Summary of "Life of Pi"

This novel tells the story of a seven month long journey over the Pacific Ocean, a boy and a tiger in a lifeboat. Pi is a 16-year-old boy who lives in India. Although his parents are atheists religion is something that fascinates him. His love for God is so great that he cannot choose only one religion. He is a Christian, a Muslim and a Hindu.

His father who owns a zoological park is forced to close it and sell all the animals. This is in 1977 when the political regime changes in India. The family decides to leave their home country and move to Canada. Some of the animals are sold to American and Canadian zoological parks and the family decides to travel together with the animals on a big ship. The animals who are locked up in their cages are being fed by the family and cared for and everything seems fine. But there is a storm the ship sinks. Pi who is the sole human survivor ends up in a lifeboat together with a zebra, a hyena, an orang-outang and a Bengal tiger.

Life of Pi is a fascinating story about survival, belief, animal behavior, hope and hopelessness. The young boy struggles to survive in a very tough environment. A hyena, a tiger, lack of food and water, the sun, the salty water and sharks are some of challenges he has to face in a very limited space.

However, the beginning of this book is everything but fascinating. This first part deals with his upbringing in India, which is all about his religious beliefs and the animals in their zoological park. It is quite irrelevant to the story and it's like a school book about animal behavior and religion. This part is the only bad thing about the book, thus the rating is only four stars and not five. I would recommend skipping the first 100 pages and start reading at chapter 34. It is an absolutely fascinating story from there on.

Book Summaries

Fiction
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Awards

Book Awards

Man Booker Prize
Nobel Prize
Pulitzer Prize