My kids read this book and they pointed out that the main character in the book Pi Patel practices all three religions. This looked interesting and I started to read the book. This is not a bad book, the reviews on this book are mixed. My review is that it has nothing to do with the religion and more to do with survival. It was a well written book on how a zoo keeper's son survives in the company of a Bengal tiger.
It starts with usual introduction of the zoo and all its animals. The main character in the book Pi Patel gets exposed to all 3 main religions in India ( Hindu , Muslim and Christian ). This introduction and his practice of them does not logically follow in rest of the story. This religious introduction does not have any deep philosophical discussions. There are many factual errors in this introduction. India's population was never more than 600M in 1977 (Author claims it as 800M). There was even a mention of Onida TV, which did not happen till 1982. No hindu will ever say , Thank you Vishnu!!, Most of them will say Oh Rama or Krishna or if he/she is from Pondichery, they might say Kanna!! or Muruga!! but not bookish Vishnu in a colloquial sense.
Pi Patel mentions both Jesus and Muhammad in this book. He adds PBUH before Muhammad. But for true muslims both should be referred to as PBUH only. These are some of the inconsistencies in the book.
The main meat of the book is in the middle. It is a castaway's survival against all odds. This part of the book is really good and the minute details of the fauna of the ocean and the storms all make it very credible. Pi Patel learns to fish , eat non. veg, tames the tiger and so much happens here. All this is really good and readable.
Over all I would have rated this book very high if not for the the muddled introduction to the religions in the beginning. It all looks like a page filler for first 100-200 pages. If you rip them and read rest of the book you will not miss much and you will get to the same story or conclusion.
