book report on life of pi

By Yann Martel

Life of Pi, the receiver of the 2002 Man Booker Prize, is a contemporary Fiction written and published by Yann Martel in 2001. It is a philosophical novel that follows the adventurous journey of Pi Patel, a young Indian Boy, the protagonist. 

About the Book

Article written by Mizpah Albert

M.A. in English Literature and a Ph.D. in English Language Teaching.

‘Life of Pi,’  the receiver of the 2002 Man Booker Prize, is a contemporary Fiction written and published by Yann Martel in 2001. It is a philosophical novel that follows the adventurous journey of Pi Patel, a young Indian Boy, the protagonist.

Pi’s family decides to sell their zoo in India and move to Canada. They board a freighter with their sons and a few remaining animals. In contrast to their plan, a terrible storm sinks the ship, leaving the Patels’ teenage son, Pi, the only human survivor on a lifeboat. He was not left alone in his tragic journey but with a fearsome Bengal tiger. As days, weeks, and months pass, it becomes inevitable that Pi and the tiger must learn to coexist to survive.

Key Facts about Life of Pi

• Title: ‘Life of Pi’
• When/where written: Written in Canada between 1996 and 2001.
• Published: 11 September 2001
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Allegory/ Adventure/ Bildungsroman
• Point-of-View: First Person through Pi and omniscient narration in select chapters
• Setting: Most of the story takes place in the Pacific Ocean; it starts at Pondicherry, India, and ends in Canada
• Climax: There are two different climaxes in the story. The first occurs when Pi’s journey ends with a shipwreck. Another is his landing in Mexico
• Antagonist: Nature

Yann Martel and Life of Pi

Yann Martel’s idea for ‘ Life of Pi ‘ came to him after his disappointment with his second book, which has brought him neither money nor critical acclaim.   The well-thought ‘Life of Pi’  brought him everything he deserved. Martel proved himself a great talent through this gem of work.

Pi explains his stay and interactions with Mr. Tomohiro Okamoto and Mr. Atsuro Chiba at Benito Juarez Infirmary, Tomatlan, Mexico. His narrative style makes it feel more like a real story than fiction. From the author’s note to the concluding chapters, too many occasions and anecdotes used by the author project it to be a true story.

According to Yann Martel, the story of ‘ Life of Pi’s  purpose was to understand faith. He believes faith is a leap into the unknown, and it makes one suspend their disbelief. If it does not, it is a cult, which is a negative thing.

Inspiration

Yann Martel’s early days of writing career were not a bed of roses. Even after publishing two of his works, he did not receive any acclaim he wanted. At 33, he found himself descending into a not-so-midlife emotional crisis. He had to endure many emotional turmoil and failures, for it was a period of intense struggle and restlessness.

At that time, he sat to work on his third book, for which he had an idea of a historical novel set in Portugal in 1939. However, the idea withered and disintegrated into a pile of crumpled notes as it felt forced and dry, a lifeless and wordy construct. In his Author’s Note of the novel, he recalls, ‘The discovery is something soul-destroying, I tell you.’

The basic idea for Life of Pi dawned upon him while standing on a rock at a hill station near Mumbai. He was reminded of a novella he had completely forgotten about and its premise of the shipwreck. Furthermore, he thought about doing something with that, which begot him the basic idea for ‘ Life of Pi .’

Life takes people in unexpected directions sometimes. In 1997, Martel travelled to India for inspiration and wandered across India. Visitors have a remarkable view from the elevation of Matheran, a small town outside of Bombay. One can see the big city in all its glory from the train station amid the surrounding plains.

Martel has fond memories of his time in Bombay, maybe a culture shock. The experience of backpacking across India was indeed a life-changing one for Martel. India forced him to accept his Western upbringing: religion, animals, family, and community were all up for grabs.

In contrast to his secular, capitalist upbringing in Canada, Martel now came in contact with a profoundly different perspective on life. Indian society and religion opened his eyes to the immense cultural value of art , the political significance of citizenship, and, above all, religion’s emotional and spiritual value.

Books related to Life of Pi

‘ Life of Pi ‘ is not just a novel about a shipwreck and its aftermath but a multi-dimensional work. Though shipwrecks and survival post-tragedy are commonly seen in literary works across languages, ‘ Life of Pi ‘ goes beyond that. It deals with how one’s life changes, whether for good or bad, bonding with animals for survival, holding on to faith, and many others post the incident. In these aspects, there are some works of literature share a similar path are:

‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding: This novel tells the story of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island and must learn to survive on their own. It explores the darker side of human nature and the consequences of group dynamics.

‘The Mysterious Island’ by Jules Verne: This novel tells the story of a group of people who are stranded on a mysterious island after a shipwreck. They must work together to survive and uncover the secrets of the island.

‘My Side of the Mountain’ by Jean Craighead George: This novel tells the story of a boy who runs away from home to live in the wilderness, where he forms a bond with a falcon and learns to survive alone in the forest.

‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’ by Scott O’Dell: This novel is based on the real story of a young girl stranded on an island for 18 years. She bonds with the wild dogs on the island and learns to survive in the wilderness.

‘The Call of the Wild’ by Jack London: This novel follows the story of a dog named Buck. It explores the bond between humans and dogs and the power of nature as Buck is forced to adapt to the harsh conditions of the Alaskan wilderness.

The lasting impact of Life of Pi

The lasting impact of ‘ Life of Pi ‘ lies in its ability to engage and inspire readers through its powerful storytelling, vivid imagery, and thought-provoking themes . It has become a modern classic with over ten million copies sold worldwide and published in more than 30 languages. Undoubtedly, it is a source of inspiration and will be reflected upon for generations.

The novel’s population extended beyond the bookshelves when ‘ Life of Pi ‘ was adapted into a film of the same name in 2012. The film was directed by Ang Lee. The film won four Academy Awards , including Best Director for Ang Lee, and grossed over $600 million worldwide.

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Mizpah Albert is an experienced educator and literature analyst. Building on years of teaching experience in India, she has contributed to the literary world with published analysis articles and evocative poems.

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Author’s Note

Part 1, Chapters 1-12

Part 1, Chapters 13-24

Part 1, Chapters 25-36

Part 2, Chapters 37-48

Part 2, Chapters 49-60

Part 2, Chapters 61-73

Part 2, Chapters 74-85

Part 2, Chapters 86-94

Part 3, Chapters 95-100

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is a Canadian philosophical novel and Booker Prize winner published in 2001. Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963 to French-Canadian parents but spent his childhood in various countries including Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada. Martel’s father was a diplomat who completed his PhD dissertation on Spanish writer Miguel de Unamuno at the University of Salamanca. Yann Martel studied philosophy at Trent University in Canada before becoming a novelist.

Martel’s global upbringing mirrors Life of Pi ’s setting as a trans-Pacific sea journey, which also takes place in Pondicherry, India, Mexico, and Toronto, Canada. The initial setting in Pondicherry, India, is significant for two reasons: First, Pondicherry is unique in Indian colonial history as it was French Indian territory , not British like the rest of the subcontinent, before it transferred to the Indian union in 1954. Second, Pi’s family abandoned Pondicherry to make a sea voyage across the Pacific during the era of Indira Gandhi in which she declared a State of Emergency resulting in the overthrow of the Tamil Nadu government.

Life of Pi incorporates elements of magical realism , philosophy, and religious mysticism. Stylistically, it contains a narrative within a narrative framework and is told from the perspectives of both the fictional author and adult Pi . Thematically, the novel borrows heavily from the Brazilian Jewish author Moacyr Scliar’s Max and the Cats . Despite allegations of plagiarism, which were later recanted, Martel claims to have only read a review of Scliar’s novel. The fictional author of Life of Pi , who is likely a stand-in for Martel, credits Scliar in the acknowledgments for giving him “the spark of life” (xii).

Plot Summary

The fictional author travels to India on a writing retreat where he meets a man named Francis Adirubasamy. Francis tells the author about an extraordinary story that will make him believe in God. The author returns to Canada to track down Pi, the protagonist of the story, to interview him and confirm Francis’s account. The remainder of the narrative is told from Pi’s point of view with intermittent interjections from the author who offers insights into Pi’s character from his interviews.

Pi grows up in the 1970s in Pondicherry, India in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu. His full name is Piscine Molitor Patel, which derives from a famous Olympic swimming pool in Paris called the Piscine Deligny. His father, Santosh Patel is the founder and director of the Pondicherry Zoo where Pi and his brother, Ravi, are raised among exotic animals and botanical gardens. Pi’s family is culturally Hindu, but Pi considers himself equally Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. His modern secular family is deeply perplexed by Pi’s religious zeal. When not at the zoo, Pi spends much of his adolescence praying and performing religious rituals. Pi’s narration often digresses into pontifications on zookeeping and animal social behavior, which offer parallels to his syncretic religious beliefs. Pi ardently rejects depictions of zoos as places that deprive animals of their natural freedom. He views religion in the same light: as an unfortunate casualty of modern thought, which views religion as antithetical to freedom and reason. Pi shares an intense fondness for both religion and science and later goes on to double major in religious studies and zoology. In his youth, he forms close relationships with two different Satish Kumars. There is Satish Kumar the Sufi Muslim baker and Satish Kumar the atheist, communist biology teacher. Pi refers to both as “prophets.” Indira Gandhi’s State of Emergency disrupts the family’s fortunes, forcing them to sell the zoo animals and flee the country.

Part 2 describes the sudden and chaotic sinking of the Tsimtsum , the boat the family and some of the sold zoo animals, are taking across the Pacific. Pi’s entire family dies along with all the crew members. As the lone survivor, Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, and an orangutan named Orange Juice. A 450-pound adult Bengal tiger named Richard Parker is also on the boat hiding under a tarpaulin. After the hyena eats and kills the zebra and orangutan, Richard Parker kills the hyena, leaving Pi alone with the tiger. Pi creates boundaries between himself and the tiger and eventually learns to tame him using a whistle and his knowledge of animal social hierarchies.

Both Pi and Richard Parker barely manage to stay alive, resorting to eating birds, turtles, fish, and other sea creatures. Pi occupies his time by tending to the boat, writing in his journal, and praying. He loses all sense of time and often digresses into long philosophical musings. After going temporarily blind, Pi encounters another castaway, whom Richard Parker devours alive. Pi steals the castaway’s boat and, along with Richard Parker, stumbles across an algae island full of meerkats. After departing the island, realizing it is carnivorous, Pi and Richard Parker later wash up on a beach in Mexico. Richard Parker runs off and disappears into the jungle while local villagers rescue Pi.

Part 3 consists of a transcription of an interview between Pi and two officials from the Maritime Department in the Japanese Ministry of Transport, Mr. Atsuro Chiba and Mr. Tomohiro Okamoto. They interview Pi about his journey and try to figure out what happened to the Tsimtsum. Pi tells them his story, but they don’t believe him, saying it is not reasonable or factual. Pi then offers an alternative version in which Pi survives on a lifeboat with a French cook, a Taiwanese sailor, and his own mother. The Taiwanese sailor dies, and the cook eats his flesh. Pi’s mother’s remonstrations prompt the cook to kill and behead her before Pi kills the cook. Chiba and Okamoto are horrified, but they find this version of the story more plausible. They note similarities, such as between Pi and Richard Parker, the hyena and the cook, Pi’s mother and Orange Juice, and the Taiwanese sailor and the zebra. Pi asks which version of the story they prefer; Okamoto responds, the one with animals, as it is a “better story.” Later, Okamoto sends a report to the author, who commends Pi for his astonishing bravery and ability to survive such an ordeal alongside an adult Bengal tiger.

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Yann Martel

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Yann Martel's Life of Pi . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Life of Pi: Introduction

Life of pi: plot summary, life of pi: detailed summary & analysis, life of pi: themes, life of pi: quotes, life of pi: characters, life of pi: symbols, life of pi: literary devices, life of pi: theme wheel, brief biography of yann martel.

Historical Context of Life of Pi

Other books related to life of pi.

• Full Title: Life of Pi
• Where Written: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
• When Published: 2001
• Literary Period: Contemporary Fiction
• Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism
• Setting: Pondicherry, India, the Pacific Ocean, Mexico, and Toronto, Canada
• Climax: Pi finds land
• Antagonist: The hyena/French cook
• Point of View: First person limited from both the “author” and the adult Pi

Extra Credit for Life of Pi

Richard Parker. Martel got the name “Richard Parker” from Edgar Allan Poe’s nautical novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. The name also appears in at least two other factual shipwreck accounts. Martel noticed the reoccurring “Richard Parkers” and felt that the name must be significant.

Zoo. The historical Pondicherry did have a zoo in 1977, but it lacked any tigers or anything larger than a deer.

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by Yann Martel

• Life of Pi Summary

Life of Pi tells the fantastical story of Pi Patel, a sixteen-year-old South Indian boy who survives at sea with a tiger for 227 days. Pi, born Piscine Molitor Patel , grows up in the South Indian city of Pondicherry, where his father runs the zoo. A precocious and intelligent boy, by the age of fifteen Pi—Hindu from an early age—has also adopted Christianity and Islam, and considers himself a pious devotee to all three religions.

Thanks to government upheaval that has long been distressing Pi’s father, the Patels decide to close the Pondicherry Zoo and move to Canada when Pi is sixteen. Pi, his mother, father, and brother Ravi all board the Tsimtsum along with the zoo’s animal inhabitants (who are on their way to be sold around the world).

An unexplained event causes the Tsimtsum to sink, and Pi is the only human to make it onto the lifeboat and survive. Along with Pi, the lifeboat contains a hyena, a zebra, Orange Juice the orangutan, and Richard Parker the tiger. The hyena kills and devours both the zebra and Orange Juice, before Richard Parker kills the hyena. Pi is left alone on a lifeboat with an adult male tiger.

There is no land in sight and the ocean is shark-infested, so Pi builds a raft which he attaches to the lifeboat, to keep himself at a safer distance from Richard Parker. Eventually, however, life on the raft proves too exhausting, and Pi realizes that if Richard Parker gets hungry enough, he will swim to it and kill Pi. So Pi decides that he must tame Richard Parker. Using a whistle, seasickness, and a turtle-shell shield, Pi manages to assert his authority over Richard Parker and delineate his own territory on the lifeboat, where he is comparatively safe from the tiger.

While at sea, Pi and Richard Parker face many challenges, traumas, tragedies, and miraculous occurrences. They never have sufficient food and fresh water, and the constant exposure is highly painful. A severe storm, which they miraculously survive, destroys the raft. Pi manages to capture and kill a bird. They are almost crushed by an oil tanker, which then passes by without seeing them.

During an especially severe period of starvation, Pi and Richard Parker both go blind. While blind, Pi hears a voice, and realizes that they have drawn near another lifeboat that contains a similarly starving and blind Frenchman. Pi and this man converse for a while, and bring their boats together. The Frenchman climbs onto Pi’s boat, and immediately attacks him, planning to kill and eat him. He doesn’t realize that there is a tiger on the boat, however, and accidentally steps into Richard Parker’s territory. The tiger immediately attacks and kills him. Pi, saved at the cost of his attacker’s life, describes this as the beginning of his true moral suffering.

Pi and Richard Parker come upon a weird island that is made of algae with trees protruding from it, teeming with meerkats but no other life. Pi and Richard Parker stay on the island for weeks, eating the algae and the meerkats, growing stronger, and bathing in and drinking from the fresh water ponds. They never stay on the island at night, however, Pi because he feels safer from the tiger in his delineated territory, and Richard Parker for a reason unknown to Pi. Pi eventually starts to sleep on the island, and while doing so realizes that the island is carnivorous—it emits acid at night that dissolves anything on its surface. Greatly disturbed by this, Pi takes Richard Parker, and they leave the island.

Pi and Richard Parker eventually land on the Mexican beach. Richard Parker immediately runs off into the jungle without acknowledging Pi, which Pi finds deeply hurtful. Pi is found, fed, bathed, and taken to a hospital. There, two Japanese men come to question Pi about what caused the Tsimtsum to sink. He tells his story, which they do not believe, so he offers them a more plausible version, with the animal characters replaced by other humans, which casts doubt on the original story.

Throughout the novel, the story is interrupted by the author’s notes on Pi as he is now, telling this story to the author. After recovering in Mexico he went to Canada, where he spent a year finishing high school and then studied Religion and Zoology at the University of Toronto. At some point, he got married, and he now has two children. He still thinks of Richard Parker, and is still hurt by his final desertion.

Life of Pi Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Life of Pi is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

how pi describe the hyena

"I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not well served by its appearance. It is ugly beyond redemption. Its thick neck and high shoulders that slope to the hindquarters look as...

What is flight distance? Why is this important for zookeepers to know?

Flight distance is the amount of space that one animal will allow another animal before fleeing. Zookeepers need to be aware of this distance in order to keep from frightening the animals.

Please state your question.

Study Guide for Life of Pi

Life of Pi is a novel by Yann Martel. Life of Pi study guide contains a biography of author Yann Martel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Life of Pi
• Life of Pi Video
• Character List

Essays for Life of Pi

Life of Pi essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Life of Pi written by Yann Martel.

• Living a Lie: Yann Martel’s Pi and his Dissociation from Reality
• A Matter of Perspective: The Invention of a Story in Martel’s Life of Pi
• Religion as a Coping Mechanism in Life of Pi
• Hope and Understanding: Comparing Life of Pi and Bless Me, Ultima
• Religious Allegories in Life of Pi

Lesson Plan for Life of Pi

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Life of Pi
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Life of Pi Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Life of Pi

• Introduction

Booklover Book Reviews

Life of Pi, Book Review: Yann Martel’s life-affirming gem

The Life of Pi novel, Yann Martel’s debut, truly deserves the accolades it has received. I was thoroughly engaged and entertained by this tale. Read my full review including some memorable book quotes below and we answer your burning question – was Life of Pi based on a true story?

Life of Pi Book Synopsis

The 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning international bestseller, Life of Pi

One boy, one boat, one tiger . . .

After the tragic 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 zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan – and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years.

A Lesson in Persistence: Yann Martel’s manuscript was rejected by at least five London publishing houses before being accepted by Knopf Canada, which published it in September 2001. The novel has since sold more than ten million copies worldwide.

Genre: Literature, Fantasy, Action-Adventure

Disclosure: If you click a link in this post we may earn a small commission to help offset our running costs.

Book Review

Life of Pi is poignant, inspirational and life-affirming.

The predominant narrator is our protagonist Piscine Molitor Patel, who prefers to be called Pi. Interspersed within Pi’s telling of his story of survival as a teenager, is commentary from a reporter writing an article on the life of Pi many years later.

Pi grew up in a zoo and his knowledge of animal behaviours and traits is the foundation from which he shapes his view of the world and people in general. Even the most dour of individuals could not help liking this character. His self-possession and belief is utterly charming.

Irreverent observational gems, such as the following comment by Pi when delivering his considered review of the castaway survival manual he finds in the lifeboat, consistently brought a smile to my face.

“The injunction not to drink urine was quite unnecessary. No-one called ‘pissin’ during his childhood would be caught dead with a cup of pee at his lips, even alone in a life boat in the middle of the Pacific.”

I also found the disarming simplicity of the 16-year-old character’s discussions on the differences and similarities of the world’s three major religions and his thoughts on religion in general both appealing and quite profound.

In Life of Pi Yann Martel has written such a very clever story.

There is often conjecture about novels that go on to win high-profile awards such as the Man Booker Prize, but in my opinion there should be no argument when it comes to this novel.

This story will be one that stays with me long after reading it. I strongly recommend men and women, young and old acquainting themselves with this character Pi – he is one of the most admirable, believable and inspirational characters you are likely to meet in the world of fiction.

“It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.”

Audiobook format

I listened to Life of Pi on audio and strongly recommend this format. The version I listened to was narrated by Jeff Woodman . His delivery really brought to life the humour and irony the protagonist manages to find in his dire predicament.

If you haven’t tried an audiobook before this is a wonderful example of the real value of this reading format. The latest Audible edition of the audiobook is narrated by British comedian, actor and broadcaster Sanjeev Bhaskar — listen to an audiobook sample. Sounds fabulous also.

“The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn’t that make life a story?”

The Story 5 / 5 ;  The Writing 5 / 5

Where to get your copy of Life of Pi

More inspiring reads.

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• The Museum of Forgotten Memories by Anstey Harris

More Life of Pi book reviews

‘Martel displays the clever voice and tremendous storytelling skills of an emerging master.’ – Publishers Weekly

‘Life of Pi could renew your faith in the ability of novelists to invest even the most outrageous scenario with plausible life.’-  The New York Times Book Review

‘Despite the extraordinary premise and literary playfulness, one reads Life of Pi not so much as an allegory or magical-realist fable, but as an edge-of-seat adventure.’ – The Guardian 

‘A real adventure: brutal, tender, expressive, dramatic, and disarmingly funny. . . . It’s difficult to stop reading when the pages run out.’ —  San Francisco Chronicle

Was Life of Pi based on a true story?

No, the original novel was purely fictional. But director Ang Lee wanted the movie adaptation to have depth and realism, and so reportedly consulted with real-life shipwreck survivor Steven Callahan, who spent 76 days on a life raft.

Why was Life of Pi controversial?

Some have suggested that Yann Martel’s 2001 novel is very similar to Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar’s 1981 novella  Max and the Cats , about a man in a lifeboat with a jaguar.

The Life of Pi Movie

This novel was adapted for the big screen by screenwriter David Magee and directed by Ang Lee . The movie won four Oscars including Best Director and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

About the Book Author, Yann Martel

Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963 of Canadian parents. After studying philosophy at university, he travelled and worked at odd jobs before turning to writing. In addition to the Man Booker Prize-winning  Life of Pi , which has been translated into over fifty languages and has sold over thirteen million copies worldwide, he is the author of the novels  Self, Beatrice and Virgil  and  The High Mountains of Portugal , the stories  The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios , and the collection of letters to the Prime Minister of Canada,  What is Stephen Harper Reading?  He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Watch a video of an interview with Yann Martel on Life of Pi — source Manufacturing Intellect .

A booklover with diverse reading interests, who has been reviewing books and sharing her views and opinions on this website and others since 2009.

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Summary and Reviews of Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

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• First Published:
• May 1, 2002, 336 pages
• May 2003, 336 pages
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• On The High Seas
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Book Summary

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.  Winner of the 2002 Booker Prize.

Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. 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 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.

My suffering left me sad and gloomy. Academic study and the steady, mindful practice of religion slowly brought me back to life. I have remained a faithful Hindu, Christian and Muslim. I decided to stay in Toronto. After one year of high school, I attended the University of Toronto and took a double-major Bachelor's degree. My majors were religious studies and zoology. My fourth-year thesis for religious studies concerned certain aspects of the cosmogony theory of Isaac Luria, the great sixteenth-century Kabbalist from Safed. My zoology thesis was a functional analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth. I chose the sloth because its demeanour--calm, quiet and introspective--did something to soothe my shattered self. There are two-toed sloths and there are three-toed sloths, the case being determined by the forepaws of the animals, since all sloths have three claws on their hind paws. I had the great luck one summer of studying the three-toed sloth in...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

• In his introductory note Yann Martel says, "This book was born as I was hungry." What sort of emotional nourishment might Life of Pi have fed to its author?
• Pondicherry is described as an anomaly, the former capital of what was once French India. In terms of storytelling, what makes this town a appropriate choice for Pi's upbringing?
• Yann Martel recalls that many Pondicherry ...
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Book Review

Life of pi: a novel.

• Yann Martel
• Adventure , Coming-of-Age

Readability Age Range

• Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Books For Young Readers
• Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, 2002

Year Published

Life of Pi by Yann Martel has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine .

Plot Summary

Piscine Molitor Patel, Pi for short, grows up on the grounds of a small zoo in Pondicherry, India, where his father is the owner and zookeeper. A spiritually sensitive boy, Pi finds himself drawn to religion — all religions. He was born a Hindu and worships Hindu gods, but soon he also embraces Jesus, Mary and Mohammed. Every week, he worships at the Hindu temple, the Catholic church and the Islamic mosque. Although his parents tell Piscine that he can’t be more than one religion and his religious mentors from the three faiths have an ugly argument in front of him, Piscine persists. He believes that all religions are true and finds peace and satisfaction in the rituals of all three faiths.

When Pi is 16, his family plans to emigrate from India to Canada. Some of the zoo animals, to be sold in America, accompany them on a cargo ship. One night, Piscine wakes to what sounds like an explosion. He goes on deck to explore and soon finds himself alone in a lifeboat with an injured zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The ship sinks with Pi’s whole family inside, and after the tiger finishes eating the other animals, Pi and the tiger are the only survivors.

For seven months, Pi and the tiger survive because Pi works to provide food and water for them both and trains the tiger to respect him and stay in his own part of the boat. Pi holds onto his belief that God, alternately called God, Krishna, Allah, Allah-Brahman and other names, is watching over him. The boy and tiger finally land in Mexico, and the tiger runs off into the forest. Officials from the shipping company have trouble believing Pi’s story, so he makes up a gruesome tale of murder and cannibalism instead. The officials leave believing that there is indeed a Bengal tiger loose in the forests of Mexico. Pi is placed with a Canadian foster mother and eventually graduates from the university, marries and has children of his own.

Christian Beliefs

Although the author presents some Christian beliefs accurately, such as the fact that Jesus died to pay for mankind’s sin, the overall presentation is misleading, implying that both the Christian faith and the Bible have weaknesses and that Christianity is just one way to worship and work toward unity with the Brahman, the universal soul.

Other Belief Systems

Pi believes that Lord Krishna led him to Jesus, Mary and Mohammed. The author presents Hinduism as an ideal belief system and Islam as the most peaceful and beautiful of religions. Pi’s pantheistic ideas cause him to compare himself to Cain and cry over killing his first fish. He talks of always remembering to pray for the souls of the dead animals. One time when he is trying to cheer himself up, he calls himself “God” and talks about everything around him belonging to this god (himself).

Authority Roles

Both parents and religious leaders are presented as proper authority figures. However, Pi follows his own conscience in order to worship as he pleases.

Profanity & Violence

There are several uses of p—, p—ing and one case of d–n and h—bent. Other uses of h— refer to the almost unbearable conditions of Pi’s life on the lifeboat. The book includes references to animal genitals and one to human genitals. Animals’ sexual habits and excretion are mentioned several times, sometimes humorously. Pi tastes and handles the tiger’s excrement and tastes human flesh. The descriptions of the deaths and dismemberments of animals and people by the tiger are detailed, but the worst graphic violence is Pi’s invented story of murder and cannibalism at the end of the book. It is excessively gory. In Chapter 87, Pi practices a form of mild asphyxiation as a method of escape.

Sexual Content

There is one kiss between a husband and wife; one reference to a little girl’s kiss as a simile for the power and gentleness of scriptures (note: When Pi refers to scriptures, he means all scriptures, including the Koran, the Bible and the Hindu holy writings); and one reference to a man undressing to put on swim trunks.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

This book misrepresents Christianity and the Bible. It presents the idea that Hinduism, Islam and all religions are good.

Movie tie-in: Producers often use a book as a springboard for a movie idea or to earn a specific rating. Because of this, a movie may differ from the novel. To better understand how this book and the movie differ, compare the book review with Plugged In’s movie review for Life of Pi .

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 5 Reviews
• Kids Say 43 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Fascinating survival tale with animal facts, gory detail.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi is the story an Indian zookeeper's son, who survives a shipwreck. Though Pi generally describes his many days at sea as monotonous, he also describes the sexual behavior of zoo animals and relates tales of danger and survival with great tension, using…

Why Age 16+?

Whether or not Pi's survival stories are to be believed, they are extremely viol

Pi says that some crew members aboard the cargo ship have been drinking alcohol.

Pi, whose real name is Piscine (the French word for swimming pool), is teased by

Early in the book, Pi describes the sexual behavior of zoo animals.

Any Positive Content?

The strongest message of Yann Martel's unusual novel is one of survival and the

Pi, the main character of Yann Martel's Life of Pi, shares a wealth of detailed

In Part 1 of Life of Pi, young Pi is guided by his parents and three religious t

Violence & Scariness

Whether or not Pi's survival stories are to be believed, they are extremely violent and graphic. The narrator uses elaborate detail to describe wild animals killing and eating each other, and humans killing and eating animals. The book also includes acts of murder and cannibalism.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Pi, whose real name is Piscine (the French word for swimming pool), is teased by other children, who call him "Pissing."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

The strongest message of Yann Martel's unusual novel is one of survival and the value of life. Though Pi, a lifelong vegetarian, must kill all manner of creatures to survive, the author never treats these events lightly. Pi is ever driven by his will to live and his inclusive, multi-religious love of God.

Educational Value

Pi, the main character of Yann Martel's Life of Pi , shares a wealth of detailed information on a variety of topics: zookeeping, animal behavior, survival techniques, and religious beliefs and practices of Catholics, Muslims, and Hindi. However, Pi is a somewhat unreliable narrator, and a lot of what he explains about wild animals falls into the "Don't try this at home" category.

Positive Role Models

In Part 1 of Life of Pi , young Pi is guided by his parents and three religious teachers. His father uses a fairly shocking method to teach his sons to respect wild animals, but his motives are well-intentioned. Pi's mother is affectionate and protective. Pi gets to know a Catholic priest as well as leaders in the Hindu and Muslim faiths. He is moved by all of their teachings, and incorporates ideas from all three religions into his own belief system. Pi is also close to some of his schoolteachers, from whom he learns valuable academic and life lessons.

Parents need to know that Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi is the story an Indian zookeeper's son, who survives a shipwreck. Though Pi generally describes his many days at sea as monotonous, he also describes the sexual behavior of zoo animals and relates tales of danger and survival with great tension, using elaborate detail to describe wild animals killing and eating each other and humans killing and eating animals. The novel also includes acts of murder and cannibalism. This is a gory book, no question, and not recommended for the squeamish. Parents might also note that Pi forms his own belief system from the teachings of the Catholic, Hindu, and Muslim religions, saying that he simply wants to "love God."

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

• Parents say (5)
• Kids say (43)

Based on 5 parent reviews

"Reality is Unliveable"

No no no, what's the story.

Yann Martel's novel LIFE OF PI is the story of Piscine Molitor Patel, who likes to be called \"Pi\" because children made fun of his name, calling him \"Pissing\" when he was a boy. Pi grows up in India with his brother, Ravi, his mom, and his dad, who runs a zoo. As a boy, Pi struggles with the identity issues connected with his name and with his personal belief system. He visits leaders of three different religions, and joins the Catholic, Hindu, and Muslim faiths. When Pi's parents decide to move their family to Canada, the Patels board a Japanese cargo ship that will take them and some of the zoo animals to North America. However, disaster strikes the ship and Pi must battle for survival. Most of the book is a narration of Pi's time at sea. The film adaptation of Life of Pi is scheduled for Nov. 21, 2012, release.

Is It Any Good?

Life of Pi is a fascinating and original story of survival and identity. Martel creates a wonderfully realized, clever character in Pi, and a unique world of home, zoo, school, and various houses of various gods. The bit where all three religious figures realize that Pi has joined their faith is quite funny, and so wise. Readers have come to love Pi by the time his ship sinks, and every terrifying, bloody struggle he faces is met with intelligence and frought with tension. This is a smart, absorbing novel, although, given its gory descriptions, not a book to be enjoyed with a meal.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the lesson Pi's father teaches his sons with the tiger and the goat. Why is this important in Life of Pi , and how does this experience affect Pi's ability to survive in the lifeboat?

Which of Pi's stories do you believe?

What do you make of Pi's religious inclusiveness? Does it make sense to you? Can people believe in more than one faith?

Book Details

• Author : Yann Martel
• Genre : Literary Fiction
• Topics : Ocean Creatures , Science and Nature , Wild Animals
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date : September 11, 2001
• Number of pages : 336
• Last updated : June 9, 2015

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.