Life of Pi by Yann MartelPiscine Molitor Patel was so named because the Piscine Molitor is the favorite swimming pool of his mamaji. In school, his classmates, and sometimes teachers, called him Pissing, and so at his second school, he introduces himself as Pi. Pi's father runs a zoo in India, in the late 1970s. The zoo has a shrine, but that's for business, not because Pi's parents are religous; they're not. Pi is. Pi takes polytheism to an extreme- he is Hindu, Muslim and Christian. He quotes bapu Ghandi and says that all paths are true paths. Pi's father does not like Mrs. Ghandi's politics and decides to leave for Canada. The boat that Pi and his family take explodes, and Pi is left on a lifeboat with a tiger, a hyena and a zebra. He must figure out how to survive in spite of them all.
This book is told mostly as though Pi were speaking to the narrator, which gives us flashes of the end. The narrator of the now tells us that this story is meant to give a belief in God- this story is supposed to be like a parable. You should not consider that until the end of the book, when the point becomes more obvious. In the meantime, enjoy the story.
Happy reading.
