Book Review: Life of Pi

by Yann Martel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been wanting to read this book for years. It didn't disappoint. I flew through it. I thought the author had an interesting style, most of the chapters were about the main story of a boy whose family owns a zoo in India, and how when they are on board a ship moving to Canada, the ship sinks and the boy is left the lone survivor in a life boat with a nice collection of zoo animals, and how he uses his brain to survive. But every few chapters or so, is a short blip from the narrator's perspective of when he meets the boy in the future to interview him for the story. And the blips are short enough and mysterious enough, that as a reader you begin to wonder, and sense that there is more going on than is being related, but you (or at least I) have no idea what that is.

The twist comes in at the very end. It's abrupt, and then the story cuts off, leaving you to stew over it for weeks and wonder which truth you prefer and why. Which is one of my favorite kinds of books, but I realize this style might bother some people who don't liked to be dropped from a story without much of a conclusion, or wrap up, or explanation.

This would be an awesome book to read for book club discussion.