Sean

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

This is a Man Booker Prize winner and one of my favourite books.  In the opening chapter, I was immediately seduced into the story when the narrator says he’ll tell a story that will make you believe in God.

The central character to the tale is an Indian boy, Pi, the son of a zookeeper.  He becomes shipwrecked on a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena and a Bengal tiger.  Hyena eats zebra, tiger eats hyena.  That leaves Pi alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a lifeboat. With a tiger.  His life expectancy shortens with each page turned.

What unfolds next is Pi’s remarkable survival at sea with a tiger.  Martel writes with a thriller instinct that rivals Hitchcock or Edgar Allan Poe.  And yet, all the while, he also takes you on a spiritual journey that unfolds so deftly it may not be until the last page is read that you realise it.

The whole time reading this book, there was a persistent feeling that what I was reading was special.  It is a book that can be read many times over; each reading will change with your own evolving perspectives.  Will it make you believe in God?  It will certainly challenge the way you look at the universe.

I read once that what makes a book exceptional is an ending that is totally surprising and completely inevitable.  Martel’s final twist sent shivers down my spine.

Kylie

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

It is a New York Times best seller and my friends were also giving it rave reviews. They weren’t wrong. The Kite Runner is a gripping piece of fiction I struggled to put down.

The novel traces the Russian Invasion and the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan, with the story later based in America. The story follows the life of Amir and his relationship with Hassan, the servant’s son. The two boys, from different ethnic and socio economic backgrounds, grow up together, sharing a love of kites until a horrible crime changes everything.  

As Amir seeks redemption the reader is treated with a wonderfully crafted first novel by Afghan born Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner has been adapted to film, but the movie lacks the strength of the novel, cutting out a lot of the more poignant moments. If you want an engaging read, look no further than The Kite Runner. Just be warned- I stayed up all night with my nose in this book.