Life of Pi: A Novel
By Yann Martel
4/5
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About this ebook
NOW ON BROADWAY
The international bestseller and modern classic of adventure, survival, and the power of storytelling is now an award-winning play.
After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.
Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, Richard Parker, for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again.
The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional—but is it more true?
Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.
Yann Martel
Yann Martel was born in Spain but currently lives in Montreal. He is the highly acclaimed author of Self, a novel, and of the story collection The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. Life of Pi is his third book and was shortlisted for both the Governor General Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize.
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Reviews for Life of Pi
13,455 ratings517 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was so much more than just a tale about a boy marooned on the sea, it was a story of change, both perspective wise as well as location wise. There was such beautiful description of the sea, the various life at sea, the weather surrounding the sea, how the sea can heal as well as harm, and so much more. We really get to see the ocean for what it is to a human—a desolate surface land, lacking the proper tools for one's survival.
Watching Pi grow from a zoo boy to a shipwreck & castaway survivor was incredible to witness. If not for the carnivorous moss island, and this event actually happened to someone, I would've believed it to be a true story. I knew I would like this book from the start and I am happy that my expectations were exactly met.
This is definitely a book I would recommend if you have not read it, or (strangely) haven't heard of it before.
(P.S, this is the second booker prize winner that I have finished in my Booker-Prize-reading journey. Keeping with the sea theme, I think the next Booker Prize winner I read will be "The Sea, the Sea" by Iris Murdoch—I am extremely intrigued by it and am excited to dive into the story (at some point).) - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5At first glance, this piece of literary fiction is the story of Pi, son of a zookeeper, his spiritual development as a student of three religions and his memorable journey across the Pacific Ocean in the company of a 450-pound Bengal tiger, but it can also be read as a fable, metaphor, or commentary on the nature of humankind. Imaginative, compelling, at times gruesome, themes include storytelling, survival, and faith. The narrative provides a juxtaposition of animal instinct and transcendent faith, and how a person can inhabit both ends of the spectrum simultaneously. Each reader will likely have a different reaction to this tale, depending on his or her personal beliefs. At the very least, it provides much food-for-thought about the meaning of life.
Content warnings include detailed descriptions of suffering and slaughter of animals, eating items normally viewed as grossly inedible, dismemberment, starvation, and bodily functions. Recommended to book clubs for the discussion potential, and readers of literary fiction or modern classics. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Captivating and unusual. Who knew that being the son of a zookeeper could endanger your life - then help save it?! All kinds of interesting tidbits embedded in this book. What a tale!! (pun intended)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A wonderful survival at sea story that ends up to be a parable about religion. It works on many levels.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A great story about faith, survival and the psychological/emotional journey of trying to reconcile life's diverse views and challenges.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was amazing. Really feel in love with it. Didn't think I would at first because it was so popular and made into movie. Not that type of reader. But Life of Pi had something in it for me to enjoy. Was very surprised how it was written too. It was like reading a book in the 20s. Very experimental.
Loved two of the major themes in the book: zoology and theology. I've always had an interest in the study of animals and this books had plenty of that in it. The religious themes were good too. Basically if you accept all religions, then you can accept this book.
This book is not fro everyone though. I can see most people getting confused with the writing style. It's non-liner and also you can't trust the narrator at times. However, that what makes a book fiction. You can't read fiction think everything is possible. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I hated this book. I had to read it for school. And it sucked.
Yeah I spent however many pages reading a made up tale about animals eating each other - when it was humans eating each other. It just made me sick. The whole thing. I hated it. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this book twice and I loved it both times.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I'm not quite sure I 'got' this book as so many seem to find it fascinating and interesting.
The beginning started off well and I warmed to Pi but it was around halfway into the shipwreck that he started to lose me.
I guess it might also have been the descriptions of animals being killed that abruptly disconnected me from the book, as a veggo I don't like to see animals dying, even if it's only in my head.
Violence aside, the momentum of the book slowed to a crawl for me, I had to force myself to continue on and even felt tempted to just scan over it and skip ahead as the boredom seemed to become greater with each turn of the page. But that wouldn't have been any better either as the end of the book was the worst part. It felt like the writing did a 180 style-wise, along with Pi's character. It also had as much substance and flavour as cardboard. Even the 'twist' didn't really stoke my fire either.
And as far as all of the spiritual stuff goes, it didn't really have me singing any of the God's names... - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book, in part because I'm not sure which is "the better story." I was captivated by Pi's story of his life in India. I was intrigued by the glimpses we got of his life afterward in Canada. I was fascinated by the story of the tiger and the lifeboat. But I was also somewhat disappointed that we didn't get to hear more of the other story, without the animals, because I suspect it might have made the better story after all. I don't find the analogy between God and "the better story" to be very convincing. An area that I thought would have been ripe for more exploration was Pi's multi-theological position -- a refusal to accept one religion's story as "better."
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5adult fiction. I got only 50-60 pages into this book before I got tired. It was interesting, and I'm sure it is a good book for someone else to read, but I just got bored with all of the soul-searching. Some other time maybe, or some other reader.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Ack! I really wanted to keep going. I found a lot of it charming (in a good way), and it gave me the coolest crazy dreams every night. But it just moves SO SLOWLY. It was for this I kept going even 100 pages in, though I was having my doubts as to its direction. Then the shipwreck happened and I thought surely things would pick up, but Martel has some sort of talent for drawing even that out to tedium so I just gave up. Ah well. On to greener pastures.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A story of a boy named Pi and his predicament of having a Tiger in the middle of the Pacific, in a small lifeboat and trying to survive both the elements, and to not be eaten by a hungry tiger. The story is more than this, it's a story of how humans use the power of imagination to compel people to use these as a means to survive through hard times and create such elaborate stories that they are remembered through the ages... similar to how faith guides us through our life and gives us a reason to keep going..
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I was less enchanted by the last third of the book. The real story was a little hard to stomach. Not a theme I enjoy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Piscine Molitor Patel, son of a zookeeper from Pondicherry, India, moves with his family by boat to Canada in search of a better life. The boat sinks and Piscine (aka Pi) finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a few animals and limited provisions. Among the most noteworthy of the animals is Richard Parker, a ferocious Bengal tiger. Pi sees no human survivors, spies no land, and is aware of only limited provisions on the lifeboat.Absent any religious dogma, this is a book about religion. It’s about what individuals believe and how those beliefs make for a fuller, richer existence. It captures wonderful insight into animal psychology, particularly of large cats. Well written, this novel does not have its full effect until after the book ends. Then is the time to reflect on what was presented, ask more questions, think about the subject matter, decide one’s own personal theology, and provoke others into discussion. Don’t miss the chapter about the skies, seas, and winds. Outstanding! One caution: there are some very graphic descriptions of animal and human cruelty. Brace yourselves.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I thought this was a very fun read. I'm changing my rating -- to 5 stars since I don't remember why I gave it four before.
Would like to re-read this, and would be interested in doing some lit-crit discussion on it.
Hmmm, maybe I should just go and read up on my Italo Calvino, it's still sitting there on the shelf looking at me and wondering when I'm going to finish Baron in the Tree's. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I wanted to read this book right after I saw the movie (three times in cinema).
The book is gorgeous, with much more details than the movie (obvious).
Five stars well deserved. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ending of this book put me into a bit of a mental crisis.
The first 2/3 of the book are beautiful, sad, brutal-ish, and oddly filled with hope? While that ending does a full 180 and makes it more tragic, more real, and forces your head to be filled with too many thoughts to comprehend. I'm obviously not an expert on Classics but I believe this is exactly what a classic is supposed to make you feel.
“Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous possessive love that grabs at what it can.”
I definitely do not recommend watching the movie before reading this. The movie is okay but this book brings so much more to the table. Plus the movie removed one of my favorite scenes soo...
“You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.”
I will say, at first there were some points where I thought about dropping the book but (thankfully) I couldn't because at the time this was a mandatory read for one of my classes. It's hard to enjoy a book you're forced to read in school but I ended up liking this one quite a bit, even if I did struggle through the beginning. I was literally yelling "Come on!!! Just get stranded already!!!". Seriously though, don't let that lengthy start discourage you from continuing the book.
I'm not a religious person but at times even I was touched by his faith, since it was the only thing he really had out in the sea. Also, this is kind of irrelevant, but the tiger was cute... Dangerous, yes, but cute. I might have gotten a little attached to him. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loved it. Loved the last line (no peeking)
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read this for the "a book by a canadian author" part of my 2018 reading challenge. I found this go much slower than the first time I read it, but it was still enjoyable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The book started a discussion in the Tire shop on the subject of Religion because I was sitting readig it in the waiting room. I believe that we all need to learn tolerance of all religions, we can not judge others for what they believe, Pi reminded me of this!!!
Moving on...I loved this book! The only problem I have with it is that I now have so many more questions after finishing it! Which story is true?!!! I need to know. Aw, the art if a great story teller! Keeps you guessing even after it's all over! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pi Patel is a 16-year-old teen whose zookeeper family decides to move them from India to Canada. En route, disaster strikes and Pi is left to fend for himself on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.It's hard to know where to start with reviewing this book. Obviously, it's already well known and reviewed by many, many folks. Part of me wishes I had jumped on this sooner and read it back before I knew anything about what would happen. Pi is a lovable character and being introduced to him slowly was fine. But then the ship sinking and the build up to a tiger being on board the lifeboat with him lacked any real suspense since I knew this was going to happen. (Although, honestly, even if I had read it early on, the cover of the book and the jacket description both give this away.)The bulk of the book then concerns itself with Pi's survival out in the Pacific. While this fiction had the fantastical element of surviving with a wild animal, the majority of this section really wasn't all that unlike the true stories I've read about survivors of shipwrecks. So, it was a little, been there done that (in terms of reading about it, not in terms of dealing with that horrific situation!). There's also quite a bit of detailed information here about bodily functions, including some gorey bits about eating live fish and other sea animals. And after all that time we just spent with him being lost at sea, I found Pi's final arrival to safety to be super anticlimactic. The epilogue with Pi telling his story to investigators and the implication that the majority of what we just read was all fantasy, with the wild animals standing in for the other survivors of the shipwreck and Pi's way of dealing with traumatic events and survivors guilt pretty much ruined it for me. I was okay with suspending my disbelief, but to have done so for nothing was disappointing, to say the least. Usually I enjoy books with unreliable narrators, but I guess it helps with the author gives you hints along the way instead of pulling the rug out from beneath you right at the end.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful, surprising story that held me through to the end. I can understand why this was made into a movie--lush visuals, powerful conflict and the human struggle all wrapped into one.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strange book. Interesting book. A book what stays with you. Someone rightly said it`s a spiritual robinsonade with animals. Or not. Because sometimes not the truth what matters but the story itself.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Enjoyable read until...
Disappointed he ripped off Max and The Cats. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'd like to rate this book 3.5. Parts of it I would give 4 stars, but it really dragged in places with no specific reason. There was a lot of time spent discussing Pi's religions. I loved the dramatic scenes on the raft with the tiger. Very well written. A book that is so different from other novels, I always enjoy. I just don't think it was a solid 4 stars throughout the book.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I had grabbed this because everyone spoke of how great the story was and that it was on many must read lists. Really have to learn to ignore those must read lists. This doesn't belong there.The author aside chapters are annoyingl. There's no point to them, they don't really help the story. Speaking of the story, it crawled with no activity for long stretches. Too much detail (which may or may not become more important later in the book.) Just wanted SOMETHING to happen.The book felt very preachy in the section where I finally gave up.I gave it three weeks, easily put it down for other reading material and just didn't care for the plot at all. Don't like the main character, which is bad. So this goes to the dud file.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5GREAT book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It took awhile to read it. I found it an interesting read but not something I could sit and consume in one or two sittings.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My impression of this book suffers for the circumstances under which I read it. I was ill in hospital and near bed-ridden, so the parallel of a boat drifting on the Pacific ocean and the monotony of my days in a closed room felt very much overlapped.I feel that the base story of this book is well known, or at least what makes up the bulk of the setting, and I'm not sure one can say much more without getting into a lengthy conversation about "why?" It is ponderous outside of Pi's daily survival activities, and few books have made both inclined to think and inclined to accept the face value at the same time.Perhaps I will read it again, to see just how much my state of mind was colouring my view at the time.