Book Review: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

[Radhika]

*few spoilers in the last paragraph* This was the fastest book I have read till now; it was not merely the pages but it was the content. The text had amazing vocabulary words and literary devices-which I'm sure is why we all read books. Now to the specifics; As a fan of primarily suspense books, this novel kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! Even though many don't consider this as a thriller, I agree to disagree since we readers aren't aware of the ending even in the slightest. There is also this twist at the end (which I don't want to spoil) that had me amazed and honestly it was up to the readers on whether to accept it or not. More over, this novel had marvelous themes on friendship, survival, and family, and the author did a clean job on relying these messages to us.
So you would wonder why I gave it 4 starts and not 5? Well, though it was intriguing, I personally think that the author dragged the story line a little too much. There were parts-few of them-where I just thought that it was irrelevant, but I couldn't keep the book down because I had to know the ending. Now, don't worry this isn't an essay i'm about to finish!
*remember, spoilers!* Before I close up my review I want to emphasize on my favorite character which was....the tiger (a.k.a Richard Parker). Richard Parker doesn't have any dialogues-well he does in the middle, but you'll understand what I'm talking about-however, he has GREAT 'CHARACTER' DEVELOPMENT. We see him as this cunning and vicious tiger who has no sympathy, even the zookeeper (Pi's father) is afraid and keeps him a isolated area, yet, in the end we see this characteristic completely change and he becomes a good and friendly companion to Pi (even more, he plays a huge role in Pi's survival). More so, The tiger represents a true/loyal friend and you might certainly like his character as well. So, all in all have fun reading the book!