Is it just me or is everyone missing the point of this book? It's a set up. As a wise friend of mine surmised, the clue lies in Pi's two names. Phoenetically, the name Piscine sounds remarkably close to pissing. Plus the fact that Piscine is French for swimming pool, and what do we do in swimming pools? Martel is 'pissing' all over us, and Pi (3.14....) which goes on forever, shows that the longer we try and rationalise the story(ies), the longer we'll be duped. There are clues all over the book. For instance, the three religions, the crazy meekrat part, and the absurdity of the final letter. It's not even that well hidden.

i read the book life of pi for my ap english summer assignment.... my fellow classmates told me it was about a boy. stuck on a baot, with a tiger, and some problems.... that didn't help to pique my interest.... but i had to read it so i did..... i found many parts of the book enjoying and thrilling to read though the author does tend to ramble on and on about sloths and such.... it was an ejoayble book... if there isn't anything else.... though i enjoyed the book it isn't a book iw ould like to read again with in one month..... however, did anyone else find the part about the algae island utterly fascinating??? if so please share some ideas with me..... i felt that the algae island was a related symbol to the lotus flowers in "the time machine"..... it was a kind of a lull..... i really don't know how to explain but i believe it was a kind of "drug" that lulls one into beliveing that one is content then gobbles one up.... if anyone has any other ideas, please reply.... it would be nice to have other points of view.....

this book was a book for my english class over the summer,
i had to read it because i had to.
i though it was going to be boring but it turned out to be fairly interesting book.

"Life of Pi" is a book about a boy who belleved in three religions, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Their family operated a zoo in India until they decided to go to Canada.
On the way to Canada, the boat sinks and Pi survives by himself with only a hyena, a zebra with broken leg, an orangutan, and a tiger named Richard Parker. He gradually survives the journey.

"Life of Pi" is a confusing book because there are many ways to look at the book. In the book Pi gives two stories at the end, so it sounds very confusing. I didn't know which story was the real one. Later, I find myself believing that this story is a fiction. I believe this book is fiction because this story is logically not right.

I want to hear about what other people say to my opinion, so if you want to respond to my opinion.
All right I am done here. Bye

Like some of the other people who posted reviews, I too only read this book for my AP English class. I thought that it was an alright book. I thought that Pi's religious beliefs were kind of interesting. The fact that he could only be content if allowed to practice 3 religions is different. It says a lot about his devotion to God. That's basically what i found the book to be about; Pi's faith and love for God. It was pretty amazing how he was able to survive at sea for over 200 days. His faith is what kept him going. Without it he would've surely died. The only thing I still kind of wonder about is which story is really true, the one with the animals or the one with people? I lean toward the story with people as being true. Although, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, so who's to say the animal story isn't true?? In a way, I don't like the fact that it was left open ended like that. But overall i guess it was an ok book.

This book was a rather peculiar novel. I too read it for my AP English class during the summer. Although very detailed in everything that happened, a good story was told. But that was all it was to me. At first when I opened the book, I did not understand what events were happening in the story. It was confusing and thinking back on it, a few things did not make sense. Still, I read along and finished the book.

Overall, it was a good book and raised many questions about life itself. In life, people keep morals, but what happens when they are in a situation that will require them to cross that line? Was God really part of this novel at all? I must say that Pi’s journey was a tough one, even if it meant spending it with a tiger, but he survived through quite an ordeal.

What is your opinion about this story being believable or not?

i only read this book for my english AP class.... tina alexander is my fellow classmate.... our teacher required the book as our summer reading.... at first i dreaded reading it..... though i tend to like philosophy, i tend to not like it too.... only because it tends to conflict a lot with my own phiilosophies.... i had read Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World and i found it to be very much confusing.... however compared to that book life of pi wasa simple, though monotonous, read.... i admit, i did not quite like the book in the beginning and i find it hard to accept that one person can believe in 330 million gods and add to that mary, jesus, and the twelve saints PLUS allah.... imagine the number of rituals and prayers adn languages and conflicting teachings.... but i shall not continue because that is foreign ground to me.... i would actually like to bring up the philosophy of life that is soo apparent in the book.... from beginning to end he only talks of life and its different faces...... which brings me to the algae island...... does anyone else think that it has a deeper meaning than that of mental fascination and hallucination???? share your ideas with me, please... i'd really like to know what u think....

I have a mixed review of this book. the beginning was extremely boring!!!! It got better as it went on, but the animals eating animals description could have been cut shorter. The twist at the end did get me thinking, but I like the animal story better! Overall the book left me kinda depressed and wanting something more.

The fact that certain events described in "Life of Pi" were bizarre and could never happen in real life did not bother me.

However, I found it a difficult read, and if it had not been a book club book, I'm not sure I would have finished it. For example, I like quotation marks around words that characters are saying out loud, and this book did not have those. Therefore, I was frequently confused in the beginning as to who was speaking at any given time, and whether the main character was thinking or speaking out loud. Portions of the book that graphically described animals eating other animals grossed me out, and I had to skip several pages of such descriptions. I was also bored by the pages describing this animal or that, and skipped several paragraphs of that sort as well, though I understand that they were an underlying current of the book and important to compare/contrast the human characters. I also personally did not like the ambiguity of the ending.

Other book club members loved the underlying philosophy of the book, and while there were flashes of inspired thought that I did appreciate, I would not recommend the book.