by Yann Martel
I loved this book. It's a wonderful story of survival in adversity where the irony is that the very thing that seemed the biggest threat to his life actually saved his life.
When his family decides to move from India to Canada and their ship sinks, Pi Patel is the lone human survivor, making it to the lifeboat with a few animals from his father's zoo, which were being shipped to other zoos in America. Following survival of the fittest, only one animal remains and Pi has to learn ways to maintain the alpha position in order to keep from becoming prey. This prevents him from breaking down mentally to the point of losing hope, which would certainly lead to a steep decline towards eventual death.
Faith is an underlying theme in the book. Though Pi has a strong belief in God, he hasn't settled on any one faith. He follows the teachings of Gandhi who claims "All religions are true" and when pressured to choose one, states his only desire is to love God so why should he follow only one faith? Perhaps this helped him hold on to the belief that he would eventually be saved.
The author's note at the beginning of the book suggests that this is a story to make one believe in God. I'm not sure of that but it certainly could motivate one to study various faiths and have a more open mind perhaps becoming less judgemental of others.
I have to admit I initially believed this was based on a true story (just call me naive) but I have since learned that it is indeed fiction loosely based on a book by Moacyr Scliar.(Essay: How I wrote The Life of Pi by Yann Martel). Though it's somewhat disappointing, it doesn't change how the story moved me.
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