Life of Pi

a novel

by Yann Martel

401 pages

English language

Published Nov. 19, 2001 by Harcourt.

ISBN:: 978-0-15-603020-5

(25 reviews)

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with 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 …

58 editions

technicat@bookwyrm.social reviewed Life of Pi by Yann Martel

a fun-philosophical read

4 stars

I saw the movie first, and found it a visual feast, but I enjoyed the book a bit more. The lengthy first person narrative provides both a constant thread of humor and also an almost stream of consciousness philosophical musing. I read the critical reception in the wikipedia entry with the various philosophical messages attached to it (wikipedia calls it a "Canadian philosphical novel" which are three words I never thought I'd see together) but it is perhaps best enjoyed if you just read along and don't try to read too much into it.