chapter, a bit here and there then put it down. I thought it was going to move slowly and seemed...a little too heavy post 9/11. In fall of 2003 I was leaving for a long trip through Mexico when I decided to pick up a few books to take with me. I saw the paperback and felt like the book was familiar and bought it and a couple others. I started to read this book while traveling but in the heat and the dust I was too thirsty and hot to read about a character who was thirsy and hot and stuffed it in my backpack and quickly began reading what I brought with me. I finished all of the books I brought and gave them away in exchange for novels and poetry in Spanish. I read those books, translating wiht my dictionary and asking my then partner to read to me what I could translate. We finished those too. I was about to start Don Quixote in Spanish after visiting the Don Quiote iconographic museum in Guanajuato when my partner told me if I started that one he wouldn't help me read it while we were traveling. I put it away and was left with only Yann Martel's Life of Pi. After spending the day and evening out and coming back to our room in the wee hours to make love then relax I couldn't sleep. My partner snored, a singer in the club across from our hotel in the town center was singing loudly through the night, I enjoyed listening to the people outside. I picked up Life of Pi and began. When my partner awoke I didn't want to stop but we had a full itinerary and I would get to read again until we left for the next city. As boarded our bus though, I cracked that book open and read until we arrived in the city. Fey was ill from drinking the water, while he slept I lay on the bed next to him reading outloud. I finished the book over night. I couldn't stop thinking about it. To this day, Fey still swears we saw a Senegal tiger while we were traveling, "it must have escaped from a zoo, it was there, we fed it. Don't you remember?" "Of course, I do, the tiger ate you." "What? Oh, shut up. I know we saw it." He wanted to check the newspapers to find out if a tiger were loose. I can't explain what exactly changed, but after a certain point in the book, the boy, the tiger - I just wanted to know them a little longer.
(less)

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

add a comment

09/24/07

Stefan rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

Read in July, 2007

Annoying boy suffers mild discomfort in the boat of plenty. Story starts off well enough, with cute religious confusions in a zoo. The whole thing sinks along with the ship, as it becomes fairly dreadful. Gah, just shoot the flare gun in the stupid tiger's face already, for heavens sake! The usual lost as sea drama ensues, as the boy tries to stay alive, with makeshift innovation and luck. The book is in stasis for the longest time and at the end tries to be all clever clever, but it doesn't wor...more

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

2 comments

11/29/07

Brady B rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

Brady Burke
Mrs. Ebarvia
Honors World Lit. – Pd. 5
11/28/37
Book Review

The novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel is an intriguing and very interesting book about the journey of a teenage boy, Pi Patel, who is trying to find himself. Pi is a studious boy who practices not just Hinduism, but also Islam and Christianity. A zookeepers son, Pi finds himself being uprooted from everything he has known to move to North America, but when the boat sinks, Pi finds himself lost ...more Brady Burke
Mrs. Ebarvia
Honors World Lit. – Pd. 5
11/28/37
Book Review

The novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel is an intriguing and very interesting book about the journey of a teenage boy, Pi Patel, who is trying to find himself. Pi is a studious boy who practices not just Hinduism, but also Islam and Christianity. A zookeepers son, Pi finds himself being uprooted from everything he has known to move to North America, but when the boat sinks, Pi finds himself lost a sea in a lifeboat with a ferocious Bengal tiger, who are both trying to survive. Yann Martel was born in 1963 in Spain and studied philosophy before beginning to write. He has written many other published novels including The Facts Behind the Helsinki Raccomatios, The Third Brother, and Self.
In this novel I enjoyed how the author did not simply write about Pi and his journey but he wrote about what Pi was thinking and how he was feeling. I found that what kept me interested and what kept me reading was how in almost every paragraph, the author would deeply explain everything Pi was thinking and what was going on around him with examples from religious scriptures, experiences, and different stories from all over. Although it is an intellectual book it was not a hard read and the way it was written flowed well and was easy to understand. My favorite part of the book was when Pi's experiences with all of the three religions were explained and analyzed. I enjoyed how the other not only wrote about how Pi and his mentors felt about it, but also about how his family and the people around him felt after they found out what was going on.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I did find that sometimes the author would stray to far from what was going on and you would lose sight of everything that was happening with Pi. As I said in the last paragraph, I did like how the author explained everything with examples, but some of them would be multiple pages long and it was easy to forget what was going on. I felt that sometimes during these points I lost interest. I think that it would help readers stay focused on the plot and the book, if he had written less or not used such extraneous examples. Although they give you much needed insight into the mind of the main character, they would still help even if they were not so long.
In conclusion, I liked this book very much and would highly recommend it to all. Although sometimes it is easy to get lost, over all, this book is extremely interesting and exciting. I have found this book to be one of my favorites and I will probably read it again. This is one of those books that no matter how many times you read it, it will always be good. It is one of those books that when you just want something good to read at your local coffee house or when you go to bed, you will always want to pick up. This book is intellectual and exciting, and if you’re looking for a good book that is hard to put down, try "Life of Pi by Yann Martel!
(less)

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

add a comment

06/29/07

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0156027321)

I don't think Life of Pi deserves the low 2 star rating I gave it. But how could I help myself, after Martel got my hopes so high in the beginning, only to dash them against metaphorical rocks in a metaphorical sea? I don't think Pi went through such pain as I did when I realized to my dismay that the middle and the end of the book didn't come close to the engaging, complex beginning. I loved the incorporation of the religious theme into Pi's life at the beginning. The time in the zoo set the st...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

add a comment

08/30/07

Jenny rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

bookshelves: fiction

Once, while riding the bus, I told a friend I hated this book. A guy I'd never met turned around to tell me that he was shocked and this was a beautiful book. I can sum up my hatred of this book by saying this: At the end of the book a character asks "Do you prefer the story with animals or without?" I can say with conviction I prefer the story without the animals--the stupid, boring, symbolic animals.

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

1 comment

07/10/08

Jimmy rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

Read in December, 2008

Tahun lalu, aku mengikuti kegiatan pemuda bertajuk “Push Your Personal Limit”. Aku bersama sejumlah peserta lain tinggal selama tiga hari dalam tenda di daerah Situgunung, Sukabumi. “Camping”!!! Ahhh, kegiatan seru dan menyenangkan. Tidur di tenda, tanpa selimut, makan-minum terbatas, tidak ada perlengkapan elektronik, apalagi “hand phone”. Hidup di alam terbuka, tidak perlu mandi kalau malas, dan aku harus belajar untuk memperkirakan waktu tanpa bantuan jam. Salah satu kegiatan ...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

27 comments

04/13/08

Julia rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

Read in June, 2008

recommended to Julia by: book club, lots of friends, Amazon, Powells, Man Booker judges o
recommends it for: zookeepers and/or shipwreck memoir aficionados

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Is it possible to recommend heartily a book that I almost stopped reading on three separate occasions? Based on some amazing recommendations for this book, I broke some of my book-buying rules. So utterly assured was I that this book brimmed with potential to become my new Favorite Book For A Few Months that I bought the book instead of checking it out from the library. In addition, I purchased the hardback and not the paperback - that hasn't happened for a very long time - harkening back to ...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

add a comment

01/30/08

Ross rated it:

(review of isbn 0770430074)

I just couldn't get into it. Yes, I'm sure it's a great piece of literature that those who are more into "literary college fiction" and less into so-called "genre fiction" enjoy immensely.

For me it failed in three major ways.

1) When I read I like to get sucked into the world. I don't want to constantly be reminded that I'm sitting in a location reading. I want to be with the characters. This book kept me at a distance.

2) The book was writte...more