Life of Pi | Yann Martel

Life of Pi | Yann Martel | One of my fav fiction reads

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Life of Pi

	Life of Pi Yann Martel Harvest Books, 2003 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 1836 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Entertaining

I tore through all 330 pages in just a few days. I was fascinated by the story. It was refreshing to read soemthing so different; I couldn't put it down.

Martel really did a fabulous job with this book. He gives the reader vivid imagery without being wordy. He keeps things entertaining throughout!

This book was a little outside my traditional reading genre, but I absolutely loved it.

One of my fav fiction reads

I am not much of a fiction reader... but, this is top on my list of favorites.

A story about choice, not faith

Life of Pi has been widely lauded by prestigious professional reviewers, but has also garnered some impassioned criticism. Much of this criticism hinges on the idea that the book promotes irrationality; that it supports an anti-intellectual worldview of a mutable universe, ignoring the absolute existence of the world and suffering. Upon some reflection, I feel that this criticism is entirely unsupported. Certainly the main character, Pi Patel, is particularly religious (he in fact actively practices three religions). However, Pi realizes that there is no evidence of the existence of god, but chooses to believe because it makes the story of his life more personally meaningful. He consciously chooses to suspend disbelieve in order to make some sense of his suffering. In all other ways he is eminently rational; he works hard and sensibly towards his own survival, never depending on faith or prayer. The novel chronicles Pi's unlikely survival at sea following a tragic shipwreck. Ultimately Pi provides two distinct, though related, stories chronicling his time at sea, and we and Pi are left to choose which to believe. Pi's decision, and our own, mirrors our choices concerning the existence of god, although it is interestingly unclear which story correlates with which philosophical viewpoint.

Certainly the universe really exists, however all scientists will tell you that in a certain way in exists outside ourselves, and ultimately outside our understanding. The real world is unavoidable flavored by passing through our senses and our minds before we can attempt to perceive it. For this reason we can, in a limited way, change our reality by changing our minds, and that is the point of Pi's story.

That being said, Pi's story did not "make me believe in God". Although not a wild fan of religion, I have no problem with the type of conscious faith that Pi uses, not to control his fellow man or secure his immortal soul, but to tell himself a more compelling story.

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Good but not great

Life of pi is a good book. It will keep you entertained even though I did get a bit irritated at Pi sometimes and even at the story... But overall it is good and Martel writes really well. Even if I can't say I'm a Pi-fan I would still recommend it to everyone because it is a good book.. just not great...

A good book with a few drags

While I enjoyed most of this book, I had trouble deciding exactly how to rate it. I loved the angles about the animals, the details of training and behavior, and the descriptions for everything from meercats to elephants. The character of Pi is one I won't soon forget: likable, heroic, and undeniably human. We also get to know the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, on an intimate level. The plot is extraordinary yet believable, especially due to the knowledge Pi learned at his zookeeper father's knee.

Part three of the book is hilarious, hitting a whole other tone.

The only downside is that a few parts dragged and went into things that, while interesting, could have been summarized or left out. Like a lot of the stuff at the beginning of the story about his family and his religious views could have taken up fewer pages. The stuff about the three religions he belonged to definitely needs to stay in to explain his views on things, but the other stuff really didn't play into the main story. There were a few too many fishing stories.

On a side note, I think I actually learned a few survival skills by reading this novel.

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