The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic
knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories.
When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to
North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with
their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his
only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and
Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger
has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and
cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227
days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast
of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be
seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi
refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the
truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a
story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is
it more true?
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