I liked it very much. Having heard so much about Life of Pi before, I was expecting a totally different story - much more spiritually, much more fairy tale like. But what I found was a hard knocked story on how hard life can be. A true thriller a some times.
The only reason for not giving it five starts is for the alternative story Patel tells at the end. That kind of broke the spell for me, unfortunately.
Otherwise, really great read! Recommended!