The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them the truth. After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?


Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 05/01/2003
ISBN: 9780156027328
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.31w x 0.94d
Award: Book Sense Book of the Year Award - Nominee

Review Citations: New York Times 05/04/2003 pg. 28
BookPage 06/01/2003 pg. 25
Entertainment Weekly 06/27/2014 pg. 22

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 65915 / Life of Pi
Reading Level: 5.7 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 16