So yesterday I was covering reception and got to the last fifty pages of “The Life of Pi” when my shift ended. I rushed through the remainder of my work, desperate to get home so I could finish the book. Once home with the kids I set them up with drinks, snacks and Doodlebops then joined them on the couch and finished reading.
What. a. book. I highly recommend it – it got a lot of positive press, and for good reason. This is NOT an overrated book by any means.
This is the tale of Pi Patel, a son of an Indian zookeeper that decides to relocate his animals from Pondicherry to Canada. They join the animals on a Japanese cargo tanker and set sail, only to have the ship sink in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Pi finds himself the only human on a 26-foot lifeboat, keeping company with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger. Soon the only ones left are Pi and the tiger.
Vivid descriptions make you feel like you are on the boat with Pi as he struggles to survive and keep hope alive as the weeks turn into months on the lifeboat. The author, Yann Martel, is brilliant and bringing things to life with his words and capturing his reader’s imagination.
This is a true page-turner. I defy you to not go into a reading frenzy during the last fifty pages of the book.
I totally agree with your review. For a book that started off soooo sloooow, it really became a stellar read!
I’ve heard so much about this book. I really want to read it now!