Every once in a while a good book will cross your path that will forever change your outlook on life. Life of Pi is one of those books for me. Though I may often seem frustrated with my life I must admit that just as oftern things come to me at just the moment they are intended to and not a moment sooner (hence the frustration). In this instance I first picked up Life of Pi in November of 2005 though I didn’t take the time to read it until several months later in March of 2006. Looking back though I don’t think I could’ve read it at a better time. In the introduction to this book the author explains that he learned about Pi (a real life man) through another man who told him Pi had a story that would make him believe in God again. That is a tall order, but life has a funny way of giving you what you need when you need it the most.

Now, I wouldn’t say it would necessarily make someone believe in God, but I would say that if you have a strong sense of spirtuality it would help re-enforce those feelings, and perhaps make you interested in learning about other religions (though it is not a religious book.) It is mostly a book about having faith in things and hope of better things to come.

I’ve never been one that’s good at doing book reviews that don’t give away too much, so I’ll let Brad Parsons do that.

Editorial Review: Amazon.com

Yann Martel’s imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting “religions the way a dog attracts fleas.” Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (”His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth”). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don’t burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat’s sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: “It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I’ve made none the champion.”

An award winner in Canada (and winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize), Life of Pi, Yann Martel’s second novel, should prove to be a breakout book in the U.S. At one point in his journey, Pi recounts, “My greatest wish–other than salvation–was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time.” It’s safe to say that the fabulous, fablelike Life of Pi is such a book. –Brad Thomas Parsons