Introduction:  This novel comes with it's own introduction which is a fascinating story in it's own right, at least to someone like me.  It comes directly from Martel's real life and his struggle with becoming an author and looking for that right story.  Traveling through the Middle East after two successive mediocre books, he is simply having some tea in a diner in India and hears second hand of a man who has a wonderful story and then from there, he seeks him out and we have this tale. That's the preface to the novel, although it's never stated how much of this did actually happen, or whether or not it's even true but the author certainly conveys how strongly he was drawn to the tale.

Plot Synopsis:  Pi Patel (or Piscine Molitor Patel, named after a swimming pool) is the youngest of two sons of his parents who run the Pondicherry Zoo in India.  Pi delves into many types of religions during his teenage years, Muslim, Christianity, Hindu, not that his parents or his religious overseers understand this strange fasciantion.  It comes to prepare him for a tragic and devastating event in his life when his family decides to move to Canada yet before they can make it, the cargo ship they are on sinks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and Pi ends up on a large lifeboat with four of the zoo animals, an injured zebra, a ravenous hyena, Orange Juice the star orangutan and Richard Parker, a fierce young tiger.  Pi must venture unknown waters with these wild animals on board until they can find land or help at sea.

Thoughts:  This novel is basically broken up into 3 parts: the first is the intro to Pi and his family, their dynamic and his school life and religious upbringing.  The second is his life on the boat with the animals and the third is the aftermath which also has bits and pieces sprinkled throughout the novel.  The first part is the most difficult for most readers, especially ones who lose interest easily but it's a very important part of this story.  Pi loves his family, but he certainly feels a disconnect with them and turns to religion as his vice.  He soaks up all knowledge he can find and becomes truly devout to 3 different practices much to the dislike of his various religious guides.  He sees nothing wrong with believing the best parts of each and using them in his prayers.  It's these unconventional practices that help him through his arduous and life threatening journey at sea.  This part of the book is fascinating, to hear this story broken down into so much detail.  He goes through every emotion there is, at their most extreme and wonders each and every day how his life will end, not when or where, but almost as an inevitability.  He barely mentions any type of God during his ordeal, but he also never loses faith in the order of the world.  His bond with the tiger, Richard Parker, is one of strange coincidence and preparation, being the son of a zookeeper has given him the strength and ingenuity and courage to try and co-exist with this beast on a seemingly never ending journey.  There are some extraordinary scenes in this story, and some down right vile and disgusting scenes, but it truly gives you a sense of how far you need to go to survive, if need be.  The conclusion of the story comes off well and feels truly real, and gives you as much clarity as needed but also questions everything you just read, but not in an insulting way.  It's a story where you make up your mind as to how this happened and it's truly miraculous in a lot of ways.  I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, the language, the narrative, it deserves a look from any fan of reading fiction.  I give it an A.

Conclusion:  Unique story, well written with a lot of great thoughts to chew on.  It's a survival story, so if you're not into those, def. won't be the book for you.  Im' a fan of films and novels that take place in a central location,not sure why.  There are some heavy religious overtones but not enough to offend anyone with an open mind.  I have to highly recommend this story.

- Jessie