Book Cover

The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving.

# Review

The protagonist of this novel is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, a Tamil boy from Pondicherry who gets shipwrecked and is stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The book covers Pi's childhood growing up in India, specifically his unique position of being the son of a zookeeper as well as his spiritual journey of becoming a faithful of Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam all at the same time. The book also covers Pi's adventure of being stranded for over 200 days with Richard Parker.

The book is intentionally deep and abstract, while I prefer more subtle metaphors, there were some interesting discussions throughout the book. I found that some of the most profound discussions involved the zoo animals; in particular I found the discussions on the meaning of freedom very compelling. If one lives a life free of worry, even if one is confined but adapts, can one be considered truly free? For me, freedom, like perfection, is an illusion, constantly out of reach; even so, I would much rather be free than be coddled, because freedom may imply worse initial conditions but it also implies the possibility for progress which may eventually surpass even the conditions of being confined but pampered.

Another major topic of discussion is religion; as someone who is not religious, I found it very interesting that the author considers atheism a type of faith, and considers agnositicism bad because it lacks conviction. While I do think faith is beneficial incertain scenarios, especially in situations of duress, I believe having faith in external forces can be unpredictable, as it's outside the control of the individual. In that sense, I believe my locus of control is very internal especially compared to Pi, whose locus of control is very external. I found it very interesting to read about Pi's experiences with spirituality and prayer, and how during times when he was "bereft and desperate", he was able to find strength in God. I also found many connections between the philosophy on religion in this book and the Sufi mystic Rumi's poems on religions, namely the idea that to have faith is to love, regardless of the deity in which said faith is based upon; the implication is that deep down, all religions are the same.

My favourite part of the book is the ending; I found the two different interpretations of the events of the novel very clever. Ultimately it didn't matter what actually happened; reality only exists in the perception of an individual. Even though what probably happened is the more realist and more grotesque version of the story, because of Pi's faith and beliefs, the more fantastical version of the events fits into his reality and is thus the truth for him. Due to the fact that only Pi has perceived the events, his perception is thus the universal truth. It is thus suggested that faith and beliefs have the power to literally alter reality itself.

# Conclusion

A novel that takes its time to develop (arguably too much time) and contains interesting discussions on religion.

# Overall rating: 7.9

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