Patel is a graduate in Religious Studies and Zoology at Toronto university and held in high esteem for his knowledge in the zoological field. The author calls him, meaning to interview him about his adventure, being referred to Pi by a man named Francis Adirubasamy.
He lives in Scarborough, Canada, is small of stature and speaks very fast. He says he misses India and Richard Parker, an unknown character here. Chapter 3&4 Francis However-you-pronounce-that is revealed to be an old friend of his family, as well as a famous swimmer.Having tried to teach his family to swim, he only succeeded with Pi, whose full name is Piscine Molitor Patel, named after Thingy's favourite swimming pool in France. Pi's father was the owner of the old zoo that once stood in Pondicherry. Having grown up in the zoo, Pi is fascinated with nature, and quickly relates the zoo with religions.
Chapter 5&6 The guy seemed to be quite unhappy with his name as a child, often being called 'pissing' because it sounds similar. Luckily, he was able to teach his fellow students to call him Pi. Chapter 7&8 Pi also seems to have problems with religion.Being a Hindu, he has difficulties with his biology teacher Satish Kumar, who is an atheist. He seems to be enraged with the visitors of the zoo, saying humans are the worst animals of all.
His father teaches him and his brother Ravi the dangers of animals, showing them what happens when you put a goat together with a starved tiger in a cage. Chapter 9&10 Pi rambles about how to keep animals away from you. He also tells the author about animals that have the instinctual feeling to just suddenly try and escape. Chapter 11&12 Something about a leopard in the Alps, and Pi is often visited by a ysterious person by the name of Richard Parker, who seems to have an appetite for spicy food. Chapter 13&14 How to tame a lion. Chapter 15&16 By describing all kinds of religious icons in Pi's house, the author gets to hear Pi's opinions on religion.
He once visited a Hindu temple, being astounded by the statues and rituals, after which he explains how religions are virtually interchangeable. Chapter 17&18 Pi once saw three hills, each one with a building for three different religions. He goes and visits the catholic church on top of one of them. He learns more and more about the faith and decides to become a Christian.
A year later, he sees a local baker doing his daily prayers in the Muslim-fashion, and keeps thinking about it. Chapter 19&20 Pi practises being a Muslim, and discovers the baker shares the same name as his biology teacher, Satish Kumar. Pi now practises all three beliefs and also thinks he saw Mary in Canada. Chapter 21&22 Pi does not seem to like agnostics. Chapter 23&24 At this point in his story, Pi is 16 years old.
A funny discussion ensues on the beach with all three of the religious men that he practised with, as they ask him to choose one of the religions to practise.They all turn away disappointed when he answers them with "I just want to love God". Ravi jokes about Pi having multiple days off, as he acknowledges three religions and their respective holidays. Chapter 25&26 Pi is denied entrance to all three churches, and is forced to worship on his own. Because of this, he has an argument with his parents.
Chapter 27&28 His parents give in to his requests, and learn to accept his multiple faiths. Chapter 29&30 The writer meets Pi's wife and accuses her of cooking the horrible spicy food, but not before Pi relates to him his father's decision to leave forCanada, because of the political changes under Mr. Gandhi. Chapter 31&32 Pi shows the two Kumars the zoo, and they seem to like to feed the zebra's ("Mr. and Mr. Kumar looked delighted.
" page 82). Afterwards, Pi describes Zoomorphism. Chapter 33;34 Pi shows the writer some pictures of his childhood. He tells him how his father sold many of the animals to zoos across the ocean, and that they were shipped on the same boat to go to Canada. Chapter 35;36 He and his family leave India, and the writer is meanwhile being introduced to the rest of Pi's family. Chapter 37&38The boat sinks, most of the animals and his family drown, and Pi gets aboard a lifeboat together with a zebra with a broken leg.
He also helps Richard Parker, a 450 pound Bengal tiger, aboard the boat, but regrets this quickly and jumps overboard. He then reminisces about the shipwreck, and describes how he got on the lifeboat. Chapter 39&40 While getting thrown overboard, he loses the lifejacket but manages to keep the whistle he got from the crew. They throw him a zebra, and the boat breaks away from the freighter.
While lying in the water after jumping away from Mr. Parker, he discovers sharks living there.He binds himself to the lifeboat and a buoy to keep away from Richard. Chapter 41&42 Pi gets back aboard the lifeboat and discovers a hyena in there, and wonders why the zebra hasn't been eaten yet.
Pi afterwards saves an orang-utan from drowning. Chapter 43;44 The hyena goes nuts, and Pi wonders what the outcome of the survival of the fittest will be inside the boat. Chapter 45;46 Pi searches for rescue ships, who are mysteriously appearing not to be there. The zebra is eaten alive by the hyena. An argument between the animals ensues, and Pi is left alone in the dark.
Chapter 47;48 When the zebra dies, the hyena attacks the orang-utan ("The hyena jumped over the remains of the zebra and made for Orange Juice. " page 119). The ape is killed and Pi is afraid for his own life as well, discovering the tiger is still there. Then he explains how Richard came by his name. Chapter 49;50 Pi hasn't eaten anything for three days and starts searching for drinking water. Not afraid anymore of the hyena because of the presence of the tiger, he describes the lifeboat.
Chapter 51&52 He blocks the tiger and discovers survival supplies.He quickly summarizes everything and has enough food for about 100 days. Chapter 53&54 Pi builds a raft from some spare lifejackets and the buoy, fights with the tiger, but still keeps close to the lifeboat with the supplies. Pi hopes to outlive the tiger, who has no food or water, because Pi keeps it for himself.
Chapter 55&56 The tiger can drink salt water ("... have you forgotten that tigers from the Sundarbans are known to drink saline water? " page 146).
Which means Pi will not outlive it. The creature then attacks him. Chapter 57&58 Pi starts to tame the tiger, so they can both survive.He gets some tips from a survival guide he finds.
Chapter 59&60 Pi stocks his raft and marks his territories, as does the tiger. He then dictates an old Hindu story. Chapter 61&62 Pi is a successful fisherman. He catches enough to feed himself and the tiger. Furthermore, he gets it enough water to live through.
He is further trying to establish dominance over the beast. Chapter 63&64 He compares his journey to that of other castaways in history, and notes how his clothes begin to fall apart, as well as the effect of the sun and the ocean on his skin. Chapter 65&66Pi tries to learn navigating, but fails. He does succeed at fishing even more, even catching some turtles.
Chapter 67&68 Pi is getting bored and studies the tiger and the sea-life around his raft. Chapter 69&70 Pi spots a light in the distance, but when he sets off some flares, nothing happens. He also fails at killing a turtle. Chapter 71&72 Pi describes how to tame a tiger, and tries it out on the tiger.
Chapter 73&74 Pi would like a book, next to his own diary and the survival handbook, and tries to calm himself a bit with his religious rituals. Chapter 75&76Pi thinks it to be the day of his mother's birthday and celebrates, all the while intimidating the tiger. Chapter 77;78 As Pi is getting more ill, he rations his supplies even more, trying to hold out just a little longer. He is also getting more and more depressed. Chapter 79;80 Trying to catch a shark ends horribly for one of Richards paws ("He put his left paw into the Mako's mouth" page 196), but Pi now establishes a dominance over the beast. Chapter 81;82 Pi reminisces about the tiger, and has growing problems with his shrinking supplies.
Chapter 83;84When it suddenly storms, Pi sleeps near the tiger and loses most of his food and water to the storm. He spots birds and hopes for land near. Chapter 85;86 A lightning storm follows, but it scares the tiger. Further, Pi is almost getting driven over by a tanker, who fails to see him. Chapter 87;88 Pi gets some sleep using a wet cloth, and later picks up a wine bottle and writes an s.
o. s. message. Chapter 89;90 Everything is quickly falling apart, as Pi thinks he hasn't got a lot of time left to live.
He and the tiger then become blind, and are unable to move or eat.He then meets another castaway at full sea, both are blind and hungry, and the French-accented guy tries to eat Pi. Richard however saves the day and eats the French man. Chapter 91&92 Pi gets his vision back ("crying as I had done did my eyes some good" page 226), rejuvenated by a small amount of food and water he found in the other guy's boat. He and the tiger then arrive on an island which seems to be entirely made out of algae. They appear to be edible and he feeds himself.
Somehow the tiger feeds himself too, but not from the plants, but from meerkats, which he easily wipes out.The island furthermore appears to be carnivorous, and eats everything on it during night. Pi quickly leaves. Chapter 93;94 Pi is out of supplies, and turns to God, when the lifeboat strands in Mexico. The tiger quickly abandons him as it bounces off into the jungle, as Tiggers like best! Pi feels sad and alone without the animal. He is found on the beach and brought back to a village and regenerates.
He then quickly moves in with a foster mother in Canada, which concludes his story. Chapter 95;96 Two men from the shipping company that owned the ship later arrived and interviewed Pi.Chapter 97;98 Pi tells them the story, but the two guys don't seem to believe him. Chapter 99&100 So Pi angrily tells them a different story. The Japanese don't know what to believe but choose the first story to be the right one. Pi thanks them and the men leave to write their report.
After Reading a) I disliked it. Nothing really interesting happens for far too long. b) Most interesting scene: the shipwreck, because there was at least some action there. c) Yes. It was definitely as interesting as the cover of the book led me to belief.
