“Life of Pi” is an amazing adventure book that was written by Yann Martel. It is much more than just a fantasy book. It is a novel-confession, revelation, parable where the fight with yourself becomes the meaning of whole life.

The story unfolds around an Indian boy who got his nickname of Pi Patel after a Parisian swimming club Piscine Molitor. He is a student in Toronto who is fond of animals and trusts deeply in religion. He is practicing Christianity, Islam, and Hindu simultaneously.

Once his parents decided to relocate to Canada taking a trip on a cargo ship side by side with different animal cages. When the ship was wrecked, Pi finds himself on a boat together with a Bengal tiger, a zebra, and some other wild animals. After a while, it’s only the tiger and Pi left and the boy starts to train the animal.

The couple has to spend long two hundred days on the water and they take good care of each other: the tiger protects the boy from cruel invaders and the boy supplies the tiger with filtered ocean water.

It seems that the rescue is close when the lifeboat reaches an island, but it’s only a temporary relief. Soon Pi realizes that the island is dangerous and they leave into the ocean. When they finally reach the shore, the tiger escapes into the wild and the boy is taken to the hospital.

The story is magnificent in its simplicity and child-like naivety. It’s like a mirror in which all human vices, passions, and wishes are reflected. Upon arrival, the boy recounts the story of the shipwreck and his survival to the officials. They are much likely to believe it when Pi substitutes his travelers with invented humans instead of real animals. But the author’s story that we just read is so vivid and colorful, that the reader will always believe that Pi spent his adventure with wild animals. Go ahead and dive into this world of magic and imagination!

Author: Loretta Bowman