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
Rating:
Summary: Round up Pi (that's my suggestion)
Review: "Life of Pi" was a rewarding read on several levels. The basic plotlines are that a young boy in India who calls himself Pi (in order to save himself schoolyard ridicule stemming from his real name) grows up as an inquisitive and intelligent son of a zookeeper. The first part of the book describes his and his family's life in India, and alot of information about the animal kingdom is dispensed, as well. To be honest, I remember being a little bored with the beginning of the book, but it serves a purpose to set up the rest of the story, which is phenomenal. The family decides to move to Canada, and on the way their ship goes down, leaving Pi and assorted zoo animals as the only survivors. The bulk of the story is about Pi's adventures in a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker. I would like to highlight three areas in which this book excelled and won me over: *Adventure: The story of Pi and the tiger reads like something from Hemingway or London (which is good, to me.) The sea becomes a character in the story, and Pi utilizes his savvy and intellect to overcome several obstacles, not the least of which is cohabiting a 36' boat with a carnivorous beast. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. *Humorous narrative: I laughed out loud several times at the humorous way Pi interacted with tiger, and even at his thoughts to himself. Martel has a gift for subtlety that he wields deftly to great effect. *Thought provocation: On so many levels, I found the gears in my head working overtime. Martel touches on religious and philosophical issues that form a central theme throughout the book. And the ending galvanizes one of the issues at the base of this central theme -- the struggle between faith and logic. I will not give too much away about the ending, but it is in the same vein as "The Sixth Sense" or "The Usual Suspects" in the movie world, in that I want to re-read the book to pick up any clues to the surprise at the end. I am giving the story my highest ranking, despite my boredom at the beginning, because the book was highly entertaining, was very thought provoking, and it provided a good hour of discussion between my wife and me.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Storytelling
Review: "The Life Of Pi"(LOP) is a mystical journey that attempts to discover self, life and meaning. The (in)credibly absurd journey of Pi and Richard Parker through the Pacific Ocean is one of the most unlikely tales of them all. The story is both inventive and creative. Written with taints of the nostalgic, LOP is an invigorating, light hearted read that entertains it¡¦s readers from beginning to end. Martel slowly draws his readers into the depths of Pi¡¦s life with a description of the habits and nature of the three-toed sloth. From these descriptions, one is transported to the unique and interesting world of Pi¡¦s early years at Pondicherry, India. We are introduced to the people who deeply influenced Pi¡¦s life, the religious mentors that guided him through a maze of spirituality. Pi finally concludes that he is a Hindu, Muslim and Christian all at once. Through this witness Martel expresses the belief that all religions are fundamentally the same, that all religions are searching for a single ultimate reality and that all religions provide a legitimate pathway to God. Pi argues that "we should not be jealous with God"implying that we should not claim any religion has unique knowledge and offers the only way to the divine. Pi explains that the "paths to liberation are numerous, but the bank along the way is always the same, the bank of Karma, where the liberation account of each of us is credited or debited depending on our actions."Pluralism has many fatal flaws that are not addressed in this book but at least Martel acknowledges that all religious teachers (even Hindus) claim some level of exclusivity. This is dramatically and humorously illustrated when Pi accidentally bumps into a Pandit, an Imam and a Christian Priest all at once. A second theme that emerges from LOP is the intrinsic will to survive that all living organisms have. Pi observes that, "all living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive." But, when on the life boat watching a zebra in pain and distress, Pi openly admits that "when your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival." As a philosophical inquiry into religion and life, LOP is not complete. After all the reviews I read of how it would make one believe in God, I was surprised to find that it was not as not as complex or as interrogative as I expected it to be. While Martell does make some comments about religion and the will to survive, the narrative is not deeply profound, fluent and clear yes, but philosophically whimsical. Ultimately I do not think the narrative was meant to be a framework for a philosophical inquiry, but rather the deep issues flowed inherently from the narrative. Ultimately Martell is a supreme storyteller who is able to spin a yarn like no other. LOP tells a wonderful tale that is worth telling and stretches the mind to edge of belief where a reader may wonder if Pi¡¦s feat is plausible. As a story, LOP is clearly written, humorous in part, vulgar and grotesque at points and ultimately triumphant. Although LOP may or may not be worthy of the Booker prize, it is, at the very least, an entertaining read, and that is more than can be said for many novels out there today. Congratulations Yann Martel. P.S. If you ever get stuck on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, make sure you have this book with you, it may just save your life. And if you are ever in Mexico and bump into Richard Parker say hi to him for me.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: A book to love. I loved the way he gets the readers attention by making them grasp the concept in immense details. He is one of those rare authors whose books are, as people say, "un-putdownable". The only con to this book is the part where Pi is stranded with the tiger, stretching the book and making it so long that I had a moment there where I felt a tad tedious. All in all, I would strongly reccomend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh
Review: A otherwise small and eventually engaging little tale that is contaminated by the grimy sludge of smug spirtuality.
Rating:
Summary: Faith Tested at its Best
Review: First of all I bought this book on a recommendation from a local prep school for 5th grade reading but my fifth grader didn't understand a word of it so I picked it up and thumbed through it and could easily understand why, you first need a clear understanding of all three religions that he practices and it would help to know some what about zoology which I would assume the average educated adult would have or easily understand from reading this book.
I literally could not put this book down of which I had no intention of reading. Martel weaves a story that is so utterly profound, adventurous, humorous, thought provoking and down right raw with human nature. I will not elaborate on the entire book but, suffice it to say it is based on a true story and the human spirit to survive at all cost. In his introduction alone when he is speaking to the man that supplied him with the story the man tells him that it is a story that will make him believe in God and Martel replies," thats a tall order" and the man replies " not so tall that you can't reach it"
Yann Martel could easily become the Ernest Hemingway of this century.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Book
Review: I read this book for my world literature class. As an international student, it was pretty tough to keep up with others; I needed to look up dictionary more than ten times per page, also this book has relatively slow start. However, this book kept dragging me in more and more. I couldn't let it go after I started part two. This book contains author's deep thoughts about religion, zoology, and characterizations. Smart kid named Piscine who survived in the ocean for 227 with Bengal tiger, Interesting explanation of various animals in the zoo, and appealing conversation about religion between author and main character. In my opinion, author "Yann Martle" did a really good job mixing elements and blended out an interesting story. "I would guess that most books come from the same mix of three elements: influence, inspiration and hard work. Let me detail how each one came into play in the writing of Life of Pi." - http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html
Rating:
Summary: could not put it down
Review: I’m not typically one of those "book-reader" type people, but once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down until I was done. It’s a very engaging, well-written adventure/travel-log story. I have recommended it to several of my friends and I recommend it to you.
Rating: 
Summary: An amusing defense of atheism
Review: In Life of Pi, Yann Martel has created a story that explores the question of human belief and faith in God's existence. I certainly hope Martel intended this to be a satire of conventional religious wishy-washiness (the stripping of complex religious phenomena to bland caricatures that would actually allow someone to be Hindu, Muslim and Christian simultaneously), because the narrator's dimestore philosophy and callow religious syncretism cannot possibly form the foundation of a coherent worldview. In the end, the reader is treated to two brief versions of Pi's journey across the ocean: the 'good' version (which forms the bulk of the book), and the 'bad' version (which is rather unpleasant to read, and made more chilling by the pared-down style in which Pi relates it, but is probably the true version). Fundamentally, Pi's choice to believe in the good story rather than the true one illustrates the human tendency to believe what one would wish to be true rather than what the evidence suggests to be the case. The book begins slowly, but the first hundred or so pages are necessary to provide the first half of the framework that surrounds the central narrative. I have no way to judge the accuracy of the zoological and oceanographic information that the narrator relates in his retelling of his story, but like all satisfying survival stories, it is rich in detail. Pi's journey ends rather abruptly, as does the book, but the last few pages are a treat for anyone willing to suspend the idea that Pi ended a resolute believer in God rather than a traumatized, half-mad, broken boy who turned to God in desperation. Still, 200+ pages of mostly indifferent writing is hardly worth the effort for the philosophical and literary dividends this book returns. Although Life of Pi is probably not destined to be great literature, it is worth a read if you don't have anything more pressing to read, and it would be a great book to take on vacation (not so predictable and formulaic that you could read it in a couple of hours, but definately not so complex that you'd need a dictionary and Cliff's Notes to figure out what's going on). 2.5/5
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: It is difficult to compare "LIFE OF PI." There is a brilliance of flowing prose element in the line of "MIDDLESEX," yet the story is far removed. There is the little boy lost element of "OLIVER TWIST," yet instead of being surrounded by the dangers of London's dark streets, Pi is faced with the danger of a ferocious tiger. There is the coming of age element of "SECRET LIFE OF BEES," yet again the story is far removed. There is the brilliant sense of character element of "MY FRACTURED LIFE," yet instead of the dangers of fame, Pi is faced with the dangers of being on his own. There is the lost in the wild element of "SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON," yet instead of being with his loved ones, Pi is alone. In some ways "LIFE OF PI" has elements of all great books, because in and of itself "LIFE OF PI" is a great book.
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