What is Life of Pi About?

The Life of Pi is a 2001 novel written by Yann Martel. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, a 16-year-old Indian boy from Pondicherry who explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age.
The story begins as Pi Patel finds himself on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. He washes up on shore in Mexico, where he is taken to an animal rescue center owned by the Patel family. The rescue center runs into financial trouble when its insurance policy expires, and it must pay for its losses after several animals die from the disease. Afterward, the family decides to sell the animals at auction instead of euthanizing them, but they do not receive any buyers for most of their stock except for Richard Parker. A buyer offers $20,000 for him, but declines to pay any more because they believe it would be unfair to expect him to take care of an adult tiger on his own.
The novel has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 40 languages. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and included in TIME magazine’s “All-TIME 100 Novels”.
An adaptation of the novel was released in 2012 as a film directed by Ang Lee and starring Suraj Sharma as Pi and Irrfan Khan as Gérard Depardieu. The film received four Golden Globe nominations and eleven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.