Richard Parker kills the hyena, leaving Pi alone with the tiger. Pi notices that Richard Parker is still in the boat, hiding under a tarpaulin. The hyena then fights and kills Orange Juice. Pi eventually finds himself on the lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, and Orange Juice the orangutan. Pi sees a tiger, Richard Parker, and encourages him to climb aboard. The ship sinks, leaving no human survivors except for Pi. Pi is awake at the time, and some sailors throw him into a lifeboat. There is an explosion one night and the Tsimtsum starts sinking. They board a Japanese cargo ship called the Tsimtsum, traveling with many of the zoo animals. The “Emergency” brings political turmoil to India and Pi’s parents decide to sell the zoo and move the family to Canada. He practices all three religions at once, despite the protests of his parents and the religious leaders. As a youth Pi becomes devoutly Hindu and then converts to Christianity and Islam. Pi is raised culturally Hindu, but his family is generally unreligious. His father warns him of the danger of wild animals by making Pi watch a tiger eat a goat, but Pi also learns that “the most dangerous animal at a zoo is Man.” Pi’s tale frequently digresses to explain about zookeeping, animal territories, and boundaries. Pi’s father is a zookeeper, and Pi and his brother Ravi are raised among exotic wild animals. He is named after a famous swimming pool in Paris. Pi grows up in Pondicherry, India in the 1970s. The author writes the rest of the narrative from Pi’s point of view, occasionally interrupting to describe his interviews with the adult Pi. The author tracks down and interviews the story’s subject, Piscine Molitor Patel, usually called Pi, in Canada. A fictional author travels to India, and there he hears an extraordinary story from a man named Francis Adirubasamy.

Life of pi novel by yann martel