Life of Pi comes in 3 parts:
Part 1 tells of Pi's life growing up. We learn that he was named after two swimming pools, and his father's business associate taught him to swim, which is where he got his name Piscine Molitor Patel. Raised as a Hindu, Pi also discovers Christianity and Islam, and chooses to practice all three religions at the same time. His parents, affected by India's political tension, decide to move them to Canada, and they board a boat with crew and a lot of wild animals.
In part 2, Pi survives the sinking of the Tsimtsum, and is stuck on a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a tiger. The hyena kills the zebra and the orangutan in the first few days, only to be killed by Richard Parker afterward, leaving Pi and the tiger alone at sea. Pi survives on emergency rations and water, as well as fresh caught sea life. He also provides for Richard Parker, whom he learns to train. Eventually they come across an island, which has plenty of algae to eat, and a large population of meerkats, who stand around ponds during the day and sleep in trees at night. Pi begins to believe he can live on this island, but while exploring he finds a man's tooth among the vegetation. He also learns that at night the algae, which releases fresh water during the day, becomes highly acidic at night, and because of this danger, he leaves the island again with Richard Parker. Shortly after this, he lands in Mexico, and Richard Parker enters the jungle, leaving Pi to be rescued by two men.
In part 3, Pi tells his story to two representatives of the shipping company which owned the Tsimtsum, but they don't believe his story about wild animals and an algae island. This causes Pi to retell his story, but replaces the animals with humans; his mother for the orangutan, a sailor for the zebra, a cruel cook for the hyena, and himself as the tiger. The two men parallel his second story to the first, but decide to write the more interesting story in their report.
Part 1 tells of Pi's life growing up. We learn that he was named after two swimming pools, and his father's business associate taught him to swim, which is where he got his name Piscine Molitor Patel. Raised as a Hindu, Pi also discovers Christianity and Islam, and chooses to practice all three religions at the same time. His parents, affected by India's political tension, decide to move them to Canada, and they board a boat with crew and a lot of wild animals.
In part 2, Pi survives the sinking of the Tsimtsum, and is stuck on a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a tiger. The hyena kills the zebra and the orangutan in the first few days, only to be killed by Richard Parker afterward, leaving Pi and the tiger alone at sea. Pi survives on emergency rations and water, as well as fresh caught sea life. He also provides for Richard Parker, whom he learns to train. Eventually they come across an island, which has plenty of algae to eat, and a large population of meerkats, who stand around ponds during the day and sleep in trees at night. Pi begins to believe he can live on this island, but while exploring he finds a man's tooth among the vegetation. He also learns that at night the algae, which releases fresh water during the day, becomes highly acidic at night, and because of this danger, he leaves the island again with Richard Parker. Shortly after this, he lands in Mexico, and Richard Parker enters the jungle, leaving Pi to be rescued by two men.
In part 3, Pi tells his story to two representatives of the shipping company which owned the Tsimtsum, but they don't believe his story about wild animals and an algae island. This causes Pi to retell his story, but replaces the animals with humans; his mother for the orangutan, a sailor for the zebra, a cruel cook for the hyena, and himself as the tiger. The two men parallel his second story to the first, but decide to write the more interesting story in their report.