I heard what this was about and put off reading it because I didn't think I would like it. It's one of those books that you just keep pondering. I'm still not sure what it was all about! But it turned out to be a great book. I listened to it on tape and the narrator did an excellent job. His innocent voice and observational style provide a great contrast to the multi-layered, truth-filled story as it unfolds. Many things took me by surprise. I used my “willing suspension of disbelief” just to see where things were going and waited eagerly for the end to see how he would wrap it all up. I admit that the middle part of the plot got a little lengthy at points. I was tired of the castaway situation, but his beautiful descriptions and observations kept me interested. My favorite thing about the book was the way he played with the idea of what is real. I really enjoyed the dialogue between Pi and the Japanese representatives from the shipping company. They were so concerned with what “really happened” and Pi was so good at showing them that we can’t really be sure of anything. Just like Loving What Is. There was one line in particular, something about how with any “real thing,” we bring ourselves and our experiences to it and that changes it. It reminded me of quantum physics and What the Bleep Do We Know? Our influence on reality. Always multiple choices, multiple possibilities.
I really liked the main character, Pi, and his collection of religions. He is the kind of person you would want to be stranded on a lifeboat with, resourceful, thoughtful, well-read. Richard Parker is another story . . . .

Amazon.com
Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."
An award winner in Canada (and winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize), Life of Pi, Yann Martel's second novel, should prove to be a breakout book in the U.S. At one point in his journey, Pi recounts, "My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time." It's safe to say that the fabulous, fablelike Life of Pi is such a book. --Brad Thomas Parsons --This text refers to the Paperback edition.