Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Now on Broadway. The international bestseller and modern classic of adventure, survival, and the sheer, soul-sustaining power of storytelling.

Picture it: after the sinking of a cargo ship, a single lifeboat drifts across the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors? A sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

What follows is one of the most unforgettable journeys in modern fiction. For 227 days, Pi’s fear, knowledge, and quiet cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger while lost at sea. And when he finally reaches the coast of Mexico, the story isn’t quite over. The authorities don’t believe him. They press him for the truth. So Pi offers a second story—one far less fantastical, far more conventional. But is it any more true?

That’s the magic here. Life of Pi is at once a rousing adventure and a meta-tale that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction itself. It’s a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.

As the Los Angeles Times Book Review put it: “A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction.”

This one’s a favorite around the shop—the kind of book that rewards a rainy afternoon and a comfortable chair by the window. Perfect for young adult readers and grown-ups alike, it lingers long after the last page. Come let it wash over you.

Additional information