Do you want a “story that will make you believe in God?”
Then, read Life of Pi, which delivers exactly this motto, promised at the beginning of this story. I won’t spoil the book for you, but let’s just say its about a boy surviving in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat, with an adult Bengal Tiger. And you won’t be disappointed.
Here’s a summary of the first part:
At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to an author who presents the very interesting story of how he ran into the story of Pi’s life with a man in a coffee house who says it is, “a story that will make you believe in God.” Then immediately after Chapter 1 begins, where the author interviews Pi and the actual book starts from hereon.
Pi, fully named Piscine Molitor Patel, is brought up in Pondicherry, India, to parents embodying perspectives of a “modern India.” His father is the owner and is the zookeeper of Pondicherry Zoo, where Pi often spends his time and gets to learn new life lessons. Oftentimes, Pi observes the animals in the zoo and their nature; for example, goats and hippopotamus live together in the zoo in the form of companions, zoomorphism, which is one the instances demonstrating the peculiar interactions between animals.
Throughout his childhood, Pi is also a person with very diverse, somewhat unconventional interests in different books, philosophies, and religions. He comes across all three religions, and becomes a practicing Hindu, Muslim, and Christian, all while he struggles with understanding the concept of God. Despite the objections from the priest, pandit, and the pope, who requests he chooses only one, Pi begins to practice all of these religious paths.
Towards the end of this section, Pi talks about the political turmoils occurring in India due to Indira Gandhi, and his family having to leave Pondicherry due to it. He talks about all the processes that occur in transferring the Zoo (the paperwork, files, and letters) and the emotions involving moving from somewhere that he has been all his childhood. Eventually on June 21st, 1977, Pi and his family leave from Madras to Canada, sailing through the cargo ship Tsimtsum, in an experience he calls “terribly exciting.”
The rest of the adventure continues from here.
Read or watch Life of Pi to find out more…
