Life of Pi is not just a readable and engaging novel, it's a finely twisted length of yarn—
yarn implying a far-fetched story you can't quite swallow whole, but can't dismiss
outright. Life of Pi is in this tradition—a story of uncertain veracity, made credible by the
art of the yarn-spinner. Like its noteworthy ancestors, among which I take to be Robinson
Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, the Ancient Mariner, Moby Dick and Pincher Martin, it's a
tale of disaster at sea coupled with miraculous survival—a boys' adventure for
grownups." —Margaret Atwood, The Sunday Times (London)