The Life of Pi

I started 2011 out by reading the first book on my year-long reading list: The Life of Pi. I had no idea what it was about but knew it was one of those books you are "supposed to read" because "its really good," or so they say.

The first quarter or third of the book was slow. Even having finished it, I'm not terribly sure why it was included. I think it could have been 20 pages of character background instead of 100.

The next section of the book was very interesting. I won't be giving away too much plot if I tell you there was a boat filled with zoo animals and a teenage boy, all stranded in the Pacific Ocean. See? Interesting. I bet you want to figure out how that works. Reading this section was easy and interesting, many trials and tribulations to keep the plot going. However I have to admit, I still wasn't sure why The Life of Pi was receiving such high acclaim.

The very very end though explained exactly why.

It had a "The Sixth Sense" type ending; one that makes you want to do the whole thing over just to confirm that it does all align. I was really surprised by the end and it made the rest of the book (sans that first quarter) be all the more intriguing and interesting. And it definitely leaves you with a "this is a really good book. people should read it" mentality.

I'm not entirely sure if 4-5 pages of awesome ending puts a book in the "really really good" category but it definitely elevates it from hum-drum.

Verdict: Skim the first quarter but read the rest, especially the final section. Wow.