God is a Pissed-Off TigerRead about another book on the list.
The Book: Life of Pi, a book about a kid who grew up in a zoo and ends up getting trapped on a boat with a tiger in the middle of the ocean.
The Author: Yann Martel, who sums up the meaning of Life of Pi like so: “Life is a story…You can choose your story…A story with God is the better story.”
The Allegory: The main character practices Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam in an effort to get closer to God. His relationship with the tiger he’s marooned with is an allegory of a relationship with God. First, Pi is unaware of the tiger’s presence under the tarp. Then, he tries to escape the tiger. But eventually he ends up offering the tiger sacrifices (food), and by the end of the novel, they’ve developed a deep relationship. Then the tiger leaves, which symbolizes something depressing (probably).
Life of Pi is on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on castaways and John Mullan's list of ten of the best zoos in literature, and among Sara Gruen's six favorite books.
--Marshal Zeringue