I’d avoided it for a while, based on little more than the visual imagery from the 2012 Ang Lee movie (which I also haven’t seen) which convinced me that it would be “not my cuppa” as it seemed to be firmly in the territory of mystical/spiritual nonsense. Most of all I was simply pleasantly surprised by this one. With the investigators disbelieving of his tale, Pi recounts a brief alternative history of his time at sea, calling into question the preceding narrative and raising interesting questions about the role of fiction and storytelling. The final section sees Japanese investigators quizzing him in Mexico (where he eventually washed ashore) about the fate of the sunken ship. He recounts his tale of survival, adrift on a lifeboat in the company of a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker, for 227 days. The second, which forms the bulk of the novel, sees Pi cast adrift in the Pacific Ocean as his Canada-bound ship sinks without explanation.
The first section covers Pi’s childhood in Pondicherry, is which he develops an interest in spirituality, becoming intensely involved in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam - to the chagrin of the spiritual leaders of his respective places of worship. The novel is divided into three sections, framed by an author’s note which unusually is also a fiction in which the narrator is told Pi’s story and goes to meet him as an adult. Life of Pi is the story of Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, an Indian Tamil boy who grows up in Pondicherry as the son of a zookeeper. Life of Pi is thusfar his only Booker nominee. His first shot story was published in 1988, with his debut novel Self released in 1996. Before his literary career, he worked in a range of odd jobs including parking attendant and dishwasher. He settled in Ontario where he studied a degree in philosophy. He spent much of his youth moving between countries due to his father’s role in the Canadian foreign service, including stints in San Jose, Costa Rica, Paris and Madrid. Yann Martel (1963- active 1988- ), born Salamanca, Spain to French-Canadian parents.
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