How to describe this book? A young Indian boy named Piscine Patel (Pi) is brought up
within a loving family who decide to move, along with their zoo animals, to Canada. A storm blows up during the voyage and their ship sinks, leaving Pi, a hyena, a zebra, a monkey and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker stranded in a lifeboat. A bloodlust ensues and the animals slaughter each other leaving only the tiger and Pi to wander the sea, finally learning to at least co-habit with each other. Throw in a cannibal island and you have a wonderfully unique and magical tale, sometimes unbearably savage, sometimes delightfully beautiful and always memorable.
It sounds mad, but it works and has become one of my favourite novels. I didn’t know how it could possibly be made into a film, but Ang Lee succeeded brilliantly and certainly did the book justice.
Read the book, then see the film!
Cath
