Name: Matthew Jackson's review of Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Item: Life of Pi
Rating: 3
Author: Matthew Jackson

Yann Martel

A child is the sole survivor of a shipwreck, along with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger.

Life of Pi

Tami 

If you want to see wildlife, it is on foot, and quietly, that you must explore a forest. It is the same with the sea. You must stroll through the Pacific at a walking pace, so to speak, to see the wealth and abundance that it holds.

Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate.

You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it

Phuong Do

When the sun slipped below the horizon, it was not only the day that died and the poor zebra, but my family as wel. With that second sunset, disbelief gave way to pain and grief. They were dead; I could no longer deny it. What a thing to acknowledge in your heart! To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in- law and nieces and nephews., creatures to people the tree of your lIife and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one whose guid- ance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you.

Escaping animals usually hide in the very first place they find that gives them a sense of security, and they are dangerous only to those who happen to get between them and their reckoned safe spot.

Sally

"I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality."

"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?"

It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.

So you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.

Things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.

Matthew Jackson

Michael Springer

This book is a terrific adventure. Very hard to put down. And, it's just as vivid in my mind now as it was a year ago when I read it.

a novel

Colleen

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. I don't think I can do a decent in-depth analysis right now, so I will keep this brief.

The Life of Pi is very different from the standard fair. It definitely isn't a book for everyone, but I would still recommend that people give it a try. 

The beginning is a little slow. It talks a lot about theology, animals, and Indian culture. If you aren't interested in any of those things, you probably will lose interest. I'll admit, I had to look some things up particularly the references to Mrs. Ghandi. I found that I did not know nearly as much I as supposed I knew about the political situation in India at the time.

I admit, I did get a little impatient for the meat of the story. The first quarter of the book was setup information. Sure, most of it was interesting, but I was eager to get to the tiger in the boat part. Once I did get to that part, the story went quickly. There were enough twists and turns to keep things interesting despite copious amounts of foreshadowing and what were practically spoilers. You are told early on how the story ends, yet the journey remains a mystery and the ending still majorly threw me for a loop. And then I was left looking back at everything wondering what to think. Two days later I'm still not sure what to think. I don't want to give any spoilers, but there was definitely some powerful symbolism there. And not nearly as much about religion as the beginning of the book would indicate. In a few years, I will probably reread this. I think it will be a completely different experience going through it knowing. It sheds a completely different light. But I know which version of events I prefer!

Give it a chance! It's an entertaining book with a lot going on beneath the surface.

This review fulfills the "Book That Became a Movie" category of the Popsugar reading challenge. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-...

Holy crap this book is a roller coaster of emotions I spent all day reading and can’t get enough I loved it. It was completely different and amazing complex and thoughtful 

Hannah Alexander 

Back in its original, iconic livery, the dazzling, thought-provoking novel that won the Man Booker Prize and became an international phenomenon.

A Novel

Rohan Uddin

Beautiful, revealing, raw. A pure feeling of ecstasy after reading the book.

Jamieson

This book left me thinking a long time after I read it. Like, I literally was walking around contemplating this book and the end and what it meant for weeks after I finished it, yikes. 

I absolutely came to love and care for Pi, and his story. When the book ended I spent a long time thinking about it, and Pi and Richard Parker. This story and these characters will stay with you long after you finish this book. An absolutely captivating book with vivid imagery, a rich plot and a story that keeps you turning the pages until the end.

Stefanie Viens

I had to read this book in high school and I think I was probably the only person in my class who actually enjoyed it. This may be because the book starts off slowly, and in those first few pages the reader sometimes find himself wondering how any of the stories about Pi's name or the family zoo could amount to anything meaningful.

Once finished, however, the novel feels like a complete ode to the good and bad sides of humanity. The ending pages bring a whole new perspective to the story, and force you to review the novel in your head with this new perspective in mind, altering the meaning of everything you thought you'd figured out. 

The emotional pull of the plot was almost too great to resist; the more Pi clings to life on his boat, the more the the reader becomes invested in him.

Michael Burkhardt

Absolutely could not put down. Read while in China. Ending was unexpected and disturbing, making the whole that much more powerful

Ivy X

absolutely amazing book about religion, human purpose and human nature, and symbolism in nature. 
this book has left me in a book depression and I am now sitting here thinking about all that this book was, all that it has come to mean to me, and all that I have learned from it 
Honestly an amazing book for my mind and soul.

I have thought about reading this book in the past but it was never one that got to the top of my tbr list. It most likely would still be on my tbr list if it wasn’t the book of the moment for book club. Initially reading it was intrigued by it especially the zoology aspect of the book. I liked the hard-to-believe story that is being told. But there was a part of me that wasn’t drawn to picking up the book on a regular basis. I’m glad I was being held accountable for reading, and a part of me has that guilty feeling for not liking it as much as I wanted to. I found that it had some good quotes that I’ve taken down. I liked the writing style of the author and would give his other books a read. I feel this is a book that I will watch the film of going forward.

Izza

I should give this book another read.. I only hated it because they made us read it in HS and I waited til the night before to read the entire thing and yeah... I'll read it again!

One boy, one boat, one tiger . . .After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years.

Alice Myles

I originally started to read this book on my mum's kindle years ago but never got round to progressing past the first few chapters. So when I was going solo on a day trip to London,I needed something light to read on the plane and I decided that it was the perfect time to pick it up again. 

A light read is really what this is, it doesn't stretch you very much and not a lot actually happens yet it's written in such a way that it keeps you engaged and wanting to read on. 

The ending however, everyone always tells of the ending right? well the ending is annoyingly open ended forcing you to question everything you just read. 

I ended up bringing it to America with me as well just so I could finish it which I inevitably did. And when I finished, I guess you could say that I was satisfied, I wasn't left hungering for more or wishing it had ended pages ago so I guess that's just the sign of a good book.

Esslam Ben Ramadan

I feel it’s easy to try and understand this book at surface level and just take it for what it is. However my interpretation is of a human who has experienced something extremely difficult and in conclusion of this story he wanted to gift us with his means of survival rather than the main focus being for us to believing this outlandish story of his survival. I guess my conclusions is we have to ask ourselves why is one story easier for us to believe than the other and how much the power of interpretation can help in situations of extreme difficulty.

Ayden

Dana Kraft

I didn't have any expectations for this book, and thought it was ok. It's a good story and an interesting ending but it wasn't a page-turner by any means. I read it bc my stepson has to read it for school and I like to be able to talk to him about books. I can see why it is assigned. I'm curious what he'll think.

Callie Anna

wow. I am stunned. I heard things about this book. They didn't match what I had read. I saw the trailer for the movie. It still didn't. I finished reading it. Halfway through it all came together, then fell apart, then came together again. I told you I didn't have words, but here I go trying to say what I think. Setting, characters, and plot were all good, of course. He writing style was brilliant and the way the story was told was beautifully strange. It definitely did get gross and horrific, but what would you expect? Recommended for those not afraid to think or get the hands of their mind dirty.

Cams Campbell

A somewhat meaningless slog of a tale. Maybe I'm missing something, for it seems to be somewhat popular and has even been made into a movie. But really, I just don't get it.

Jaymie Lemke

I usually have a fantasy book close by when I read fiction, because I have a hard time getting into it, but I could not put this book down. I absolutely devoured it. 

Samantha Jackson

Pi lives in Pondicherry, India, where his father owns the city's zoo. The family decides to emigrate to Canada, but tragedy strikes at sea. In the lifeboat are five survivors: Pi, a hyena, a zebra, a female orang-utan & a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

Sara Hakkoum

I think I would have been able to review it better if I didn't take a 2-week break off of reading it. It's not that I found it boring or uninteresting. On the contrary, it's very interesting and fun to read. I just had a hard time finding the motivation at some point.
It's not like any book I've read before. It's funny and strange.
I really can't give it a proper review. I found it somehow beautiful, with its metaphors and the pictures it painted in my mind's eye. It talks a lot of sense.
I found no point in Part 3, but it was fun to read anyway.
Go get it. :)

Melissa Schwartz

If anything, a star came off only because some of the graphic details got to be a bit much. But this was quite the unexpected read. The past two days, I could barely put it down!

Stefanie Sugia

Honestly, this book is so strong with its words that sometimes it stunned me while reading (especially the brutal and scary parts). 


Life of Pi is a story of a boy named Piscine. He created himself a nickname because people keep calling him "Pissing" instead of Piscine. He decided to be called Pi instead. 
His father is a zookeeper. and one day, his family decided to move to Canada. So there starts the journey, on a japanese ship called "Tsimtsum". 

Along the way, Tsimtsum suddenly sunk. And there starts a different journey, the journey of Pi. But he wasn't alone. He survived along with 4 animals: an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a tiger.

This is a story of survival. Pi have to survive living in the Pacific Ocean together with 4 animals on the same boat. Will he survive or will he die? Just read this for yourself and you'll be on an adventure along with Pi, trying to survive with everything he's got. 


This story leaves a great impression on me, because while I was reading, the story was very well-told that sometimes I thought "is this real or is it just a fictional story?". The way the story flows is really good. Even though there's no antagonist in the story, the plot doesn't seem flat at all.

One thing though that I have to complaint about this book. It's too brutal. I know, it's a natural thing to do if you're stranded in the Pacific Ocean, starving and thirsty to death. But Martel described everything so well, until I imagined every single thing. Sometimes it makes me nauseous just imagining it again. 

Overall, for me Life of Pi is a great book. It has succeed to bring me inside the story, as though I'm living Pi's life. A great book to learn how to survive; both in the Pacific Ocean and in life. :):)

Flavia Louise

3 stars
Because it didn't "WOW" me at all.
Because I was able to get through it quite easily.
Because I wouldn't have gone through if it wasn't BookTubeAThon.
Because there were some pretty interesting scenes.
I reckon the movie will be good though.

Annaliese Taylor

I read this when I was about 10 or 11 and I liked it but was extremely confused. I think it deserves a second read, and since the movie just came out, I have an incentive!

marie-ange

such a beautiful book n a total classic. though the first book/first part was pretty draining in my point of view, the end result through pi’s journey is absolutely worth the wait. the ending literally gets me so emotional ahahahah, love being sensitive

Matthew Jackson &
Life of Pi by Yann Martel

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