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 enlarge | Author: Yann Martel
Creator: Tomislav Torjanac
Publisher: Harcourt
List Price: $23.00
Buy Used: $6.77
You Save: $16.23 (71%)
Rating:  38 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 7.6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0151013837
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780151013838
ASIN: 0151013837
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 10
 A terrific novel! August 14, 2008
Paige (Florida, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Life of Pi by Yann Martel is an exciting, mouth dropping, gruesome, adventurous, hard to put down novel. It is about a 16-year-old Indian boy named Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel who lives in Pondicherry, India. Since his father was a zookeeper, Pi learned a great deal about animal behavior and habits. Much to the dismay of his parents, when Pi became older he was very open to different religions. Already a Hindu, he also became a Christian and a Muslim, saying he just wanted to be able to pray to God.
Eventually Pi's father decides to sell their home and move the family to Canada, and sells most of the animals to zoos in America. So on June 21, 1977, with only a small amount of animals, Pi and his family rode on a Japanese cargo ship, called the Tsimtsum, which partway through their trip the ship sinks. The only survivors were Pi, a female orangutan, a hungry hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all in a 26-foot lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. While the tiger was kept out of sight under a tarp, the relentless hyena continued to inflict pain upon the zebra, and then mercilessly killed the orangutan. The tiger ended up devouring the hyena, which left Pi alone with this carnivore.
Now Pi had to put forth all the energy he had into surviving. He had to figure out what to do with Richard Parker, the source of his fear. He decides to try and tame the tiger. Is that really possible? Can someone tame a full-grown Bengal tiger? Pi was up for the challenge. His life depended on it.
Finally they reached land--an edible algae-covered island. The home of hundreds of meerkats, this island was actually "carnivorous". After spending a few days on the island, Pi realized that at night this island became highly acidic, and quickly left.
So did Pi survive? After 227 days at sea, did he reach land inhabited with people? Or did he die at the claws of Richard Parker? To find out you must read this book. If you read between the lines you will be able to see that the author was portraying the fear that Pi felt through the tiger. Martel did a great job with so much detail that I felt I was there in the lifeboat with Pi. Grotesque in places, I do not recommend this book to children, but if you're longing for something that will take you out of the real world and into a world where you don't know what's real and what's imagination, then this is the book for you.
One terrific read! July 31, 2008
Lorie Schinko (Montreal)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't know what to add about this book.
It is based on a true story,the central character is now a Canadian citizen, one fact I can add to anyone who bothers to read my reveiw.He is alive,living in the midwest,and about 5 years younger than myself.
If you love pictorial allegories,and appreciate the wizard of Oz, or Alice through the looking glass,then this is your next book to read.
I love Amy Tan, Margaret Atwood,and Arthur c. Clark, and Rawling's Harry Potter series.
This is an extroardinary book.It is not like anything I read before,including the abovementioned.
I bought my first copy of this book in a Toronto airport in 2003;I began reading it in the plane,I was headed for Madrid,and when I got there,I boarded a bus to take me through town,past juan miro and picasso and other Spanish artists' work on display in public boulevards...
It was 7 AM ,when I arrived in Madrid. I looked at the outdoor art on boulevards between reading snatches of the last chapters of this book.
I was annoyed to be told by the tour guide to observe works by Miro(may God forgive me!)and ,the guy called Bigassole.ahem.Picasso. This story kept me awake for 14 hours,and I was not tired in the least.
Maybe Barcelona is the only place that could divert my eyes off the pages of this book.
Maybe.
But it didn't work for me in 2003...I read this book,cover to cover,for about 16 hours.
I wanted to find out how this Indian teenager survived the Pacific ocean,with a tiger on board, no food or fresh water.
He did.
good thing I finished it before hitting Barcelona.
One of the best of the best books written.It's Darwin,Jung,Freud,Kahil Gibran,with a touch of Ekhart Tolle.
An amazing story July 18, 2008
Marilyn E. Briant-Rockmore (Florida)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a truly beautifully written book and an amazing story. I love animals and this story provides such a wealth of fascinating insight into animal behaviour. I know it is not a new publication, but this made no difference to the tale, plus the illustrations are wonderful. What a great value also - I know I will be re-reading this time after time.
An allegory within and allegory July 14, 2008
Paul A. Heise (Mt Gretna Pa)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a really classic book.
This is an allegory within an allegory and therefore is a doubly deceptive book. If you try to read reality into it, you have missed the point. Remember this is a novel; it is not real life and and I do not refer only to the seeming confusion on the end.
This is the story of the difficulties of a young man forsaking one culture to live in another, when he is given no choice. Think of this boy moving from India to Canada and the difficulties that he faces particularly the pull of India that, if he does not conquer, will destroy him: the 450 pound tiger he has to control. Think of the alien character of the sea: Canada is as alien as the sea.
This is a truly exciting book that I recommend people re-read from the double allegory perspective.
 The World Of Pi Completely Grab Me! July 12, 2008
Peggy Inez (Blairsville, Ga. USA)
How exciting and memorable! But, in stating that, parts were unrealistic, even for fiction. But, in stating that, it was most enjoyable reading, from the zebra, the hyena, the orangutan, the bengal tiger, to all the outstanding illustrations...it was a delightful reading experience. Peggy Inez, Author [[ISBN 978-159858-400-4 The Gully.
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