"A story that will make you believe in God," or so claimed the elderly gentleman that pointed the drifting young narrator in the direction of Toronto.
Life of Pi is a story told by two narrators, the first unnamed and perhaps supposed to be the author himself, and the second, Piscine Molitor Patel, now a middle-aged man, recounting the tale of his misbegotten adventures at sea. The narrator introduces the story, tells us how he discovered it, and occasionally interrupts Pi's narration to inform the reader about the man telling his own story. Pi, on the other hand, launches into recounting his life story without any mind of personal detail. After all, when you are sharing a story with someone over a cup of tea, you don't stop to tell them what you look like or who you are currently living with.
The first third of the book is largely concerned with Pi's history: where he was born, how he came to be called "Pi," and his early conversion to all three major Indian religions- Islam, Hinduism and Catholicism. Pi also tells much of his father's zoo in Pondicherry and includes a lot of information about animal behavior and care that seems superfluous. After all, we're waiting to hear about the boy trapped in the lifeboat with the tiger. We don't care so much that goats make good companions for lonely rhinoceros.
The boat sinks, and Pi begins the second half of his story with a narrative scramble of events that speaks to his confusion- the confusion that led him to rescue a drowning tiger and make it his sailing companion.
At first, there are other animals- a wounded zebra, an orangutan and a hyena- but as time passes and the tiger recovers from seasickness, their numbers dwindle until only Pi and the tiger remain. Pi tells us how he managed to survive the first few weeks in such close quarters with such a fierce beast, how he trained it to stay away from his territory and eventually how he convinced "Richard Parker" that he was the super-alpha and his orders were to be obeyed. (At this point in the tale, one begins to see the significance of all the animal information packed into the first thirty chapters... Pi needs us to understand that the story he is telling is perfectly plausible.)
As with most books that win literary prizes and recognition, there is more to Life of Pi than the story of a boy adrift in a lifeboat with a tiger. The story is an entertaining contemplation of faith and reason, religion and reality, human and animal. Pi, whose religious faith helps him to cope with the overwhelming loss of his family and 227 days of suffering on a lifeboat, encourages us to examine the evidence that life places before us, follow the steps of our reason until we come to a place of decision, and then, if we truly wish to live to our full potential, we must leap to a conclusion. We must be willing to believe something we will never be entirely capable of proving in this life. After all, in the end, it's faith that sets humankind above the animals, the ability to believe something we cannot see and the desire to value other lives because they share this ability with us.
Reading Level: High school
Recommendation: The book itself is very clean, no sexual innuendo or foul language. Due to the strenuous circumstances, some of the descriptions are rather graphic and violent. As a Christian, I do not agree with some of the religious ideas the book purports, but some of the things Pi says are thought provoking in their own right. Definitely a great read if you're looking for something with an interesting twist.
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