Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi
Yann Martel

Front cover

Date read: 3 - 10 April 2019
Length: 319 pages
Published: 2002


Piscine Molitor Patel, more commonly known as Pi, lives in India with his family, who run a zoo. When they decide to sell the zoo and animals, and move to Canada, everything changes. Their ship sinks, leaving Pi on board a lifeboat with a Bengel tiger, an orangutan, a hyena, and a zebra with a broken leg. There's not only the question of will he make it to land, but will he survive the boat?


Life of Pi is a bit different to the books I normally read, in that it is not science fiction or high fantasy. I do read a lot of different kinds of books, but maybe this was a nice break in the subject matter I have been reading recently. I found it very easy to read and absorbing.

A lot of the time I was reading this I couldn't help but think of Robinson Crusoe, even though it's totally different. I definitely preferred this story and even the writing in general, but my mind would often think back to Robinson Crusoe!

I really like Pi. I admire his survival instincts and just his character in general. He is alone on this boat, besides a few animals, but it hasn't driven him mad. When you are reading you can tell he's thinking rationally, and often puts a lot of thought into things before implementing them. It makes you forget how young he is.

I found the story of how the name of Richard Parker came to be amusing. In all the monotony of life stranded at sea, the little stories such as this one made the book far from boring.


I want to watch the film now, to see how it compares. I'm sure it won't be as good, but worth a watch if it's anything like the book.

Yann Martel

Overall rating

Thanks,
The Wee Librocubicularist