Life of Pi by Yann Martel

 Life of Pi

Blurb: ONE BOY, ONE BOAT, ONE TIGER.

After a tragic shipwreck, a solitary lifeboat is left at the mercy of the wild blue waters of the Pacific. The only survivors are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a zebra with a broken leg, a hyena, an orang-utan- and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. 

 Pi Patel is an unusual boy. He is the son of a zookeeper, he has a wide natural knowledge of animal behaviour and a passionate love of stories and practises not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks and Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions are a hyena, an orangutan  a wounded zebra and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal Tiger. Soon the tiger has destroyed all but Pi, whose fear and knowledge allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell 'The Truth'. After several hours of interrogation, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional- but is it more true?

3.5/5 Stars

Recommended for 13+
It is an amazingly well written novel, yet it was fairly hard to get into and I didn't feel the stereotypical 'I could hardly put it down'. The imagery was brilliant and I felt it did educate me with new vocabulary. The pace was slow at times that's why I only gave three and a half stars. 

It is now a major motion picture- 

Reviews on the book:
"Every page offers something of tension, humanity, surprise or even  ecstasy"
THE TIMES

"A terrific book. It's fresh, original, smart, devious and crammed with absorbing lore"
Margaret Atwood, Sunday Times

"This enormously lovable novel is suffused with wonder"
Guardian

"Vivid and entrancing" 
Sunday Telegraph 


FAVOURITE QUOTE: "Richard Parker has stayed with me. I've never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart."

I love this quote as it is very absurd. This is when they are no longer lost at sea, this is a running theme throughout- who would ever thought you could miss a tiger that tried to take your life?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_Martel   ABOUT THE AUTHOR