After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan ... and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary works of fiction in recent years.

I've been reading and re-reading this one since August!! I took it on holiday to Greece with me and loved it, and then when I returned to college in September I arranged to do my English Literature coursework on it (comparing it to 'English Passengers' by Matthew Kneale). I thought that I'd be sick of it after analysing it to death, but it just made me enjoy it more.

The book is divided into two sections; the first is the story of Pi's upbringing, the rest is his account of life after the shipwreck. It's very unique and exciting, and one of those rare books that I raced through in a matter of days. I won't say much more - I have been writing about it for months after all!

Will try and organise a Bookring for this one.

This is the order for the Life of Pi bookring:

1. tania-in-nc (USA)

2. thistlechick73 (USA)

3. dietcokemama (USA)

4. KateKintail (USA)

5. hak42 (USA)

6. aunt-sophie (Canada)

7. rumble-bee (Germany)

8. NatGilder (UK)

... Then back to Simmer.

For anyone new to Bookrings, the rules are pretty simple:

1. When you receive the book, make a journal entry to let the previous person know that you've got it.

2. When you're done with the book, make another journal entry explaining what you thought of it (this can be as long or as short as you'd like). Then PM the next person on the list for their contact details and post it along to them.

3. Try to be finished with the book within 4 to 6 weeks.

If there are any questions, please let me know and I hope you all enjoy the book! :)

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to tania-in-nc to begin the ring!

I haven't got access to a printer at the moment so if somebody could stick on a BC label for me, that'd be great! :)

This has safely arrived. Thanks for sending it on. I have to finish my current book but I will be able to start this one on the weekend.

I found that this book didn't quite live up to the hype. Perhaps my expectations were very high. I must admit that I did enjoy the read - especially the first 2/3.

CR: The Squeeze by Gil Brewer, c. 1955

Wow! My husband snatched this up and read it in 8 hours (of course, he didn't sleep last night either!) He knows better than to spoil the story for me, but his comments were "Compling with a twist at the end" ... and .. "Hurry up and read it!" hehehe... Well, I'll do my best to read it quickly and pass it on to the next person on the list... Thanks for sending it to me =)

I must admit that I did not find this book as "compeling" as my husband did. The first portion of the book was quite boring, but certainly did get more interesting after the shipwreck... A unique story with fascinating characters and an ending that makes it all worthwhile =)

5/19/22: I have sent this on to the next person on the list. Enjoy! =)

I received this in the mail at the end of last week. I just need a few days to finish my cureent book and then this one is next to read.

I liked this book, but not as much as I thought. IT was good, but very different. The beginning was kind of slow, but things did pick up after the shipwreck.

I'm on my way to the post office now, to mail this to KateKintail in Virginia.

THanks for inckuding me in this ring!

Just received this in the mail!
I've got two books-in-progress to finish, then I'll immediately start on this. Thanks!

So very sorry it took me a few extra weeks to finish this. But I'm really glad I got a chance to read it- thank you, Simmer, for this bookray! I really enjoyed it. I sent it out yesterday to hak42.


*SPOILERS*
Most people I know said they really didn't like this book all that much and didn’t think it lived up to the hype. So I had low expectations and ended up liking it a whole lot more than I thought I would!
As an agnostic and a person who forgives pretty much anything so long as the characters are good, I found the beginning quite fascinating and not boring at all. I really enjoyed getting to know Pi through his narrative and thoughts. After the accident, I was certainly pulled into his story and genuinely wanted to know how he'd survive something like that. I thought the details were vivid and as shocking as his situation itself.
I knew ahead of time that the story was supposed to be an allegory, but I actually tried to enjoy it at face value without analyzing it too much. Which made the ending feel incredible. I think it’s my love for strange & creative storytelling that made me like the book so much. It made me think :-) I like that the reader isn’t told how everything in the two stories map to each other, and I like how the investigators, like the readers, are allowed to believe whatever version we like best. No matter what “really” happened I think it shows a lot about human nature and I love books that do that.

Received this book today. I have a couple of books ahead of it.

Finished this this past weekend. I enjoyed it. The first part took me a while to get through, but it was a really interesting set-up and background for the second part. The second part just zoomed by for me. Then part three I think really made the book.

Sending it onto the next person this week.

Received today! I've got a couple of books to finish before I get to this one, though.

When there is too much of a hype over a book, I often wait a couple of years before reading it, otherwise I'm bound to be disappointed. So that's why I've just read "Life of Pi". By the time I started it, I had no expectations whatsoever, so I could not be disapppointed. It was overall an interesting book, each of the three parts had its importance, but I'm still not sure what to make of the end. I'm not one for happy endings, so this ending should satisfy me, but... I don't know. Maybe after a few days I'll make myself a clearer opinion, maybe that's exactly Yann Martel's goal. That you keep on thinking about Pi and Richard Parker. :)

I've contacted rumble-bee, who was after me, and they want to be moved at the end of the list. So I've sent a PM to NatGilder, who's the next person. The book was sent to NatGilder on Dec. 20.

Received this book. Thanks. I'll read it straight away! :)

Updating my bookshelf... the book has been back home with me for a while! Thanks to everyone who took part in the ring, I enjoyed hearing what you had to say about the book :)