I'm a huge fan of Yann Martel's allegorical story.
I read Life of Pi shortly after it had won the Booker, heavily intrigued by the story's improbable premise (boy in lifeboat with Bengal tiger). I was keen to see how the author could pull this off.
But pull it off he did, taking me back to a wondrous childhood of adventure tales and fables.
And you are welcome to whack me over the head with a leather-bound copy of War and Peace, but I am such a sucker for exotic book covers!
Please read the book, don't see the film: Ditto, Captain Corelli.

"Life of Pi" is a classic text that yielded even richer rewards for me on my second reading of it. It is easily in my top five favorite books of all time. The reason is very simple. Yann Martel has written a work that is quite engrossing and interesting on two levels: the literal, and the much more satisfying metaphorical.
I first read "Life of Pi" three years ago. I reread it recently because it was a book club choice. Although this novel carved out a niche in my brain on that first reading, I found even more to appreciate and digest during my second.
This allegorical novel explores many themes so fundamental to human existence. Faith, religion, storytelling, survival, love, companionship, etc. Not only does "Life of Pi" explore these themes, it sheds new light on these very overdone topics. That is not easily done. For Mr. Martel to take such universal themes that have been written and discussed a million times over, and make them fresh and new is a testament to his own prowess as a thinker and a writer.
Mr. Martel's writing is also rarely didactic, and his use of figurative language is at times breathtakingly beautiful. As one who enjoys good writing, and am impressed by those who have such tight control of style and language I was not disappointed in that aspect of this text. Too many good storytellers are not good writers. Mr. Martel thankfully does not fall into that category
To not read this book with an open and inquiring mind is to miss "the better story", regardless of what you make that out to be. As I read the text I found and saw a very heavily Christian influence in the book's events and themes. It is just as conceivable that someone else could read it, and see none of those things. What is so wonderful is that both points of view can be defended from the text.
One critic talked about how this novel makes one believe in the "soul sustaining power of fiction." "Life of Pi" lives up to that praise.
Read this text and enjoy one of the few modern novels that gives the reader a real chance to "explore".

I found a lot of this book incredibly tedious. I tend to avoid the winners of the Man / Booker – they make me a little depressed. The only Carey I haven’t liked won the Booker (Oscar and Lucinda), I really didn’t like the little bit of Vernon God Little I read and I never finished The Sea despite really liking Banville’s writing. So, being told a book is a winner of the Booker tends to be a mark against it from the start, unfortunately.

I’m going to have to assume you have read this book, as if I don’t I won’t be able to say anything about it at all. Apparently, when Yann Martel wrote this he was feeling a bit down and this was his way of plucking himself up. Well, good on him. That’s just great. I was a little annoyed when I found out that the person the book is dedicated to had also written a story about a man in a boat with a wild cat and had considered suing for plagiarism.

The book is written by a member of that class of people who are my least favourite; a religious person who cannot conceive of someone not being religious. There is some fluff at the start in which atheism is ‘discussed’ (read, discarded) as something people inevitably give up on with their dying breath. But the religious are generally terribly arrogant, so it is best not to feel insulted by their endless insults – they know not what they do.

Parts of this were so badly over written that it was almost enough to make me stop reading. The bit where he is opening his first can of water is a case in point. This takes so long and is so incidental to the story and written in such a cutesy way that I started to pray the boat would sink, the tiger would get him … I would even have accepted God smiting him at this point as a valid plotting point, even if (or particularly because) it would bring the story to an abrupt end.

This is a book told as two possible stories of how a young man survives for 227 days floating across the Pacific Ocean told in 100 chapters. That was the other thing that I found annoying – much is made of the fact this story is told in 100 chapters – but I could not feel any necessity for many of the chapters. Just as I could not feel any necessity for the Italic voice that sounded like Tom Waits doing, “What is he building in there?” Well, except to introduce us again to Pi some number of years later. You know, in Invisible Cities Calvino has necessary chapters – this book just has 100 chapters. It was something that annoyed me from early on in the book – that the chapters seemed far too arbitrary and pointing it out at the end just made me more irritated. There may well be some Hindu reason for 100 chapters – but like Jesus ticking off the ancient prophecies on his way to martyrdom, I still couldn’t see why these chapters were needed in themselves.

Pi is the central character in the book who, for some odd reason, is named after a swimming pool – I started playing with the ideas of swimming pools and oceans in my head to see where that might lead, but got bored. He is an active, practicing member of three of the world’s major religions. There is a joke in the early part of the book about him possibly becoming Jewish (ha ha – or perhaps I should draw a smiley face?). The only religion missing entirely from the book is Buddhism. Well, when I say entirely, it is interesting that it is a Japanese ship that sinks and that the people Pi tells his story to are Japanese engineers. I’ve known Hindus who consider Buddhists to be little more than dirty, filthy atheists – so perhaps that is one reason why these Japanese engineers are treated with such contempt at the end of the book.

The Japanese make the connections between the two stories – but we can assume that they stuff up these connections. While it is clear the French Cook is the hyena, Pi’s mum is the orang-utang, and the Asian gentleman is the zebra, I’m not convinced Pi is meant to be the tiger. In fact, the one constant (that’s a pun, by the way, you are supposed to be laughing) in both stories in Pi.

My interpretation is that the tiger is actually God. Angry, jealous, vicious, hard to appease, arbitrary and something that takes up lots of time when you have better things to do – sounds like God to me.

The last little bit of the book has Pi asking which is the better story- the one with animals or the one he tells with people. I mean, this is an unfair competition – he has spent chapter after chapter telling the animal story and only the last couple telling the people story. The point of this, though, is Pascal’s wager said anew. If we can never really know if there is no god and it ultimately makes no difference if we tell the story with him or without him in it, but if the story is more beautiful with him in it – then why not just accept him in the story and be damned.

Well, because the story isn’t improved with the animals and life isn’t just a story and kid’s stories are great sometimes, but I often like adult stories at least as much – and sometimes even more.

This is yet another person all alone survival story, but one I don’t feel that was handled as well as it could have been – mostly because the writer had an ideological message that he felt was more important than the story – never a good sign. Worse still, in the end I really couldn’t care less about Pi – I knew he was going to survive and knew it would be ‘because of’ his faith.

He does talk about Jesus’ most petulant moment with the fig tree – so I was quite impressed that rated a mention – but, all the same, I haven’t been converted to any or all of the world religions discussed in this book.

Compare this tale with the bit out of A History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters about the painting – I know, it is not a fair comparison, Barnes is a god, but I’ve made it anyway.

I didn’t really enjoy this book, I felt it tried too hard and didn’t quite make it. But Christians will love it – oh yeah – Christians will definitely love it.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, the second half of this story, when Pi is trapped in a lifeboat with an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and a tiger in the middle of the ocean and has to survive after the tiger kills all the other animals, is fascinating. (and no, that does not count as a spoiler, because the back of the book tells you the exact same thing.)
On the other hand, nearly everything that happens before the boat crash that leads to Pi's lifeboat problem is incredibly, mind-numbingly boring.
I liked learning about zoology and the inner workings and secrets of zoos that Pi's father reveals, and the information was important to later plot developements.
But then Pi spends at least four long chapters describing how he decided as a teenager that he was going to be Christian, Muslim, and Hindu all at the same time. (He may have dabbled in Judaism as well, but I honestly can't remember if he did or not because by that point in the book I was ready to throw the thing out the window) I realize that Pi's faith is an important factor during his time in the lifeboat, but it just takes so damn long for him to lecture the readers on his multi-road faith journey. I remember reading it and wondering when he was going to be in the damn shipwreck already.
And the ending...at the risk of giving anything away, I'll just say that it's one of those endings that makes you go, "Wait...what?" After I finished the book, I felt like Yann Martel was ordering me to reread the book and observe all his oh-so-brilliant symbolism etc etc. But then I remembered the first half of the book and I was like, "Screw you, Yann Martel. I'm going to read something else now."

So essentially, I guess I liked most of the book, but I will not be rereading it anytime soon.

من أفضل الروايات التي قرأتها في حياتي
صراع مع التاريخ
صراع مع النفس
صراع مع الطبيعة
صراع مع العقل
وفي كل صراع يتغلب الإنسان على صعوبات الحياة.
اعتبر نهايتها عبقرية، خصوصا عندما يقص عليهم الفتى خبر ما حدث له من غرائب فلم يصدقونه، فيكذب ويقص عليهم قصة عادية فيصدقونها.

إنها رواية عن الإيمان، لم أقرأ لها مثيل.


يظهر يان مارتل تأثرا كبيرا برواية "روبنسون كروزو" للروائي البريطاني دانيال دافو، مع وجود مفارقات وتباينات الحقبات الزمانية، بين الأولى الأكثر كلاسيكية و"حياة باي" الأكثر حداثة.
فالشخصية المحورية "باي" الفتى الهندي في السادسة عشرة من عمره، هو اختصار اختاره البطل المحوري لاسمه "بيسين" بمعنى حوض سباحة باللغة الفرنسية، يعيش هوساً بالأديان والعلوم اللاهوتية دفعه إلى اعتناق كل من الهندوسية والإسلام والمسيحية.
يشعر "باي" بأنه يتحرك داخل رحم كوني مقدّس، وبأن الإيمان بالله هو انفتاح كامل، انفلات مطلق في ثقة عمياء، يصاحب ذلك إحساسه الدائم بالسمو والابتهاج والفرح. ما يناقض البيئة التي تربّى فيها بوالدين أكثر "عقلانية" مستنكرين تدينه واختياره أكثر من دين، ويشبّه هو قناعته بأن "الدين منزل يحمل غرفاً عديدة." ويهتف ببساطة إنسان غارق في الإيمان "أريد فقط أن أحب الإله".
حين غرقت السفينة التي كان على متنها، واختفت في ثقب صغير على خريطته. بات إنساناً منذوراً للموت، فقد كل شيء وتعلّق بزورق نجاة شاركه فيه نمر بنغالي شرس يدعى ريتشارد باركر. لم تعد تظهر عليه تلك الثقة العمياء التي كان يواجه بها معلم الأحياء الملحد كومار وقوله إن "الدين سينقذنا".
يتخيل مزيجاً من شخصيات مقدسة كان يستمد قوة معتقده منها، الأم العظيمة المباركة، وإلهة الخصوبة في بونديتشيري، جميعهم لا يعرفون شيئاً عن البحر سوى مناجاته. يرقب ريتشارد باركر النمر الشرس الذي يشاركه القارب بعين، ويرقب بالعين الأخرى النجوم، ويشهد عظمة صور الطبيعة مما يزيد من تعمقه الروحي، ويفشل في مدّه بمعرفة جغرافية واستدلال موقعه بواسطة النجوم. يشعر بضآلة موقفه. "قد تظن أنني فقدت كل الأمل في تلك اللحظة، وقد فعلت. وكنتيجة شعرت بانتعاش وبأنني أفضل كثيراً". فـ "باي" لديه قصة "ستجعلك تؤمن بالله"، وإن كان في الجزء الأول من الرواية يستمد قوّته ويتغلب على ضجر حياته الروتينية بالغوص في المعتقدات والأديان المختلفة، إلا أن التطرق إلى الإيمان يتضاءل تدريجياً في سياق أحداث محاولته مواجهة الموت. فيصف الشك متنكراً في هيئة شكوك صغيرة، وتولد العتمة فيه رهاب الاحتجاز في مكان ضيق. كما أنه خشي "أن يغرق إيمانه في قاع المحيط". يعيش حالة من السأم الكثيف يتخلله هذيان وتخيل لحوارات مع آخرين "عثرت لنفسك على قارب نجاة كبير، وملأته بالحيوانات.. أتظن نفسك نوح أو شخصا من هذا القبيل؟" يظهر إيمان "باي" كهذيان قائم على خلاصة ما تعلّمه في حياته قبل أن يضيع في وسط المحيط، وكأنه أشبه ببرهان الفيلسوف الفرنسي باسكال الذي يشير إلى ضرورة الإيمان بوجود الخالق. تظهر معجزات توثق من إيمانه كارتطام قطيع من الأسماك الطائرة بقاربه كوليمة طازجة. يشعر بالانبهار وهو يشهد صاعقة يصفها بالمعجزة، في محاولة لإخماد قلق النمر المتوثب بجانبه. وفي أوقات خلوده للراحة كان يتمتم ببضع أدعية إسلامية بحثاً عن السلوى. كل ذلك لا يسهم في إنقاذه. فهو يقاتل حتى الرمق الأخير بسبب "نهم أحمق للحياة". لم ينقذه إلا التفاصيل العملية المباشرة للبقاء على قيد الحياة، وتعلّق بكتيب مبلّل يحمل إرشادات للنجاة، في مشاركة "ريتشارد باركر" يا لها من رحلة تعيسة في مصارعة الموت وسط محيط شاسع، ومواجهة أحوال طقس وجغرافية مرعبة لا يمكن للمرء أن يتجاوزها دون أن يفارق الحياة، تتخللها عواصف وأمطار وأسماك قرش. كما ساعده انشغاله بتفاصيل كالصيد وتخطّي العطش وإطعام النمر وترويضه. فقد لجأ إلى استخدام المنطق في "كل لحظة" متطرقاً إلى أهمية المنطق للبحث عن الطعام والمأوى. يتساءل القارئ إن كان فعلاً بطلاً ذكياً استفاد من ظروف حياته وخبرته في علم الحيوان، أم أنه بطل "دون كيشوتي" اختلق أسطورة وهمية ليتجنّب أحداث بشعة واجهها مع بشر متوحشين اضطروا في ظروف خانقة إلى تناول لحم بشري وتشويه جثّة بسادية مفرطة. ومن جهة أخرى، قد يرمز يان مارتل إلى الغريزة الحيوانية داخل "باي"، التي ظهرت إلى الوجود في محاولة مستميتة للعيش تحت ظروف قاهرة، أجبرته على أن يتنازل عن مبادئه التي تمقت القتل وأكل اللحوم، حتى أن بيسين تطرّق في سياق هذياني في زورق النجاة بأن من الممكن أن يعتاد المرء أي شيء حتى القتل، ساعده النمر ريتشارد على البقاء حياً ثم اختفى كلياً، ليفقد بيسين وحشيته التي اضطر إلى إظهارها وقت الحاجة. وتزيد نهاية الرواية من تشكيك القارئ في حقيقة تلك الرحلة الخرافية. فحين عجز المحققان اليابانيان اللذان يبحثان عن سبب غرق السفينة، عن تصديق قصته بلجوئهما المطلق للمنطق، وانحياز القصة إلى خيال لا يمت للواقع بصلة. في نهاية المطاف لا يكترث باي بعدم تصديق من حوله لوقائع ما جرى من أحداث بعجائبيتها، فقد كان دافعاً ليكافح اليأس الذي كاد ينتابه، وليسافر عبر طريق الحياة، وترك البحر يجرفه حتى وصل إلى الجزيرة اعتبرها ملاذاً له على الرغم من شراستها، فكل موجة تمتصها الجزيرة ولا تترك إلا بعض الزبد. وعلى أية حال هو يرى أن الحياة رائعة إلى حدّ أن الموت واقع في غرامها، وأن "من نلتقيهم يمكن أن يغيرونا وأحيانا يكون التغيير عميقاً إلى حد أننا لا نعود الأشخاص ذاتهم بعد ذلك". سواء كان الذي التقى به نمراً بنغالياً، أو إنساناً آخر متوحشاً أو حتى ذاته.

Once, while riding the bus, I told a friend I hated this book. A guy I'd never met turned around to tell me that he was shocked and this was a beautiful book. I can sum up my hatred of this book by saying this: At the end of the book a character asks "Do you prefer the story with animals or without?" I can say with conviction I prefer the story without the animals--the stupid, boring, symbolic animals.

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



As a sort of parable on the value of storytelling, Yann Martel's fantastical adventure, Life of Pi, is astonishing. In the most desperate of circumstances, while Pi is on his lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, imagination and storytelling are the keys to Pi's incredible story of survival. Issues about believability, what really happened on the boat, take a backseat to wonder, love, creativity and to a certain extent, madness. The novel is heavy on spirituality, but it is compelling and Pi's evolving relationship with Richard Parker keeps their 227 days at sea interesting.

I'm so glad I read The Life of Pi before the movie came out. While Ang Lee does a beautiful job, the inner struggle of the main character is difficult to capture in film. Pi Patel, son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, India, is a sensitive, philosophical young man, who is interested in world religions. After a shipwreck, he ends up sharing a lifeboat with a terrifying Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. In this harrowing coming-of-age journey, Pi's physical strength, courage and spirituality are all tested.

The Life of Pi novel shares a thematic basis with J.P. Donleavy's The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, a literary wonder. The protagonist, Balthazar, is studying zoology, while his friend Beefy studies theology. Balthazar and Beefy come of age while exploring their hedonistic and spiritual natures. I love the way Donleavy breaks all the rules of grammar and goes straight to the funny bone.

I recommend both of these books to readers who enjoy beautifully crafted stories that take on animal vs. spiritual themes.

n  

“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?”

n

Life is a story and the story of Pi Patel is one of the most extraordinary stories that I have read in awhile. The story begins before the fateful shipwreck that makes up most of the novel. Pi is a little boy who lives in India on a zoo that his father owns. Pretty much the greatest place to live as a kid is on a zoo. After watching We Bought a Zoo and reading this book I really want to live on a zoo, even though I would have a very hard time NOT petting the animals. The talk that the father gives Pi and his brother Ravi is one I would also need cause I mean tigers are just so cute!



but also deadly…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBzolw...

That leads to this remarkable story of how a boy manages to survive not only a shipwreck but also being in a lifeboat with a huge Bengal Tiger and several other animals. But before that all happens I found the beginning of the book quite interesting. I didn’t realize that this book dealt mainly with the theme of faith and belief. While Pi is growing up he explores different forms of faith and instead of picking one decides to be Catholic, Islamic, and Hindu all at the same time. Being Catholic I found the scene of him first talking to the priest really mind opening in a way. Pi questions a lot about the religion at first having a hard time imagining and having grown up Catholic I never asked those questions myself but when he asked them I found myself thinking, “you know now that I think about it some of this doesn’t make sense.” But that’s the point of faith I guess it doesn’t all have to make sense.

With all the changes occurring in India Pi and his family choose to move to Canada and take most of the animals from the zoo with them to sell to zoos mostly in America. On the way the boat sinks and Pi is left alone in a lifeboat with a tiger, hyena, zebra, and orangutan.

If it wasn’t for Pi’s internal conflict especially with how to deal with Richard Parker this book could have easily gotten very dry and boring as he just continues to float and going through a very repetitive day. Yet never once did this book get boring or even repetitive. While on the boat Pi has to come to face his fate, death by water or death by tiger, and also his faith. But even when things seemed the grimmest Pi never stopped fighting for his life.

n  

“You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.”

n

This book was very beautifully written and moving. You really connect with Pi and hurt with him and love with him. You love the tiger that at any moment could kill Pi but I really believe what Pi says that without the tiger he would have died. Richard Parker gave him a reason to live, without him Richard would die, and if Richard died he would forever be alone. The parting of Pi and Richard was pretty much heart wrenching even though it was probably for the best.

n  

“Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart.”

n

My favorite line of the entire book for many reasons.

Ultimately this book is about faith and at the end about taking a leap of faith. After reading the whole book the last few chapters almost tore me apart. I don’t want to give away what happens but it just makes your heart fall. It ends with a big question mark and it is up for you to decide. Think one-way and the story changes for you and it isn’t at all what you thought it was. I decided to take a leap of faith and believe even when it seems impossible and I think that is truly what this book is about and what you take out of it is for you yourself to decide. Just like faith it can’t decide for you. Will you question and leave faith behind or let it lead you when all seems to change?

n  

“If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?”

n

I really loved this book even though the end proved to be a challenge. I would recommend it to everyone. It really is a quick read and will soon be a movie that I am very excited to see.

After finishing Life of Pi, I've finally cleared up a lot of the confusion I had after watching the movie, and I have an even greater admiration for Yann Martel. Not only did he tell a fantastic story, but his writing is also exceptional. I found it hard to put the book down.

I've noticed that many readers spend a lot of time debating the truth or falsehood of the first and second stories. However, I think the first third of the book is worth savoring more. I feel like almost every detail in the beginning is significant and directly relates to Pi's thoughts, feelings, and experiences during his time adrift at sea.

Pi has a unique and fascinating background: the son of a zookeeper, he is a devout believer in Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. His father ran a colorful zoo in Pondicherry, a former French colony in India. Pi spent most of his after - school hours learning about animals, and this experience not only shaped his childhood memories but also influenced his worldview.

What had the greatest impact on Pi's worldview, however, was religion - not just 1, but 3. This is why he pursued dual degrees in zoology and theology at the University of Toronto. And through his studies of the three - toed sloth and the 16th - century Kabbalists, a branch of Judaism, he developed a deeper understanding of the boundaries between science and religion.

As Pi reminisced about his childhood in India, he often drew parallels between the plight of animals in zoos and people's prejudices against religion. Pi believed that prejudices against zoos and religion stem from the same root: the human - centric view that humans are the center of the universe. I found this comparison particularly insightful.

Pi mentioned that he'd heard just as many misconceptions about zoos as about religious beliefs. Well - meaning but ignorant people often assume that animals can only be truly happy living in the wild because the wild represents freedom. Similarly, those who oppose religion argue that if there's a God, humans must live by God's rules, just like animals in zoos, losing their freedom.

But is freedom really what people imagine it to be? At least in Pi's view, we have a misconception about zoos. A comfortable house meets our basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter, and a well-equipped zoo does the same for animals. In the past, people didn't live in apartments; they were nomads. They herded large flocks of sheep and had to travel far and wide to gather food.

Today, with advanced civilization, a 100 - square - meter apartment can meet all our basic needs. So, what about animals? Take a lion, for example. It needs a large territory, but this territory isn't for the lion's "freedom"; it's for "survival." In the wild, food is scarce, and water is hard to come by, which is why animals need seemingly vast expanses of land. So, if humans can live comfortably in houses, why can't animals live comfortably in well - equipped zoos?

You might wonder why animals escape from zoos if they're truly happy there. Pi explained that it's not about seeking freedom but about escaping something that makes them uneasy. The novel's description is so convincing that I won't spoil it for you. In short, the descriptions of zoos in the book lay the groundwork for Pi's eventual peaceful coexistence with Richard Parker.

Do science and religion contradict each other, or do they each have their own domains? Science is undoubtedly useful. The experience of Pi's zoology teacher, the staunch atheist Mr. Satisg Kumar, is a case in point. Originally a devout Muslim, Kumar lost his faith in God after contracting polio and failing to recover despite his prayers. It was Western medicine that ultimately saved him. From then on, he abandoned his belief in God and turned to science.

Coincidentally, Pi's Muslim teacher also shared the same name: Satisg Kumar. This coincidence might have further confused Pi about the relationship between science and religion. On the surface, Mr. Kumar's polio was cured by Western medicine, not religion, suggesting that science is the truth and religion is mere superstition. Perhaps Pi had similar doubts. However, he later came to understand the relationship between religion and science. A prime example is his choice of the name "Pi" for himself. Pi is an irrational number, 3.141592653..., and the sequence of digits after the decimal point goes on infinitely. This drives many mathematicians crazy, but it became a "refuge" for Pi. It made him realize that science cannot explain everything; otherwise, there would be no irrational numbers like Pi.

Later in the novel, when confronted by Japanese officials, Pi made a profound statement comparing the love of science and faith: ”I applied my reason at every moment. Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing, and shelter. Reason is the very best tool kit. Nothing beats reason for keeping tiger away. But be excessive reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater."

Pi survived 227 days on the Pacific Ocean. He certainly wouldn't have lasted that long relying solely on faith. Science taught him how to calculate the proper ratio of food and water, how to fish and catch turtles, and the survival guide's scientific knowledge prevented him from making many mistakes. His knowledge of animal taming also allowed him to eventually coexist peacefully with the tiger, Richard Parker.

Therefore, religion and science do not contradict each other; rather, they have their own domains. Pi's name exemplifies this: some numbers, like Pi, transcend the boundaries of human understanding, proving that science cannot explain everything. In life, there are even more things that science cannot account for. This is where the power of religious faith comes into play.

After the Tsimtsum sank, Pi found himself clinging to a lifeboat, suspended over the vast Pacific Ocean, alone and insignificant. A tiger was in front of him, a storm raged behind, and sharks lurked below. If Pi had sought answers from reason at that moment, he would have given up and jumped into the sea. He would have drowned before being devoured by sharks or tiger. Reason cannot conquer fear or doubt.

At that moment, religion, God, and faith were the only things that could give Pi strength. The 3 religions he believed in played a significant role in his survival. The first few chapters of the book lay a detailed foundation for this, which the author Martel himself described as the core of the entire book.

What is the meaning of religion? Pi himself gradually discovered this. It was because he recognized both the unity and diversity among the religions that he stubbornly adhered to all 3.

Hinduism was the first religion Pi encountered. From Hinduism, he discovered the first function of religion: it's a filter for reality, a benchmark for interpreting the world. In Pi's own words, The universe makes sense to me through Hindu eyes." Hinduism allowed Pi to understand the world rather than merely seeing it. Therefore, in later chapters, he could find beauty in the endless ocean and sky, he could tell countless fishing stories, he could write unique insights in his diary, and he could perceive and describe the floating island he saw.

Pi contrasted his feelings when he was on the Tsimtsum and when he was on the lifeboat. He said that the Tsimtsum was moving so fast that he mistakenly thought there was nothing else in the sea besides whales and dolphins. But when he drifted slowly on the lifeboat, he discovered oysters, seaweed, crabs, and other wonders. If Pi hadn't been a Hindu, perhaps the world he saw would have been as colorless as the sea he saw on the Tsimtsum. (Perhaps this is why Ang Lee's film went to great lengths to capture the beauty of the ocean.)

Later, during a chance encounter, Pi met Father Martin and was introduced to Christianity. Jesus Christ completely overturned Pi's understanding of God. How could God be like a human, not only preaching and teaching but also being brutally killed? Pi had countless questions about Jesus, but ultimately, all the questions were answered by one word: Love, that was Father Martin's answer. The priest's patience and kindness taught Pi the greatness of love, the power of love, and gave him inner peace.

So, when Pi was struggling to survive at sea, he remembered Jesus' teachings: Love your enemies. If he is hungry, give him something to eat. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. That's how Pi treated Richard Parker. Not only did he feed him fish, but he also shared his fresh water. At the same time, he also felt Jesus' love for him at sea. The most obvious examples were the swordfish that accidentally jumped onto the boat at the beginning, the school of flying fish that seemed to "fall from the sky" later, and the constant presence of turtles.

The last religion Pi encountered was Islam, which is perhaps the most misunderstood religion. After meeting his Islamic teacher, Kumar, Pi said, ”I challenge anyone to understand Islam, its spirit, and not to love it. It is a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion."For Pi, Islam taught him how to relate to God, how to draw closer to God, and how to struggle against the evil within himself.  

In chapters 23 to 25, there's a highlight: a scene where the elders of the 3 religions accidentally meet Pi at the same time. This part is written very beautifully and should not be missed.

In conclusion, the 3 seemingly contradictory religions gradually became more harmonious in Pi's eyes. They all helped Pi to better understand the world and himself. From then on, Pi no longer viewed different religions as separate entities but as a unified whole. Once, after listening to Kumar's explanation, Pi returned home. The roads, the sea, the trees, the air, and the sun, which had previously been unrelated to Pi, suddenly began to speak to him in the same language. He felt calm and peaceful.

Without science and without religion, Pi would not have survived.

The Japanese officials traveled a long way to meet Pi, only to hear an incredible story. Even so, after repeated questioning and doubt, they eventually chose to believe the first story. When they said they believed the first story, Pi responded, So it goes with God."

Why did Pi say that? Because the first story incorporated the teachings of Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam, while the second story did not. More importantly, in the first story, although Pi didn't know where he was going, he firmly believed he would be saved. He didn't want to die on a floating island rich in material possessions but spiritually impoverished. However, in the second story, it was said, ”If you don't know where you want to go, it doesn't matter where you turn."

Admittedly, this sounds hard to believe, but Pi challenged us by asking:

”Love is hard to believe, ask any lover."
"Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist."
"God is hard to believe, ask any believer."

So, after finishing the story, it's time for you to start thinking. Religion or science, believe it or not?

Your choice.

4.6 / 5 stars

This is such a popular and well-known book that it is impossible to approach it without preconceptions. My reason for reading it now is that The Mookse and The Gripes group is reading the 2002 Booker shortlist, and this is one of the few winners I had never read. My reluctance to read it before was simplistic and based on my aversion to fantasy and adventure stories.

The core of the tale is familiar thanks to the film - a survival story told by a 16 year old Indian boy who is the sole survivor of the wreck of a cargo ship in the Pacific. He claims to have survived despite sharing his raft with a healthy adult tiger, but that is my no means the only implausible element of the tale. In some ways the opening section, in which Pi (or Piscine Molitor Patel to use his full name) relates his childhood in the south Indian French port of Pondicherry as the child of the zookeeper, is the most interesting. There is plenty of humour, particularly when he relates his simultaneous attempts to be a Hindu, a Muslim and a Catholic.

Faith plays a big part in the story. Pi ascribes his survival to the will of God. He learns how to fish and to train the tiger to respect his territory, and in a bizarre interlude they find themselves on a floating island formed of algae and populated by meerkats.

The final part of the book relates Pi's experiences after reading Mexico, as he is interrogated by two Japanese representatives of the company that owned the lost ship. Needless to say, they are sceptical of his account, and eventually they persuade him to relate an alternative version of the story in which his brother and mother also survive the initial shipwreck along with the ships's barbaric French cook, a bloodthirsty tale of murder and cannibalism. So Martel effectively asks us to choose between two different versions of the story, making Pi the ultimate unreliable narrator.

The narrative is bold, entertaining and imaginative, and very easy to read and absorbing, but I feel unable to give it a full five stars because the premise never entirely convinced my rational side.

I can see why this is a classic. Full of teachable moments, especially the ending. But OMG it took so long to get there! I know that’s part of the telling of the tale, but the monotony, the monotony!!! Nonetheless, I would still reread it because it is a profoundly layered book.