by Yann Martel
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| List Price: | $11.69 |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $4.70 |
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Product Description
Like its noteworthy ancestors (Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, the Ancient Mariner and Moby Dick) Life of Pi is a tale of disaster at sea. Both a boys' own adventure (for grown-ups) and a meditation on faith and the value of religious metaphor, it was one of the most extraordinary and original novels of 2002. The only survivor from the wreck of a cargo ship on the Pacific, 16 year old Pi spends 221 days on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan and a 450-pound Royal Bengal Tiger called Richard Parker ...
Amazon.com Review
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, 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
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A Story of stories, 2009-01-06
I cant think of a better story to recommend. Sometimes you do wonder if it is a novel. Pi is a great character, simple, physically weak, a non-hero, he could be any one of us. He goes through extraordinary experience out of pure luck. More extraordinary than this is the way it is described and perspective offered at every turn. It is simply beautiful. I cannot tell you more than this. As Pi says "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." This can be that book.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Incredible Literary Adventure, 2008-12-31
This is one of my favorite books. Yann Martel makes us realize how animalistic humans can be in the most enjoyable way possible.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
try it in audio form, 2008-12-27
I have listened to this novel 3 times. It is a wonderful story, that many people could take many ways. but to listen to it..... the readers voice is so perfect for the story, and it lets you use all of your imagination to picture what you hear. You may think it starts slow, but don't give up, you'll be learning. And it will all be worth it. This book is such a treat.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Longer than necessary, slow, doesn't live up to hype, 2008-12-23
Honestly, this book is longer than necessary and moves WAY too slowly. Normally I can finish a book this length in a couple days. It took me weeks to drag myself through this book. It was by sheer will and determination that I even finished it. This book was recommended by a friend and Amazon based on other books I've read. It did NOT live up to the hype. There are so many books out there which are much better.
At no point did it ever make me want to believe in God. It's argument, God is the prettier story- or as other have put it, why not believe in God- it's a sort of hedging your bets strategy, is really not very compelling. I actually thought the "second" story was better and more compelling because it shows the truth of humanity.
I liked the contrast between the stories, and maybe that should have been developed more. And the beginning is completely confusing.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Worst book EVER!, 2008-12-23
Save your bucks, people -- here's the theme: we should believe in God because...it's the prettier story. What the hell? Is this guy kidding? How incredibly naive!
Martel must be targeting an audience of children, because I can't see how a mature adult could take this nonsense seriously.
What a bunch of malarkey. What a waste of time. Hey Martel, you hack! Give me back my money!
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