Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Okay, I oscillated through this book. When I first started, I wanted to give the book 2-3 stars. And then a shipwreck happens and the book gets infinitely more interesting and I was going to give it 4 stars at least. Then the castaway(s) journey goes on for quite a long time and I started to lose my interest except I was so close to finishing I just powered through. And at that point I was back to 3 stars and the ending I really liked so I wanted to go with 4, but given the inconsistencies, I wound up here, at a 3 which is probably more accurately a 3.5.

So here is the best breakdown I can give:
2-3 stars - The book starts slow and I really disliked the change in narrative voice that occurs in the first section of the book. It keeps you from fully identifying with the main character Pi Patel. Additionally, the author's point of view that is told in short snippets at the beginning has an odd voice and doesn't flow well. It also repeats a lot of what is in the author's note at the beginning of the book. Martel is right, Mr. Patel's story is extraordinary, he just doesn't need to tell me so many times. Let me read the story and decide for myself. By the time Pi gets to the Island, I kind of started to lose interest though. This section ran a little long.

4 stars - The actual story of the shipwreck and survival. The story of the animals. I did just read Unbroken, and I didn't plan on reading another lost at sea book so soon, it happened totally by accident I swear, but this part of the book may also have benefited from the love I have left over from Unbroken. I also love the switcheroo at the end of the book. It makes you look back on the entire story and reevaluate all the events that happened. It takes away the spectacle of the books prior chapters and makes Pi's suffering so human and so horrifying, it adds a level of debt to the book that wouldn't have existed otherwise.

Bottom line is I am glad I read the book and found it very good. But I'm not sure if I agree that the story was one to "make me believe in god." I also don't like stories that are sort of ambiguous about whether they are really based on a true story, or try hard to make you believe they are, only to not be. And Life of Pi, from what I can tell is a complete work of fiction. I don't think Martel wants the reader to be sure of this and I think that kind of cheapens the story telling. It doesn't have to be real to be a good story.

3/5 Stars.