This is Martel's second novel, and the winner of last year's Booker Prize. It tells the story of 16-year old Pi Patel, a young zookeeper's son, who ends up stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean with a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Parker on board with him. The circumstances leading up to Patel's being stranded on the raft and the unbelievable experiences he goes through, along with his overactive imagination, are what make this book truly exciting and a joy to read. It makes you wonder if you were in the same circumstances, would you be able to survive at sea alone for 227 days. The first part of the book discusses the idea of incorporating the world's religions and it seemed to drag on much too long. The story redeemed itself in the second half with the boy's adventure on the sea, and the complicated and unexpected turn of events that bring the story to a close.

There was much more to this story than I expected. It's true, I didn't care for some parts of it, but I was very impressed with the second half of the book, and surprised by the way it ended. It will make you think about what is and isn't reality. It's a book to contemplate and read more than once. This is one of those books I will always remember!

Joe Hanssen

Yann Martel has created one of the most likeable characters in recent days- Pi is intelligent, charming, and amazingly captivating. With small glimmers of "The Old Man and the Sea," Martel develops the ocean into an unforgiving, vast, and mysterious character. But perhaps the crux of the book occurs at the end, when Martel forces the reader to question the events and stories, and their ultimate meaning, that occur in the book. An absolute must read. We hope Marel can top it off.

"Life of Pi" packs so much into a little book. It starts off as a whimsical story of Indian teenager and his confusion about life, religion, and animals (his father is a zookeeper). It is reminiscent of John Irving's "Son of a Circus", and it bit like Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" but more fun. The story then takes a much more adventurous turn when the boy and his family embark on a sea voyage to Canada. No spoilers here, but what a fascinating story. While a book for all ages I think "Life of Pi" will become a classic for the "I am too old for Harry Potter, really!" teenaged set.

Bottom line: simply wonderful. Fully deserving of the Booker prize.

After reading Life of Pi, I was looking forward to reading another Yann Martel book. Though I was suprised by the opening scene in the book I found the first half of the story quite enjoyable. As in Life of Pi, Martel gave us a glimpse of a unique and well-rounded character, following them through their childhood to the end of grade 12. It is at this point that Martel, quite fooolishly, believed he needed to change. For some unknown reason, Martel has his character switch sex while on a trip to Portugal. This idea could have been salvaged, focussing on the change in thought patterns and ideas, but for Martel, the sex changes (Yes, the character switches back at the end of the novel) simply give him an opportunity to describe in lurid detail all of the sex the character has. Gone is the charming inner voice of the story, gone are the little lessons the character learned in their experiences, gone is the plausibility of the entire character! As soon as the main character has had the first sex change, we are subjected to purely sexual relationships which include lesbians, gays, homosexuals, and even rape. Martel was on his way to creating a stunning novel about the things we learn in life. Somewhere along the way, he fell into the trap of believing the idea of "sex sells" that is so persistent in our modern culture. Martel could have had a masterpiece, created by a truely innovative Canadian author. Instead we are left with a good beginning that ends in a mess of sex, unbelivable characters, absent plot lines, poor conclusions (it seemed as if Martel simply decided to stop writing) and a total lack of any original ideas (which existed in the first half). If Martel would go back and finish the book he really started, I would gladly read it. But after this book, I am hesitant to even try another on of his books, much less recomend him to a fellow reader.

I am a Canadian living in Los Angeles and had read Martel's earlier books of short stories which don't seem to be available here. I enjoyed them and looked forward to reading a full novel from him. I was gravely disappointed. Martel seems to think very highly of himself and it comes through in the writing. Stick to short stories, Mr. Martel, and try to return to reality.

Yann Martel is one of Canada's greatest writers. It is not only a shame and a travesty that he is not better known, it is deeply embarrassing.
This is a stunning, wholly original book. To give away any of the plot, and what it hinges on, would be to ruin the fun.
His next book, that hasn't come out in the US yet, which is called Life of Pi, is an absolute marvel.
You cannot go wrong with Yann Martel. His story collection ... is so incredible it will make you weak at the knees.
I cried at least once in every one of his books.
He is a hero. He is Yann Martel. Good Lord is it ever time to read him.