Life of Pi
WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE.
The international bestseller and modern classic of adventure, survival, and the power of storytelling is now an award-winning play.
After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.
Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, Richard Parker, for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again.
The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional—but is it more true?
Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.
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Reviews and Comments
This is a story about the struggle for survival. It makes you wonder what drives a person to stay alive, and where one finds the willpower not to give up even when all hope seems lost and humanity is nowhere to be found. The story is well told, even though the introduction to the heart of the matter is long... even after about a hundred pages, I was still wondering what the book was really about. The reflections on faith, different religions, and the descriptions of the zoo animals are precise. The book also seemed to convey an important message about the relationship between animals and humans. The text is a plain and unpretentious account of Pi’s reality. But in the end, reality is still open to the reader’s interpretation. The solutions for survival are sometimes brutal. The book kept me hooked, and when it ended, I felt that this book was worth reading. That feeling isn’t easily forgotten. Life of Pi isn’t a light read, but I recommend it anyway, especially to those who have the patience for a slow start and who don’t shy away from the moral lessons of the story.