Yann Martel, Life of Pi Reviews

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Latest Reviews

“Thoughful and shocking”

★★★★★

written by on 26/07/2013

Life of pi is a fantastic adventure novel.The story is about a boy,a boat and a tiger.The main character is Pi,a sixteen-year-old boy and Richard Parker,a 450-pound Bengal tiger.The story takes place in the Pacific Ocean.The story uses animal to replace people's minds. At the end of the novel,Pi tells officials the two stories,one is the animals and the other is about people.He asks the officials which story they prefer.They choose the story with the animals. Life of pi is a brilliant film.The director is Ang Lee who is Taiwanese.Most of the film was recorded in Taiwan.The ending is thoughful and shocking.It uses different ways to make you think about everything.

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“A boy, his boat, and a tiger”

★★★★★

written by mario_alvarez on 07/03/2013

“Interpretation is not the art of construing but the art of construction. Interpreters do not decode poems, they make them.” – Stanley Fish (Is There a Text in This Class?) “The circus lions don’t care to know that their leader is a weakling human; the fiction guarantees their social well-being and staves off violent anarchy.” - Yann Martel (Life of Pi) --- Life of Pi is postmodern literature at its finest. What Lewis said about Christianity through The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Yann Martel says about postmodernism in Life of Pi. It’s not a story so much as it is an allegory, and it’s not an allegory so much as it is a story. …welcome to the world of postmodernism. A story is powerful, though. You can say things and evoke feelings through a story that you aren’t able to do through other means of expression. For example, an agnostic can read about Aslan’s death and resurrection without being annoyed or bored, however, if they were reading the same thing in…say a John McArthur Bible commentary…he (or, she) may not be able to finish the paragraph. Life of Pi. A boy is trapped at sea with a Bengal tiger. They’re stuck in a lifeboat. And, we observe segments of their months at sea. The thing we are challenged to ask ourselves is: Do these facts really matter? Does the story really matter as long as the experience is expressed? Pi. Meet Piscine Molitor Patel. His mathematical nickname is Pi…it keeps him away from nicknames like “Pissing”. Our friend Pi is a lover of religions. He has adopted not just Christianity and Islam, but Hinduism as well. “These all contradict” you non-post-moderns might say…But, does it really matter? Are they by their very nature required to disagree? Richard Parker. …our tiger friend. The one who shares a 26' lifeboat with Pi. The one who Pi both fishes for and fears. The one who could take Pi’s life with little more than a slight effort to his tired, hungry body. Believable? Unbelievable? Any disgruntled thoughts? “…Never! A boy and a tiger cannot get along. Their very natures disagree…the boy would be eaten.” Perhaps. I don’t consider The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe to be preachy. To me, the Christ-type is there if you want to see it, or you can just as easily skip it and simply enjoy the story. Similarly, Life of Pi refrains from preaching its message of postmodern thought. Take it at its M. Night Shyamalan story-telling level; or, dig a little deeper…get more for your money. Life of Pi is gripping, though. True, it gets off to a slow start. And, at times it reminded me of the movie Castaway, at other times the book Pincher Martin. Maybe I could accuse it of unoriginality… On the other hand, I haven’t read a 300+ page book that quickly in a while. I haven’t woken early to finish a book in a long time, either. Postmodernism begs us to ask “what is real”? Can we know anything for sure? Can even a simple sentence convey a simple truth or will your experiences and my experiences dilute the sentence into entirely different entities? And, does it really matter? As long as you are experiencing something from the sentence and I am experiencing something from the sentence do we have to agree on the actual truth of the sentence? It’s an interesting dilemma. Perhaps because if it is true…hasn’t its argument immediately been defeated? And, as you look to Life of Pi, with its subtle riddles and meanings you are confronted with an interesting dilemma…What can you believe? Can you have faith in what seems contradictory? …Can a tiger live on a lifeboat with a boy… Must things that contradict actually contradict? …Islam + Christianity + Hinduism =… No matter what your views on these matters are, it will be difficult to complain about the journey that Yann Martel takes you on in Life of Pi. Overanalyze it, like I’m bordering on doing, or just appreciate it for the power of its storytelling…either way, I think you are sure to have a good time. It’s one that sticks with you for a while after you read it…of course, that’s part of the curse of the book. You just can’t adequately discuss the book with people until they’ve read it. …but, maybe that’s part of the fun.

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“Sometimes it's good to judge a book by its cover”

★★★★★

written by timmytank on 30/11/2011

This book is just amazing. I recommend it to the few people I know who haven't already read it! I was lucky enough to pick this up for a holiday when it was first published many years ago, before I was aware that had even been shortlisted for any literary prizes. I'm so glad, as I had no expectations or knowledge of it. I savoured every page as a refreshing breath of fresh air. I rarely choose a book based on its beautiful cover illustration but perhaps I will do more often as this was such a great find! Life of Pi deserves every accolade it has won and more. I don't want to ruin the surprise by giving away any of the plot but the young Pi is a very likeable character, and you want to fight for him all the way. Everyone has their own take on this book and its surprising ending, but whatever your view I am sure that it will be a positive one. This is a real favourite of mine, and is in my top 5 books of all time. It is completely unique in every way,

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“Definitely a book I will always remember and love....”

★★★★★

written by on 06/01/2009

Definitely a book I will always remember and love. Very great book. My favorite book of all time most likely. Wonderful book! Definitely read this book.

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“The story is interesting and Maartel is a decent...”

★★★☆☆

written by garbagehead on 26/10/2008

The story is interesting and Maartel is a decent writer. However, it's a rip off, which the author finally admitted after lots of pressure by the writing community, of Max and the Cats by Moacyr Scliar. Now reissues of the book acknowledge this other book. Average, sort of not great but not bad. The third part gets tedious.

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Unit's Response to garbagehead's Review

Written on: 30/05/2010

Yes, it is a good novel, even though it is a rip off of Moacyr Scliar's Max and the Cats. Interestingly, the ending is also a rip off of another of Scliar's books, The Centaur in the Garden. Not sure why no one seems to have picked up on this. And just today I was reading about Martel's newest novel, Beatrice and Virgil, only to see that this is also drawing elements blatantly ripped off from Max and the Cats again (the taxidermist, holocaust etc.) Amazing! Can't Martel write anything original that he hasn't ripped off Scliar first???

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“Yann Martel, Life of Pi Review: At times, I was...”

★★★☆☆

written by venusdemilo on 24/03/2004

Yann Martel, Life of Pi Review: At times, I was completely taken back by the almost pure accuracy of this story as the details seemed so true in some aspects. I was almost sure this story was actually real.

However, I got extremely bored as another day went by on the lonesome boat. As if I can feel Pi's character tearing his hair out because of the mundane days passing by.

I haven't read all of it. Mainly because I convinced myself that I was just not in the mood to read this.

I admit, I skimmed through the beginning like there was no tomorrow. It made you want to turn the page and I was in a state of spiritual bliss, at times. However, maybe being the agnostic that I am, it soon lost it's interesting spark.

I may finish reading it, I may not. Not to be so harsh, but maybe I will carry on when I'm needing of something to kill time.

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170549_Trippster's Response to venusdemilo's Review

Written on: 16/09/2004

With all due respect...if you do not read the last twenty pages and they don't break your heart then I'll be really, really surprised.

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Poeshke's Response to venusdemilo's Review

Written on: 20/12/2005

I have to agree with tripsterr... this is a great book, and the end really takes it up a level. One of the best books I read in a long time!

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“It's a long time since a book has had such a physical...”

★★★★★

written by melee679 on 03/03/2004

It's a long time since a book has had such a physical effect on me. A good writer can make the reader shed tears, and I did, on a packed commuter train, thank you Yann Martel, I cried like a baby for Pi. More than that though there were several points where I was almost physically sick. I felt my insides turn. Now that's a pretty damn special kind of writing talent.

This fantastic offering from Canadian writer Yann Martel was the undoubtably deserving winner of the Booker prize last year. That revered of literary honours went to the little known author for this bizarre work. It is so unlike any thing else gracing the 'bestseller' list for a while, beautifully written, walking a fine line between real and imaginary so you can never be sure exactly where the story falls.

When I first heard the outline of the story it seemed like a whimsical children's book. I had images of talking animals and a wishy washy approach to reality. I was wrong, completely, and this book had me gripped from start to finish in throes of emotion and awe.

A brief synopsis is this: Meet Piscine Molitor Patel. A young Indian boy unfortunately named after a swimming pool. His name, and chosen nickname 'Pi' (as in that Stonehenge-y shaped greek letter that holds the key to GCSE maths) aside, there are two strange things about our narrator. Firstly he lives in a zoo, owned and run by his father in the previously French Indian colony of Pondicherry. Secondly he has faith. Lots of it - not one but three deep religious threads run through him. Pi worships Christian, Muslim and Hindu gods without prejudice.

The family decide to emigrate to Canada and set about selling the zoo piece by piece. Many of the animals end up aboard the same Cargo ship with the Molitors bound for the Americas. Only the ship goes down in the middle of the Pacific. Pi finds himself hurled aboard a life boat, with the company of a zebra, hyena, orangutan, and a 450 pound Bengal tiger.

Now I might have told you an uncharacteristically large chunk of plot there. Infact you could glean most of that from the back cover of the book. We know Pi is ship wrecked. We know he survives because the story being told is his through a writer who has stumbled upon the tale by chance.

This sets the scene for a tale of human survival against all odds. Pi narrates for us his time spent aboard the lifeboat. Raw human emotion, the insignificance of one human life against the elements, and the strength of faith told here are breathtaking. The majority of the book floats us across the pacific with Pi and Richard Parker. The tale is taught, I felt every lash of the waves and trembled with every movement of the tiger. The landing on the algae island gave my biological mind something to chew on pondering the plausibility of the science, but ultimately reason gave way to the compelling story telling. And it does right to the end.

Pi eventually makes it to land, as we knew he would. He is pushed to tell his tale and met with incredulity. As the reader here I felt angry on his behalf, that he could have survived so much in the face of death and be met with such human indifference and inability to believe. And I still believed every minute of his journey, even when offered an alternative I chose Pi's narrative. A little part of me fell in love with the salt encrusted Indian boy and his generous religion. It was a book I was truly sad to finish, and took me very little time to read because it is genuinely compelling.


'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel £6.99

Read it!! It comes complete with the literary seal of approval. And if my word isn't good enough for you, well those people at Booker liked it too...

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“THE LIFE OF PI ”

★★★★★

written by Harriet Klausner on 27/01/2004

THE LIFE OF PI
Yann Martel
Harcourt, May 2002, $25.00, 319 pp.
ISBN: 0151008116

In Pondicherry, India, Piscine "Pi" Patel enjoys his childhood as the son of the local zoo keeper means plenty of fun things to do. In that role, Pi learns a great deal about the wild beasts that his father keeps. Though a Hindu, Pi also finds pleasure in learning about Christianity and Islam and willingly practices the three belief systems over the objections of his family and religious leaders.

Now sixteen, Pi's father decides to relocate to Canada. His dad sells most of the animals, but takes a few with them on their sea voyage. However, disaster strikes with the ship sinking. Pi accompanied by a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and Richard Parker the 450-pound Bengal share a raft. Richard eliminates the other animals leaving the raft to Pi and him. With water everywhere and no land in sight, Pi will have to use everything he knows about tigers to stay alive. If he makes it to land, Pi wonders whether to tell the truth about his harrowing adventure or make up something more comfortable for the authorities.

THE LIFE OF PI uses incredible images to provide readers with a powerful well-written allegory about life and religion. Pi is an intriguing lead protagonist, but must share top billing with his ocean traveling crony the fascinating Richard the tiger hearted. Yann Martel's story line is extremely deep yet quite simple as if Rudyard Kipling wrote The Old Man and the Sea.

Harriet Klausner

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