By Kiran Jayasinghe
The Life of Pi takes us through a young boy’s thoughts as he becomes stranded on the ocean. It’s centered around a boy named Piscine Patel. Piscine (also known as Pi) is intrigued by religion and God and disturbed by his father’s way of taking care of his animals. Pi’s father decides to sell their belongings and move his family to America for a fresh start. Traveling in a Japanese cargo ship alongside several cargo animals, Pi enjoys his first time on a cargo ship, let alone any vessel capable of floating on water.
During the journey, however, Pi’s excitement is drowned as the cargo ship takes on water. The cause is unknown, but the ship sinks, and Pi is thrown overboard by the crew onto a lifeboat. Pi must leave behind his family, instead accompanied by a hyena, zebra, and a tiger. The story follows Pi for 227 days on the ocean, as he survives with limited food and water. Pi goes blind from the sun, tames a tiger, experiences delirium, meets another stranded sailor, and kills a living animal – a fish – for the first time. As Pi continues to face hardships on the sea, he turns to religion as a source of stability. Pi prays to God to keep himself from going mad, as Pi starts losing hope in finding land.
This work of fiction is definitely worth reading! I was surprised at how unusually normal Pi was, and yet how surreal and impossible the books contents really were. I would rate it a 10/10 because of it’s funny but hopelessly depressing journey. The storyline explores Pi’s mental stability and shows us a hilarious version of events through Pi’s mind.