Life of Pi by Yann Martel is the TVHS Spring Common Read – have you started reading it yet?  The movie is out, and I have heard that it is well-done, but I don’t know if I want to see it.  I love the book so much, I don’t want the movie to ruin what I have envisioned.

The book is about a young boy named Pi Patel, who, with his family, is  moving from India to Canada.  The family owned a zoo, but has sold the zoo and the animals in order to move.  The Patels are transporting some of the animals they sold, but the ship they are on sinks in the middle of their voyage, leaving Pi on a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutang, and a tiger.  Now Pi must figure out how to survive; he has to avoid being attacked by the hyena and the tiger, but he must also find food and water.  During his 277-day ordeal, Pi learns many lessons about life and the meaning of faith.  When he finally arrives on land in Mexico, he is the sole survivor of the sunken ship – well, he and the tiger.  Now Pi must tell his story to officials who represent the company who owned the ship that sank, and his story is incredible indeed.  Will the officials believe him?  Or will they demand to know “what really happened”?  While not overtly religious, though at the beginning of the book, the story claims to be one that “will make you believe in God,” there are definitely ideas to think about in regard to faith and belief in something larger.  Pi’s story will stay with you long after you finish reading the last page and will make you think about your own faith, and what you believe in as “the better story.”