This book was not quite what I expected. The blurb on the back cover tells you that Pi Patel is stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, but what it doesn't says is that, in order for Pi to survive, he must kill a lot of sea life and tell his audience about it in gruesome detail. However, aside from that, I very much enjoyed Martel's writing style. It was reminiscent of Hemingway and Old Man and the Sea. What I enjoyed the most, though, was his relationship with the tiger... it was one of mutual understanding and both of them knowing that, in order to survive, they needed each other. This is a beautifully written book, even if it is, at times, a little too descriptive and even better about this book, it's wholly original.