book review the life of pi

By Yann Martel

An expertly crafted story of Pi's survival and self-discovery is an extraordinary meditation on the essence of existence. Pi's journey through the Pacific challenges readers to embark on their introspective voyage through life's uncharted waters.

Article written by Mizpah Albert

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

Yann Martel’s masterpiece, ‘ Life of Pi ,’ seamlessly weaves together a tapestry of captivating characters, profound themes, evocative language, and thought-provoking context. This philosophical adventure novel has captivated the hearts and minds of readers worldwide and remains an enduring classic for its depth and exploration of the human condition.

The story of Pi

‘ Life of Pi ‘ is a mesmerizing exploration of the human spirit’s capacity for endurance and the complexities of belief in the face of adversity. Pi Patel, a young Indian boy, is shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean after a devastating storm. Alone on a lifeboat, he is accompanied by an unlikely companion, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Together, they face the challenges of the open sea, forging a remarkable bond between human and beast. Pi’s ingenuity and resilience are tested as days turn into months, prompting him to draw upon his religious beliefs and inner strength. The novel’s narrative takes an intriguing turn as Pi’s story is questioned, leaving readers to ponder the nature of truth, faith, and the power of storytelling. 

The choice of characters 

One of the most commendable aspects of ‘ Life of Pi ‘ is Martel’s deliberate and brilliant choice of characters. Each character in ‘ Life of Pi ‘ has a unique personality and plays a vital role in the story. 

The protagonist, Pi, is a fascinating character with a multi-dimensional personality that makes him relatable and endearing. Martel did an excellent job of contrasting Pi’s curiosity and interest in religion and zoology, highlighting the human desire for intellectual understanding and spiritual fulfillment. 

Further, adding Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger, as Pi’s companion on his journey was an ingenious stroke of literary brilliance. It symbolizes the duality of nature and the internal struggle of human nature itself. The juxtaposition of Pi’s vulnerability with Richard Parker’s primal instincts raises questions about humanity and its inherent savagery.

Impressive choice of themes

The story of ‘ Life of Pi ‘ is a truly remarkable work of literature that impressively intertwines the themes of survival, faith, and storytelling. The author’s skillful portrayal of Pi’s curiosity and interest in religion and zoology highlights the human desire for intellectual understanding and spiritual fulfillment. The themes of faith and reason, belief and skepticism, are explored in a way that challenges readers to question their own convictions and find meaning in a world full of uncertainties.

Physical and spiritual survival is another central theme that permeates the novel . The juxtaposition of Pi’s survival in the unforgiving vastness of the Pacific Ocean against his psychological survival amidst adversity epitomizes the resilience of the human spirit. The novel forces readers to question their capacity for survival in the face of adversity and the extent to which faith can act as a refuge during challenging times.

Historical and cultural context

Enriched by its historical and cultural context, the novel tells the story of a young Indian boy named Pi Patel who survives a shipwreck and ends up stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The historical and cultural context adds depth to the story, highlighting the complexities of identity and the intermingling of cultures in a globalized world. 

The historical context of India’s colonial past and subsequent journey toward globalization contributes to the narrative. Pi’s family owns a zoo, and the animals symbolize the connection between humans and the natural world, impacted by colonialism and modernization. The zoo’s closure and Pi’s journey to Canada reflect India’s changing socio-economic landscape, influenced by both its colonial history and the forces of globalization. The novel’s context serves as a backdrop for fostering cross-cultural understanding and empathy.

Martel’s choice of language and writing style

Martel’s language in ‘ Life of Pi ‘ is a seamless blend of lyrical prose and vivid imagery that transports readers to the very heart of Pi’s journey. The author’s exceptional storytelling prowess keeps readers engaged, balancing the emotional intensity of the narrative with moments of philosophical contemplation. Martel’s ability to paint breathtaking visuals and evoke a sensory experience makes the journey palpable, captivating readers with the novel’s immersive nature.

Martel’s writing is enchanting, with vivid imagery that transports readers to the heart of Pi’s struggle for survival. The author seamlessly interweaves Pi’s day-to-day challenges with moments of introspection, delving deep into the complexities of the human psyche when faced with isolation, fear, and the primal need for sustenance. As readers witness Pi’s growth from a naive boy to a resourceful survivor, they are drawn into the emotional rollercoaster of his experience.

Life of Pi Review

Book Title: Life of Pi

Book Description: In this compelling narrative, Pi faces the ultimate test of survival while lost at sea, offering a profound exploration into the complexities of human existence. As he journeys through the perilous waters of the Pacific, the story challenges readers to undertake their own introspective voyages into life's great uncertainties.

Book Author: Yann Martel

Book Edition: First Edition

Book Format: Hardcover

Publisher - Organization: Knopf Canada

Date published: September 11, 2011

ISBN: 0-676-97376-0

Number Of Pages: 319

• Lasting Impact on a Reader

Life of Pi: An Exploration of Faith and Fortitude

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is a masterpiece that resonates with readers on multiple levels. The choice of characters, including the enigmatic Pi and the enigmatic Richard Parker, invites us to explore the depths of human nature and spirituality. Themes of survival, faith, and storytelling inspire profound contemplation, while Martel’s eloquent language immerses us in a world of wonder and introspection. The contextual intricacies add another layer of brilliance to the narrative, making Life of Pi a thought-provoking and unforgettable reading experience. This novel is a testament to the power of storytelling and its ability to enrich our understanding of the world and ourselves.

• Layered narrative with symbolism and allegory
• Compelling narration
• Exploration of a wide range of spirituality and faith
• Use of descriptive language
• Ambiguous end that leads to multi-layer understanding
• Lack of empathy
• Animal cruelty
• Complex use of symbols and language

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About Mizpah Albert

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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Julia's books

Sharing my passion for books with views, news and reviews

Book review: “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel

This has been on my TBR list for years – it was a sensation when it was first published in 2001, went on to win the Man Booker Prize in 2002 and was adapted for film in 2012, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Director for Ang Lee (though critical reception of the film was mixed). However, my life at that time was rather dominated by small children – these were what I call my ‘lean years’ of reading, of adult books anyway! I determined to read Life of Pi this summer because my elder daughter thought it was brilliant and has been harassing me to read it for months. I will put my cards on the table straight away – I thought it was extraordinary. The best thing I have read since The Overstory by Richard Powers, which I finished in January.

Difficult political events in India lead his parents to make a decision to move to Canada, taking their most precious animals with them, in order that they can start a new zoo. Shortly after leaving port, however, the Japanese freighter in which the family is travelling sinks. All souls are lost, except Pi, who escapes in a lifeboat, with, as he will soon discover, four animals – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger. The first part of the journey is gruesome and terrible; the zebra has broken its leg in the fall and is soon brutally and graphically finished off by the ravenous hyena. The hyena then attacks, kills and eats the orangutan. This is not for the squeamish! Pi believes he is going to be next on the hyena’s list until he discovers they are sharing the lifeboat with the tiger, who has been hiding under a tarpaulin for days, suffering with severe seasickness! When he does emerge, the hyena is no match for Richard Parker, who summarily kills him. This undoubtedly saves Pi’s life but it is out of the frying pan and into the fire as he wonders if he will be Richard Parker’s next meal.

What we are treated to next is many months of a precarious symbiotic existence on the lifeboat – boy and tiger trying to survive. It is a quite extraordinary feat that the author can make 227 days on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean such edge of the seat reading. First we have Pi’s incredible ingenuity, the powerful survival instinct which enables him to stretch the meagre rations in the lifeboat’s emergency pack, and utilise all the supplies available. Second, there is the way he manages Richard Parker to ensure that he, Pi, becomes the alpha animal – he uses all his zoo knowledge, plus his exceptional courage, to teach the tiger submissiveness and this enables them both to survive. Third, there is the incredible storytelling, the highs and lows of shipwreck (at one point they land on a lush island, only to discover that it is dominated by deadly carnivorous plants) plus Pi’s account of his own mental health.

We know that Pi will survive – the novel begins with the author meeting the older Pi in Canada, and Pi promising to tell him his story – but this makes the account no less tense, so close to peril do the pair exist. There is a brilliant twist at the end, which I will not disclose, but it kind of leaves you breathless. Untethered!

I found this a profoundly fascinating book that you can read on so many levels. It is a philosophical tract about the nature of the divine. It is a book about the triumph of the human spirit when faced with adversity. It is a book about the relationship between man and beast. It is also, quite simply, a brilliant yarn about that most traditional of stories, the shipwreck and the survivor.

Absolutely brilliant, loved every second of it, highly recommend it, can’t believe it took me so long to get around to it!

I’d love to hear about a book on your TBR list that you loved once you finally got around to reading it.

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Author: Julia's books

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Love your narration. Got me engrossed into reading it just like a thriller.

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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 .

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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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Common sense media reviewers.

Fascinating survival tale with animal facts, gory detail.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Pi, the main character of Yann Martel's Life of Pi

The strongest message of Yann Martel's unusual nov

In Part 1 of Life of Pi, young Pi is guided by his

Whether or not Pi's survival stories are to be bel

Early in the book, Pi describes the sexual behavio

Pi, whose real name is Piscine (the French word fo

Pi says that some crew members aboard the cargo sh

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…

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 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.

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.

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.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

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

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity 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.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

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

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

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 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

Community 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

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Our editors recommend.

The Handmaid's Tale

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by Yann Martel ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2001

A fable about the consolatory and strengthening powers of religion flounders about somewhere inside this unconventional coming-of-age tale, which was shortlisted for Canada’s Governor General’s Award. The story is told in retrospect by Piscine Molitor Patel (named for a swimming pool, thereafter fortuitously nicknamed “Pi”), years after he was shipwrecked when his parents, who owned a zoo in India, were attempting to emigrate, with their menagerie, to Canada. During 227 days at sea spent in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger (mostly with the latter, which had efficiently slaughtered its fellow beasts), Pi found serenity and courage in his faith: a frequently reiterated amalgam of Muslim, Hindu, and Christian beliefs. The story of his later life, education, and mission rounds out, but does not improve upon, the alternately suspenseful and whimsical account of Pi’s ordeal at sea—which offers the best reason for reading this otherwise preachy and somewhat redundant story of his Life .

Pub Date: June 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-15-100811-6

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002

GENERAL FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Yann Martel

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2015

Kirkus Prize winner

National Book Award Finalist

A LITTLE LIFE

by Hanya Yanagihara ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.

Yanagihara ( The People in the Trees , 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.  

Pub Date: March 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8

Page Count: 720

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

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by Hanya Yanagihara

More About This Book

PERSPECTIVES

FIREFLY LANE

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008

Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...

Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest ( Magic Hour , 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.

Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today -like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3

Page Count: 496

Publisher: St. Martin's

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007

GENERAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

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by Kristin Hannah

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Reviews of Life of Pi by Yann Martel

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

by Yann Martel

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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...

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• 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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The Literary Edit

Review: Life of Pi – Yann Martel

Life of Pi is one of those books that’s been on my radar for a number of years now. Having won the Man Booker Prize in 2002 and been recommended to me by multiple friends I certainly didn’t mean to wait over a decade since its publication to read it – but alas, as with many book bloggers, my to-be-read pile is ever growing and it only recently made it to the top.

A tale that fuses fantasy with adventure, Life of Pi tells the story of Pi, a Tamil boy from Pondicherry, whose family decide to sell their zoo in India to move overseas. Following an ill-fated shipwreck, Pi goes onto incredulously survive 227 stranded onboard a boat with a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker.

A multi-layered novel whose protagonist is spiritual even before facing unsurmountable odds as he battles to survive, early on in the story we witness Pi – who’s born a Hindu – encounter Christianity and Islam and become a worshipper of the three traditions.

Much of the story that follows the shipwreck is as much about our unwavering survival instinct as it is about the mystery of the wilderness and the vast unknown. The author’s melodic prose illustrates a barren yet beautiful landscape and Pi suffers at the hands of Mother Nature, misfortune and at the hands of his mind.

Poetic, lyrical and beautifully written, Life of Pi is a thought-provoking tale that speaks to readers the world over. A coming of age novel at its core, we witness the self-discovery and spiritual journey of the protagonist as he survives against the odds. Abundant with themes of both spirituality and religion, self-perception, the importance of family, and the nature of animals, Life of Pi is a rich tale of morality, faith, and the fine line between fact and fiction.

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Book review: “The Life of Pi” By Yann Martel

Maybe there are deep levels of allegory to the book. There are certainly hints.

Martel names his central character Pi, a nickname that Piscine Molitor Patel gives himself to avoid being called Pissing by his classmates.

It is also, as Piscine makes clear at school, the same word as the number in mathematics that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, 3.14159…… and on into infinity.

Maybe Pi is a stand-in for the individual human spirit that, once started, has no end. Or not.

“A story to make you believe”

In an author’s note after the title page, the novel’s narrator — maybe a fictional “Yann Martel,” maybe not; he’s never named — is initially told that the story of a shattering event in Pi’s life “will make you believe in God.” A page later, after having exhaustively interviewed a middle-aged Pi, the narrator himself writes that it was “a story to make you believe in God.”

That story involves the 227 days that the 15-year-old spends in a lifeboat.

With a tiger.

What happens is that the transport ship carrying Pi and his family from India to Canada sinks, and Pi finds himself in a lifeboat with the tiger, a zebra, a hyena and an orangutan. Needless to say, the tiger makes quick work of the three animals.

So, after losing his family in the sea tragedy, the boy is forced, alone, to face the fear of death from the ocean, from the elements, from sharks, from starvation, from thirst and, if that weren’t enough, from this tiger.

We’re definitely in the territory of mystical realism or magical realism or whatever you want to call it.

Pi survives by developing a relationship with the tiger in which the animal’s might, ferocity, hunger and instincts are balanced by the boy’s intelligence, bravery and zoological knowledge. (Did I say the boy’s father was a zoo director?)

Pi embraces his fear. Is the aim of the book to teach that lesson? Pi = us. Tiger = fear. We only achieve a full life by coming to terms with our fears. Is that the allegorical point?

The lifeboat story takes up the middle two-thirds of the novel. In leading up to that account, the narrator relates that, as a child, Pi was precociously religious — and promiscuously.

One after the other, in quick succession, Pi takes up Hinduism, Catholicism and Islam. But, with each new faith he accepts, he doesn’t discard any earlier one.

His non-religious family doesn’t know of his simultaneous beliefs in these religions until, on a stroll down the beach, they and Pi bump into the three clerics who have been involved in what each believes to have been the boy’s conversion to the cleric’s faith.

So Pi is presented as a boy who believes in God, loves religious thought and ritual, but transcends the petty quibbles and wall-building of organized religion.

Maybe Pi is a stand-in for us. Maybe Martel wants us to see that we should believe in God but not worry about which one or many of the world’s religions we use to get to Him. Or not.

Turning to God

Given this build-up — “a story to make you believe in God” and Pi’s pan-religious acceptance — it is more than a bit amazing that, during his lifeboat ordeal, the boy says very little about God. Then, at the very end of the story, when the boy and the tiger seem doomed to die on the seas, Pi tells the narrator:

It was natural that, bereft and desperate as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God.

And then the boat hit a beach in Mexico, and the boy and his tiger were saved — the tiger running off into the jungle, the boy being found by some villagers.

There is no discussion of what “turn to God” meant. No link between that turning and the surviving.

Is the point here — the point of the novel — that it doesn’t do much good to talk about God with the words of reason? That the only way to understand God and “see” God is with a sort of peripheral vision?

Allegories, such as Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” involve characters and situations that are stand-ins for a belief system or set of ideas. In those cases, the Christian faith.

It doesn’t seem to me, after reading “The Life of Pi,” that Martel has a particular system of theological ideas in mind in telling the story.

Something else going on

I’m thinking that something else is going on. I’m thinking that Martel has included these allegory-type elements and the various God-talk because they make for a more interesting story.

I’m left thinking that this is a story about stories.

The end of the book is taken up with Pi being interviewed by two representatives of the Japanese shipping line that had owned the cargo ship that sunk, killing everyone except for the boy.

He tells them the story of his ordeal on the lifeboat with the tiger. They don’t believe it.

Which story?

So, over nine pages, he gives them a completely different story about the lifeboat ordeal, without the tiger but with his mother, an injured sailor and the ship’s homicidal cook as company. It is a gruesome story of murder and cannibalism.

“In both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies, and I suffer.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?”

So Martel seems to be saying that life is more interesting, more vibrant, if we tell better stories — even if those stories aren’t based on the facts.

And/or that, when we hear interesting and vibrant stories that stretch our credulity, we shouldn’t be so hard-assed about insisting on reason and likelihood.

A better story

And when it comes to God — I didn’t find the novel “a story to make [me] believe in God.” I already do, but, if I were a non-believer, I don’t think I would find faith proven by this book.

Proof isn’t on Martel’s agenda. His argument, I think, is that life is more interesting, more vibrant, if we think there is a God.

God is a better story.

No God is a good story, too.

On the other hand, being wishy-washy about the reality of a Supreme Being — being an agnostic — is to fail at life. In fact, midway through the book, the middle-aged Pi says:

I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: “White, white! L-L-Love! My God!” — and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeast-less factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, “Probably a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,” and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.

Martel’s “The Life of Pi” is “a better story.”

Patrick T. Reardon 8.22.12

Written by : Patrick T. Reardon

For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.

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Life of Pi: A Novel Paperback – Black & White, May 1, 2003

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The international bestseller and modern classic of adventure, survival, and the power of storytelling is now an award-winning play. 

"A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction."— Los Angeles Times Book Review 

After the 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 wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, 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 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.

• Print length 326 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Mariner Books Classics
• Publication date May 1, 2003
• Reading age 14 years and up
• Dimensions 5.31 x 0.88 x 8 inches
• ISBN-10 9780156027328
• ISBN-13 978-0156027328
• Lexile measure 830
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Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction "Let me tell you a secret: the name of the greatest living writer of the generation born in the sixties is Yann Martel."-- L'Humanité "A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction and its human creators, and in the original power of storytellers like Martel." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review “If this century produces a classic work of survival literature, Martel is surely a contender.’--The Nation "Beautifully fantastical and spirited." -- Salon "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 "Audacious, exhilarating . . . wonderful. The book's middle section might be the most gripping 200 pages in recent Canadian fiction. It also stands up against some of Martel's more obvious influences: Edgar Allen Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym , the novels of H. G. Wells, certain stretches of Moby Dick ."-- Quill & Quire —

From the Back Cover

About the author.

YANN MARTEL was born in Spain in 1963 of Canadian parents. Life of Pi won the 2002 Man Booker Prize (among other honors) and was adapted to the screen in the Oscar-winning film by Ang Lee. Martel is also the author of the novels The High Mountains of Portugal, Beatrice and Virgil, and Self, the collection of stories The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, and a collection of letters to the prime minister of Canada, What Is Stephen Harper Reading?. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada.

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Product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0156027321
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books Classics (May 1, 2003)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 326 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780156027328
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0156027328
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 830
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.1 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.88 x 8 inches
• #25 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
• #66 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
• #242 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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About the author

Yann martel.

Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction

Yann Martel, the son of diplomats, was born in Spain in 1963. He grew up in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Alaska, and Canada and as an adult has spent time in Iran, Turkey, and India. After studying philosophy in college, he worked at various odd jobs until he began earning his living as a writer at the age of twenty-seven. He lives in Montreal.

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Yann Martel

Ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

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: 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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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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‘Life of Pi’ Review: A Boy and a Tiger, Burning Brightly

Human ingenuity and animal grace course through this rich, inventive play about difficult choices and the stories we tell to make sense of them.

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By Alexis Soloski

The butterflies enter first, quivering gaily atop their sticks. Then a giraffe pokes her head in. A goat gambols. A hyena cackles. One zebra runs on. Then another. An orangutan swings through while her baby reposes on a branch nearby. Above, monkeys and meerkats chitter. In the first act of “Life of Pi,” a menagerie — menacing, delightful — entrenches itself on the stage of Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.

With dazzling imagination and sublime control, the show’s cast and crew conjure a delirious, dynamic, highly pettable world. And oh, is it a wonder. Though the play is ostensibly about one boy’s fraught survival after a disaster, that story is somewhat thin. “Life of Pi” instead succeeds as a broader tribute to human ingenuity and animal grace.

Directed by Max Webster and adapted by the playwright Lolita Chakrabarti from Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning novel, “Life of Pi” begins more somberly, in Mexico, in 1978. A grayed-out hospital room houses a sole patient, Pi Patel (Hiran Abeysekera). A Japanese cargo ship en route to Canada has sunk. Among its passengers were Pi and his family, who had set out from Pondicherry, India. And among its freight were the animals Pi’s zookeeper father tended. All aboard have drowned, except Pi, a traumatized 17-year-old who washed up in this fishing village after 227 days lost at sea.

Visiting him this morning are Mr. Okamoto (Daisuke Tsuji), a representative from the Japanese Ministry of Transport, and Lulu Chen (Kirstin Louie), from the Canadian Embassy. These guests have been charged with learning what happened to Pi. For their benefit, he spins a fantastic tale — incredible in every sense — about sharing a lifeboat with animals, initially several then finally just one, Richard Parker, an enormous, sinuous, very hungry Bengal tiger.

Between Richard Parker and Pi, adamant carnivore and lifelong vegetarian, there is a desperate struggle for dominance. Richard Parker needs to eat. Pi would prefer not to be eaten. But these two passengers eventually achieve a détente, even a kind of friendship, a hallucinatory acknowledgment of what is human within the animal and animal within the human. It is the example of Richard Parker — and his companionship, however imagined — that allows Pi to survive.

“You’re the only reason I’m alive,” a despairing Pi says to his friend, midjourney. “It’s just you and me.”

But “Life of Pi” is a much larger affair than this small-man-big-cat duo. The cast runs to 24 actors, many of them also puppeteers, with a small fleet of crew members to make the whole show seaworthy. (The play originated in Sheffield, England, before moving to the West End and then to the American Repertory Theater in Boston, so yes, it floats.) Martel’s novel — absorbing, florid — is a work of magical realism. Webster, the director, makes sure to deliver the magic and the realism both.

Nodding to techniques pioneered by Robert Lepage and Improbable Theater, Webster encourages a beautiful synchrony of lighting (Tim Lutkin), video (Andrzej Goulding), sound (Carolyn Downing) and set (Tim Hatley, who also designed the costumes). Aided by the other production elements, the mise-en-scène constantly moves and shifts. The room becomes the boat. The boat recedes into the room. Sometimes both room and boat are there at once and a person might have to clap her hands across her mouth to stop herself from oohing, especially when the schools of fish surface or the stars begin to flicker. We are in the realm of fantasy here, of symbolism, but squint just a little and waves appear. Even from the mezzanine, I could feel — almost — a salt spray.

And the puppetry ! Between Milky White of “Into the Woods” and the dinosaur and mammoth of “The Skin of Our Teeth,” New York has not been starved of extraordinary stick and cloth creations. But the animals here, designed by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, with movement direction by Caldwell, prowl and canter and leap with astonishing character and style. And Richard Parker, animated by three puppeteers at any given time, is the show’s striped jewel. Chuffing, growling and panting as he stalks the boat’s perimeter, he is at once beguiling, gentlemanly and quite dangerous. Abeysekera — a petite hurricane of an actor with reeling limbs and a clarion voice — is excellent in an exhausting role.

But Richard Parker (very briefly voiced by Brian Thomas Abraham) makes the more indelible impression. When he finally slunk onto dry land, I worried for him as I did not worry for Pi. He seemed so thin.

Toward the start of his tale, Pi promises his listeners that his story will make them believe in God. But while Martel’s novel has a deep and sometimes tendentious concern with religion and philosophy, Chakrabarti’s adaptation engages with these questions only glancingly.

At its most abstract, this a play about how we come to terms with our own choices, even with our own survival, and the stories we might tell to make those choices and that survival make sense. Trauma requires language, Pi insists. If you don’t find words to compass it, he says, “it becomes a wordless darkness, and you will never defeat it.” Yet language tends to recede whenever the animals are onstage. Want wonder? Want divinity? Look to the tiger burning bright. And then look to the human hands that tend the flame.

Eventually Pi offers an alternative version of what happened on that lifeboat, which Webster also stages. Stripped of animals, allegory and visual pleasure, this account is more plausible, though much darker. “Which is the better story?” Pi asks.

Depends what he means by “better.” But of course it’s the one with the animals. Because faced with such horror, or even with the ordinary hardships of daily life, anyone would prefer the fantasy, especially when it is rendered with such richness and invention. (A different show might have questioned the morality of extracting such pleasure, such delight, from a tale of privation. Not this one.) Significantly, neither story redeems what Pi has suffered. But only one has a tiger in it.

That roaring that you will hear at the show’s end? It’s the sound of a standing ovation.

Life of Pi At the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, Manhattan; lifeofpibway.com . Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes.

Teen Book Review: Life of Pi

Title: Life of Pi Author: Yann Martel Publication date: 2001 Genre: Survival, Adventure Recommended for: 13+ Rating: 4/5 stars

Pi Patel, a God-loving boy and the son of a zookeeper, has a fervent love of stories and practices not only from his native Hinduism, but also from Christianity and Islam.  When Pi is sixteen, his family and their zoo animals emigrate from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship.  Alas, the ship sinks-and Pi finds himself in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger.  Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi.  Can Pi and the tiger find their way to land? Can Pi’s fear, knowledge, and cunning keep him alive until they do?

The Life of Pi is a classic book from the early 2000s and still is great today.  The overall great story, as well as the surrealness of it all makes the book especially interesting.  Additionally, lost in the ocean, Pi comes up with lots of interesting and philosophical ideas that are interesting to see from his perspective.  It is similar to many other adventure and survival-based novels, but with the interesting twist of having a Tiger surviving alongside Pi.  Even if you have already read the book, or seen the movie, it is fun to revisit the world of Pi Patel and Richard Parker.  If you haven’t seen or read it already, then this is the perfect book for anyone.

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The Life of Pi: book review (A2)

The Life of Pi is a very popular book and now it is also going to be a 3D film.

Instructions

Do the preparation exercise first and then read the book review. If you find it too easy, try the next level. After reading, do the exercises to check your understanding.

Preparation

The book and its author.

The Life of Pi is about a teenage boy from India, called Pi, who travels across the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat. His companion in the lifeboat is an enormous tiger. It was written by the Canadian author Yann Martel, and has sold seven million copies worldwide.

At the start of the book, we learn about Pi’s childhood in India. His father is a zookeeper and the family live in a house in the zoo. Pi and his brother help their father in the zoo and learn to look after the animals.

When Pi is 16, his family decide to close the zoo and move to Canada. They sell some of the animals to zoos in North America and the family take the animals with them on a ship to Canada. On the way, there is a terrible storm and the ship sinks. Pi finds himself in a lifeboat with a hyena, zebra, orang-utan and a tiger. When he sees the animals, Pi is scared and he jumps into the ocean. Then he remembers there are sharks in the ocean and he climbs back into the lifeboat. Sadly, Pi’s family and the ship’s sailors die in the storm. One by one, the animals in the lifeboat kill and eat each other, till only Pi and the tiger are left alive. Luckily for Pi, there is some food and water on the lifeboat, but he soon needs to start catching fish. He feeds the fish to the tiger to stop it killing and eating him. He also uses a whistle and his knowledge of animals from the zoo to control the tiger.

Pi and the tiger spend 227 days in the lifeboat. They live through terrible storms and are burnt by the Pacific sun. They are often hungry and ill. Sometimes, Pi is happy and hopeful, but sometimes he feels sad and lonely. Finally, they arrive at the coast of Mexico, but you will have to read the book to find out what happens in the end!

What do you think?

Three teenagers give their opinions on The Life of Pi .

I think it’s an excellent book and I couldn’t stop reading it. In one chapter, Pi is in the lifeboat and he sings 'Happy Birthday' to his mother on the day of her birthday, even though he thinks she is dead. It was a very sad moment and I wanted to cry. Alex, 15

I didn’t like this book because it’s very slow and boring. In some chapters, there isn’t any action and we only read about what Pi is thinking. Danny, 16

What a fascinating book! I enjoyed the story, but I also learnt so much about animals and surviving at sea. It’s a book for everyone to enjoy, old and young, men and women. Paula, 18

Robin Newton

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Life of Pi review: Visually stunning West End and Broadway hit proves a roaring success in Cornwall

B efore the new-look Hall for Cornwall went through those years of closure and renovation, we were promised the theatre would attract the sort of West End / Broadway spectacles Cornish audiences had been missing due to the size of the auditorium and its limited acoustics and sightlines.

Life of Pi - which runs until Saturday - proves that promise true. It's visually stunning, almost like walking into a film, and is actually a much more satisfying adaptation of Yann Martel's 2001 novel than Ang Lee's movie.

In a nutshell, 17-year-old Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors of a shipwreck following a huge storm in the Pacific Ocean. How will she fare living alongside a hyena, zebra, orangutan and a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker? That's it, but it's not it as anyone who has read the book or seen the film will know.

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What follows is a couple of hours of magic realism in which you will instantly believe that really is a tiger stalking the stage, those are luminous fish swarming the boat, that really is a massive giraffe peering in from the side of the stage. The puppeteers add real character to the animals , while the inventive staging of animated backdrops and almost balletic choreography, which enables scenes to switch between life on the lifeboat and Pi's resultant PTSD in hospital, is striking.

Even if you don't like the story - which does fall on the side of twee here and there (if twee can mean a human and tiger sharing a torn-apart turtle for lunch) - just immerse yourself in the hypnotic spectacle.

Pi is played by alternate actors, male and female. On opening night in Truro Adiwitha Arumugam, who only graduated from drama school last year, was a force to be reckoned with, holding the entire show in the palm of her hand. Although some lines are lost in the more excitable moments and there was a bewildering array of accents, from American to cockney, for a family from India, it doesn't detract from a beautiful production, which can flip from humorous to heartbreaking in the swish of a tiger's tail.

This is definitely a show for the whole family. Big themes for the adults - belief or the lack of it, trauma and how we deal with it - while the children will love the vibrancy and the cartoon-come-to-life eye-zapping wonder of it all.

LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network.

Today on AirTalk, everything you need to know about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to review insurance price increases. Also on the show, we remember composer Richard Sherman and listen back to an interview with Sherman from 2012; we talk with author Grace Jung on her new book ‘K-Drama School;’ Mayor Karen Bass visits us in the studio to talk about the latest happenings in the city; our TV critics review the latest shows; and more.

California’s Home Insurance Crisis Grows With Introduction Of Gov. Newsom’s New Bill

Remembering richard sherman, composer of mary poppins and other disney classics, a pop culture analysis of korean television.

• Mayor Karen Bass: Metro Safety, Housing, Unrest At Universities And More 
• 'American Idiot,' 'Life Of Pi' Headline Center Theatre Group's 2024-25 Season

TV-Talk: 4 Shows To Watch Including ‘Eric,’ ‘Clipped,’ & ‘The Outlaws’

This week, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the draft of a bill that is meant to speed up California’s review of proposed rate hikes to home and automobile insurance. The proposed legislation follows an executive order issued last fall assigning California’s insurance commissioner with coming up with a plan to resolve home and fire insurance availability and affordability. While the Department of Insurance has begun rolling out their plan to address the issue, Newsom says it needs to move more quickly. Joining us this morning on AirTalk is Levi Sumagaysay , economy reporter for CalMatters , and Harvey Rosenfield , founder of Consumer Watchdog.

Richard M. Sherman , one half of the prolific, award-winning pair of brothers who helped form millions of childhoods by penning the instantly memorable songs for “Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” — as well as the most-played tune on Earth, “It’s a Small World (After All)” — has died. He was 95. Sherman, together with his late brother Robert, won two Academy Awards for Walt Disney’s 1964 smash “Mary Poppins” — best score and best song, “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” They also picked up a Grammy for best movie or TV score. The Walt Disney Co. announced that Sherman died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital due to age-related illness. Today on AirTalk, we listen back to an interview with Sherman from 2012.

With files from the Associated Press.

Korean television has emerged as a world leader of bingeable TV, making its mark on pop culture. Think Squid Game, The Glory, and Crash Landing on You. Grace Jung , a media scholar, comedian, filmmaker, writer and actor , digs into what makes these shows so compelling. She joins to talk about her new book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television (Running Press Adult, 2024). If you have thoughts or questions, call 866-893-5722 or email [email protected] .

Mayor Karen Bass: Metro Safety, Housing, Unrest At Universities And More

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass joins Larry to discuss the latest happening in the city. Today, we talk about the latest with metro safety, housing and homelessness, unrest at local universities and colleges and much more. We’re taking your questions at 866-893-5722 or you can email [email protected] .

'American Idiot,' 'Life Of Pi' Headline Center Theatre Group's 2024-25 Season

About a year ago, the Center Theatre Group announced it would be pausing programming at the Mark Taper Forum, citing increasing production costs and significantly reduced ticket revenue. At the time, it was seen as a microcosm of the larger issues facing regional theatres like it around the country, and many believed that the "pause" was just a euphemism for "closure." But the Mark Taper Forum is back, reopening for the 2024-2025 season of programming alongside shows planned at CTG's Kirk Douglas Theatre and Ahmanson Theatre. Among the highlights of the first full season for Artistic Director Snehal Desai are punk rock bank Green Day's American Idiot, which Desai directed, a new examination of Shakespeare's classic Hamlet, both appearing at the Mark Taper Forum, and 2023 Tony Winner for Best Revival of a Musical Parade, which will be at the Ahmanson. Today on AirTalk, Center Theatre Group Managing Director, Meghan Pressman , and Center Theatre Group Artistic Director , Snehal Desai, join Larry to preview the 2024-2025 season, the return of the Mark Taper Forum.

Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network TV and numerous streaming platforms. Each week, we will try to break through the noise with TV watchers who can point us to the must-sees and steer us clear of the shows that maybe don’t live up to the hype. This week, listeners will get the latest scoop on what’s worth watching with freelance TV critic Steve Greene. Joining us today on AirTalk is Kristen Baldwin , tv critic for Entertainment Weekly and Dominic Patten , senior editor for Deadline.

Today’s shows include:

• Eric (Netflix)
• Clipped (FX on Hulu)
• We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)
• The Outlaws (Amazon Prime Video)
• Hacks (Max)