Alright so both the book and the movie have been out for a while now but this is a story that is pretty damn awesome so here I go.
Yann Martel (the author) conducts this story almost like an interview. In fact, the author is a part of the story! He meets a man (through a recommendation) called Piscine (Pi) Molitor Patel, whose family owned a zoo in Pondicherry, India. When hard times hit, they decided to move to Canada along with their animals in hopes of a better life. But tragedy struck when their ship encounters a storm and sinks. Pi finds himself stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a zebra, hyena, orangutan, and a tiger for company.
The one thing that made me really like this book (and the movie) was the whole idea of truth being relative; you choose what you want to believe as the truth. This idea, along with themes of spirituality and practicality, are laced throughout the storyline. This is a reflective tale, both in its musings and the questions it asks of you. At the end of the story, you yourself are asked whether you truly believe what is in the tale; the answer you give will determine who you really are.
The story in the book is closely followed in the movie, which is something I really like. Many times, movies cut too many things out but they really tried to stick to the story here. The book can be slow at times so I can understand why some people may choose to watch the movie instead. The graphics and cinematography are definitely great reasons to watch it. However, I like to mull over things and the book allows me to do that. I would recommend reading and/or watching Life of Pi. It has made me change the way I view my life and the world around me and if you are into one of those deep, ponderous moods, you should try it.
Happy reading (and watching!) ~