A boy, a Bengal tiger, and 227 days that will make you believe in God.
Who drives the story
A sixteen-year-old zookeeper's son from Pondicherry who practices three religions at once and survives 227 days adrift with a tiger. He becomes the story's narrator — and its author, in a sense, choosing which version of his survival to tell.
A 450-pound Bengal tiger named through a clerical error that swapped his name with his hunter's. He terrifies Pi, then keeps him alive, then vanishes into a Mexican jungle without a glance back.
Pi's father, owner of the Pondicherry Zoo — pragmatic, skeptical, and determined his sons respect animal danger. He forces them to watch a tiger kill a goat, then moves the family to Canada.
An orangutan from the zoo who drifts to the lifeboat on a raft of bananas. She is killed by the hyena — and later maps onto Pi's mother in the second story.
Also in the story
Japanese Ministry of Transport officials investigating the Tsimtsum's sinking. They doubt Pi's animal story, hear the brutal alternative, and choose the one with animals.
An old man in a Pondicherry coffeehouse who tells the author he has 'a story that will make you believe in God' — the spark for the entire book.
Go deeper
The relativity of truth · Faith as the better story · What animals teach us about ourselves · Survival's cost
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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