Life of Pi by Yann Martel (4/5)

Life of Pi is a novel about the will to live and was written by Yann Martel. The main story of the novel is about a boy who is stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Royal Bengal tiger. The book is split into two parts, the first half of the novel serves as a descriptive and vivid description of Pi’s uprising which perfectly sets the stage for the main story which takes place in the second half. 

The first half begins with Pi’s childhood in India where his father owns a zoo. Because Pi’s family runs a zoo, he spends a lot of time with the animals in it and he gains a strong understanding of the natural world and how it works. Above all the animals, Pi develops an exceptionally strong relationship with Richard Parker, the zoo's male tiger who he becomes stranded in a lifeboat with later on. 

As the story progresses, a dramatic turn of events occurs when the family decides to move to Canada. Pi’s father sells the animals and some of the animals he is selling are sold to zoos in the United States and Canada so the animals and Pi’s family board a cargo ship headed for Canada. 

Everything is running smoothly on the ship until it abruptly sinks at the beginning of the second part of the novel. The ship goes down and Pi is the only human survivor aboard the lifeboat. Pi must overcome his fears of the vicious tiger he is aboard with in order to survive in such a small space with it. 

I found this novel unique because of its ability to seamlessly weave together themes such as religion, the natural world, and the power of the human spirit. When I first started reading the novel I didn’t understand the first half and why it was going into such deep religious stories and deep discussions about the natural world. I was almost tempted to skip over it, but when Pi became stranded with a tiger and his will to live, I understood how these lengthy discussions from the first part tied into the rest of the story.