Review: Life of Pi

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Life of Pi is about a zookeeper's son, Pi, who sets off to his new life in Canada. Animals from the zoo are also aboard his ship to go to the United States. Unfortunately, the ship crashes, and Pi finds himself stuck in a lifeboat with a tiger. This is the story of his survival.

This was such an intriguing read! The animal and zoo aspects of this story enticed me -- all the different facts about animals, habitats, and personalities. The way Pi ends up dealing with the tiger is fascinating to read about. The different ways he asserts his dominance and keeps the tiger fed and happy so it stays away from him is amazing and was very believable. The audiobook reader also really got into making the tiger noises, which was fun.

Survival stories are always cool because the characters are abandoned and have to make do with so little. Pi didn't sugarcoat it--it was horrible and lonely and he ended up dehydrated and starving and eating tiger feces at one point--but he didn't totally lose hope, which is always the best part of survival stories. They manage to keep their personalities and wits and use them to keep themselves alive. The fact that he had a huge tiger there was both a blessing and a curse. He had company to keep him from going insane, but he also went a bit insane of fear that he'd be eaten.

Once I read that the author studied philosophy, all the religion mentioned in the book started to make more sense to me. This book wasn't just a simple survival story. It was very religious and philosophical, which made it even more interesting in my opinion. Pi, this poor kid, just wanted to love God from all points of view, which baffles the rest of his family and priests. I think the promise of God also kept him alive in the lifeboat, which was touched on a bit but not to the point where you think the whole point of the book is just to convert you.

The writing of this book was amazing and kept me on my toes. The only problem I had were the last 2-3 chapters with interviews, which I thought were absolutely pointless and ruined the story. I can also see, though, how it's important (thanks to the book club discussion questions in the back of my physical copy). It ended up making me question everything, which wasn't a satisfying ending.

I would recommend this to everyone--especially fans of animals and survival stories (duh).

View all my reviews