I do not know how to rate this book. I liked the beginning but i think the core of the book was inconsistent in terms of quality. Found myself skipping through some pages. However, the ending saved the book. 3 stars for now.

Life full of dangers… The heroic and exotic adventures… Are those adventures truly heroic?
Life of Pi is about the origin and nature of lying – in a hypocritical society heroic lies are preferable to the bitter truth.
A romantic and cloudless childhood…

To me, it was paradise on earth. I have nothing but the fondest memories of growing up in a zoo. I lived the life of a prince. What maharaja’s son had such vast, luxuriant grounds to play about? What palace had such a menagerie? My alarm clock during my childhood was a pride of lions.

Then one day a hero must embark on the fateful voyage…

In the near distance I saw trees. I did not react. I was certain it was an illusion that a few blinks would make disappear.
The trees remained. In fact, they grew to be a forest. They were part of a low-lying island. I pushed myself up. I continued to disbelieve my eyes. But it was a thrill to be deluded in such a high-quality way. The trees were beautiful. They were like none I had ever seen before. They had a pale bark, and equally distributed branches that carried an amazing profusion of leaves. These leaves were brilliantly green, a green so bright and emerald that, next to it, vegetation during the monsoons was drab olive.

One may lie beautifully for hours while it takes just few brief moments to tell the sorrowful truth.

4.5****

Wow, what a story. It was unflinching and tragic but also lovely all at the same time, with moments of beauty in a grief-filled and survival setting.

I found my heart went out to Pi.

Pretentious nonsense. The more I think back on reading this book, the less I like it.

Sift a pinch of psychology with a scant tablespoon of theology, add one part Island of the Blue Dolphin with two parts philosophy, mix with a pastry blender or the back of a fork until crumbly but not dry and there you have Pi and his lame-o, cheesed out, boat ride to enlightenment.
Actually I liked the beginning of this book- loved Pi's decleration and re-naming of himself, his adding religions like daisy's to a chain, and was really diggin on the family as a whole and then....then, then, then the tarpaulin.
I did learn some things though, I learned that:
a). cookies work wonders in assuaging heated arguments.
b). Tiger turds do NOT taste good, no mater how hungry you are and hold absolutely no nutritional value (actualy this might apply only to turds obtained from tigers that have been floating on rafts for several weeks/months? I think I'll apply it as a general rule).
I wanted to like this book more - I loved the cover and then there's that little golden seal that keeps going psst, psst, you don't get it - it's waaaay deep, you missed the whole point. But I think no, I got the point, like a 2 by 4 to the forehead I got the dang point!
What I lack in spelling, this author lacks in subtlty. I felt like the ending was a study guide/cliff notes pamphlet/wikepedia entry all in one.
I love Pi in the first 3rd, I understand the merits of Pi in the raft (just not my thing), but pi in the last bit - ugh, ugh,ugh! I'm chocking on the authors shoving of moral down my throat - help! help! I can't breath.......
2 stars for the beginning, negative 3 stars for the ending, add something (or subtract to make it equal a positive - ????) and there you have my 2 starred LIfe of Pi review.

On the surface, it's the story of a 16 year old Indian boy named "Pi" who, when he and his zookeeping family decide to transplant themselves and some animals to Canada, ends up stranded on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-lb Bengal tiger named "Richard Parker."
Don't let the Rudyard Kipling-ness of the plot fool you! In reality, this book is an examination of faith in all its forms. Young Pi loves God, and to prove it he becomes Christian and Muslim in addition to his native Hinduism. He also loves animals, and much of the book examines animal psychology and its relationship to human psychology in a vibrant, interesting way.

This book had me asking questions about my life, my beliefs, and my society on just about every page....and when the reader gets to the end (which I won't spoil here), the reader is forced to ask themself the kind of person they really are. If ever there was a novel that could be called a litmus test, it's this one. "The Life of Pi" will, at the very least, entertain through its sharp storytelling, but it can also help a reader examine how they see the world - and isn't that the point of great literature?

Favorite quotes:

"I felt a kinship with him. It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith. LIke me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap."

"But I don't insist. I don't mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both."

"And so, when she first heard of Hare Krishnas, she didn't hear right. She heard 'hairless Christians', and that is what they were to her for many years. When I corrected her, I told her that in fact she was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims."

"Christianity is a religion in a rush. Look at the world created in seven days. Even on a symbolic level, that's creation in a frenzy. To one born in a religion where the battle for a single soul can be a relay race run over many centuries, with innumerable generations passing along the baton, the quick resolution of Christianity has a dizzying effect. If Hinduism flows placidly like the Ganges, then Christianity bustles like Toronto at rush hour. It is a religion as swift as a swallow, as urgent as an ambulance. It turns on a dime, expresses itself in the instant. In a moment, you are lost or saved. Christianity stretches back through the ages, but in essence it exists only at one time: right now."

It's not that it was bad, it's just that I wish the tiger had eaten him so the story wouldn't exist.

I read half of it, and felt really impatient the whole time, skipping whole pages, and then I realized that I didn't have to keep going, which is as spiritual a moment as I could hope to get from this book.

"If we, citizens, do not support our artists,
then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing
and having worthless dreams."

Life of pi is the story of survival in the face of death ,and the struggle to live And the transition from modern civilization to the more primitive existence on the open ocean in a boat.

It is a madness that has the power that could make a normal human with decent and basic moral become a cannibalistic slaughterer. and how, a vegetarian could kill animal and eat raw meat.

“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.”

Pi's father put a living goat into the tiger's cage which did not eat in days, and pi witnessed the tiger eat the goat alive.
He didn’t know that this is the fate that was waiting for him And that his brother words would come true and he would be the next goat And that he would experience his deepest, horrible and terrifying
fear.

Reading this book with its continuous relating and humanization of animals acts ,remind me of a story that I have read

a famous and tragic accident ,remind me of a story that I have read it happened in 1972 at Cairo circus.

The story began in front of a crowd of spectators in the circus when a lion tamer turned his back to the lions
To receive a well-deserved applause for the perfect and successful performance.

in a brief moment a lion jumped on his shoulder and attacked him by his claws and teeth
the coach fell to the ground bleeding and it was too late to save him he died in the hospital in a few days ,what the lion did later was really strange.

the lion was involved in a case of depression and refused food and the circus manager decided to transfer him to the zoo as this lion is not suitable for training in the circus
any more
the lion continued on a hunger strike, they get him a lioness
but he cruelly beat and expelled her
he continues his isolation and depression and psychotic insanity, finally he went on biting his body ,his tail and hand especially (the hand he put on his trainer)
and started eating them in the wild, and raged manner ,he eventually bled and died,.
the behavior of this lion, who committed suicide is very unique
to this much he can understand and feel the responsibility of his act??!!
And repent for his betrayal
I cant call this action a"human action"As this is more noble

animals only kill out of protection or out of necessity. Humans, on the other hand, kill for greed, insanity ,or for
ethnic or racial, religious
purposes
this is why
I just want to believe the story with the animals.

A similar theme was discussed in an old Arabic book of Ikhwan as-Safa or the Brethren of Purity,where a trial for human race was held by animals .

"This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man's frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life."

One of the darkest moments
And I think the temporary blindness was a strong symbolism for blindness of his heart And loss of insight Which is Worse than the blindness of eyes And his silence about the unjust cruel Crime that is done in front of him.

Richard Parker didn’t give pi a “proper farewell” as Richard didn’t feel pi ’s love
he was always running scared of him in fear that he may eat him.

you cant fear AND love someone at the same time, if u love someone your fear would be you loose this love.

" fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever,
treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows
no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind,
always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb
of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy. Doubt meets disbelief and disbelief tries to
push it out. But disbelief is a poorly armed foot soldier. Doubt does away with it with little trouble."

In order to save yourself from the enemy u should understand how his mind works. and this is when pi could interact with the tiger, when he could get into the tiger's mind.

and the exhausting opposites

" The worst pair of opposites is boredom and terror."

" Misery loves company, and madness calls it forth"

The inherent Conflict between good and evil and the algae island.

Tree used to be a symbol of the Universal Man

Here Martell is blending two stories an Islamic and a Christian one.


From My understanding to the Islamic point of view , the forbidden tree was, the sexual act, not the tree of knowledge.

The tree of knowledge is the lote tree which is the most sacred place and it is an Islamic metaphor concerning the uppermost boundary in knowledge a human being can possess .
He is referring to spiritual experience of prophet Muhammad’s ascension, where he crosses the border of the domain of God. as an immense blessing and reward after a period of severe hardship and tribulations And Years of Sadness.

So he was symbolizing for pi hard journey that ended in the island.

the Tree of Death and black fruit, This tree represents the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden story. the teeth was the warning of what would happen to him if he would stay on the island

In pi's path to find his own peace and love to God he adopted Hinduism,
Christianity and Islam all together and practicing all the rituals of the three religions.
In his hybrid faith he tried to unite the three together. if one man could love all the three religions and if rhinoceros and goats, snake and mice could lead a peaceful life.
Then why people of different religious faith couldn't coexist easily and efficiently with each other?

Why couldn’t they stop fighting and killing each other over religious beliefs?

Life of Pi is a wonder.

It is the story of a boy of sixteen who is stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger. It is a tale of survival and man’s interaction with himself and the wild. It is a lesson in zoology and spirituality. And it is just plain great.

Part fable, part allegory, part memoir, part encyclopedia, and part philosophical text—Life of Pi is all of these things. But most of all, it is a story. And it reads like old-fashioned storytelling—the kind in which a circle of boys and girls sit cross-legged and rapt around an old man who, despite his calm demeanor and soft tones, fiercely commands the room’s attention.

In this case, the story he tells is mysterious and wondrous. It is unlike anything anyone has ever heard. And so the children’s parents linger around the outside of the circle, noting the teller’s words and sensing that something is percolating deep beneath the characters and the action, something that, with a knowing glint and a rare hint, the storyteller suggests but doesn’t let on entirely, some moral or truth, or maybe some insight into the human condition.

This teller is good. He has no use for guile, and so his clarity of thought and his simplicity of narration draw his listeners in. He has come to understand life’s essential elements, and so he unfolds his story plainly and without artifice. His listeners, in their complexity, are helpless against his honesty.

And so, a story—a truly sensational and dramatic story built around an often-bloody struggle for life and death—arrives in a voice that is even, measured, paced, scaled. And this voice opens the doors for everything else that is packed in: the vivid aquatic scenes, the reflections on human need and vice, the range and import of zoological understanding.

Faced with all this, the boys and girls and mothers and fathers learn and wonder, and perhaps some of them become aware that this man is not just a storyteller, but truly also a teacher, and that everything he describes—every quandary, every explanation, every detail, every revelation—everything serves to teach something more than the story of a boy and a tiger…

Do I recommend it? Absolutely. Thoughtful, fun, full of stuff.
Would I teach it? Yes, I think so. There’s a lot to work with in there.
Lasting impressions: Aside from some tremendous plot revelations, two things stand out to me: voice and story. There’s something about the simplicity of the voice that reminds me of The God of Small Things and I wonder if it has to do with Indian culture. And then there’s just the great storytelling.

i had to read this for school, and i hated it.

more specifically, it was for summer reading. now you may be tempted to say "well, of course. any book starts out on the wrong foot when you have to read it not just because it was assigned, but because it was assigned for DURING VACATION."

but you would be wrong.

i have been a nerd, a dweeb, a dork, even, for my entire life. there was nothing i loved more than having a book that an authority figure declared to be good for my brain to read at the pool (in a lounge chair while my friends swam) or at the beach (in a beach chair while my siblings swam) or outside (in a chair, when my mom made me go out there).

if you've ever wondered who read the optional books on the summer reading list - you're looking at her.

and i still hated this, so.

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago

On page 70 Pi wrote that “There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, “Business as usual.” But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.”

Pi is most certainly right and he also states at the start that this read about his life will make one believe in a god. Me? I don’t believe in superstars organic food and foreign cars I don't believe the price of gold the certainty of growing old that right is right and left is wrong that north and south can't get along that east is east and west is west and being first is always best but then I don’t believe I will be reincarnated as Don Williams either.

I may not be as keen on this fantasy as most. For what was an attempt at a philosophical discussion on belief, it seemed that the writing plodded along far too much at times and got bogged down in its own attempt to be profound. I did however enjoy the Japanese investigators.

A friend in Canada sent a hardback version of this book to me in 2001. I started reading it, after about 25 pages, I skipped ahead a few pages, a chapter, a bit here and there then put it down. I thought it was going to move slowly and seemed...a little too heavy post 9/11. In fall of 2003 I was leaving for a long trip through Mexico when I decided to pick up a few books to take with me. I saw the paperback and felt like the book was familiar and bought it and a couple others. I started to read this book while traveling but in the heat and the dust I was too thirsty and hot to read about a character who was thirsy and hot and stuffed it in my backpack and quickly began reading what I brought with me. I finished all of the books I brought and gave them away in exchange for novels and poetry in Spanish. I read those books, translating wiht my dictionary and asking my then partner to read to me what I could translate. We finished those too. I was about to start Don Quixote in Spanish after visiting the Don Quiote iconographic museum in Guanajuato when my partner told me if I started that one he wouldn't help me read it while we were traveling. I put it away and was left with only Yann Martel's Life of Pi. After spending the day and evening out and coming back to our room in the wee hours to make love then relax I couldn't sleep. My partner snored, a singer in the club across from our hotel in the town center was singing loudly through the night, I enjoyed listening to the people outside. I picked up Life of Pi and began. When my partner awoke I didn't want to stop but we had a full itinerary and I would get to read again until we left for the next city. As boarded our bus though, I cracked that book open and read until we arrived in the city. Fey was ill from drinking the water, while he slept I lay on the bed next to him reading outloud. I finished the book over night. I couldn't stop thinking about it. To this day, Fey still swears we saw a Senegal tiger while we were traveling, "it must have escaped from a zoo, it was there, we fed it. Don't you remember?" "Of course, I do, the tiger ate you." "What? Oh, shut up. I know we saw it." He wanted to check the newspapers to find out if a tiger were loose. I can't explain what exactly changed, but after a certain point in the book, the boy, the tiger - I just wanted to know them a little longer.