Martel, Yann - Life of Pi

Pi Patel is stranded at sea one day when the ship carrying his family and an assortment of zoo animals sinks. He's left on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and a very large tiger, and soon, it's just down to him and the tiger (Richard Parker). Various extremely strange experiences ensue as Pi attempts to stay alive, and there are many interesting digressions into the nature of story, zookeeping, animal behavior, and religion.

I'm not quite sure why this is a story that is supposed to make me believe in God, but then, I'm rather cynical about that to begin with. It's a very interesting book, definitely, and Pi has a sort of wide-eyed yet pragmatic narrative voice that makes for quite compulsive reading. I personally really liked the digressions, which branch into some very assorted topics (the swimming pools of Paris being one), but I suppose it could feel a little too exposition-y for others. I especially liked reading about Pi's attempts to train Richard Parker in an effort to stay alive. While it's a fun book, I'm still a bit confused as to why it won the Booker. I suppose it's because of the ending. But to be honest, I didn't think the ending was quite as mind-blowing as the author intended it to be.

Spoilers for the ending ( here: )

So, entertaining, but not stupendously mindblowing.

Links:
- minnow1212's review