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'Since its original publication in 2002, Life of Pi has become established as a reading group favourite. With its unique combination of religion, survival and a Royal Bengal tiger, the novel offers ample themes for discussion. You may find some of the following suggested questions helpful in stimulating thoughts and discussion.'
1. In the author's note, Mr Adirubasamy claims that this story 'will make you believe in God'. After researching and writing the story, the 'author' agrees. Did Pi's story affect your religious beliefs?
2. The young Pi insists that he cannot accept an exclusively Hindu, Christian or Muslim faith; he can only be content with all three. What is Pi seeking that can only be attained by this apparent contradiction? Is there something common to all religions? How do faith and belief differ?
3. Chapters 21 and 22 are very short, yet the author has said that they are the core of the novel. In what ways do these chapters affect your reading of Pi's story?
4. Pi's name, in its shortened form, refers to the irrational number π, a number that goes on forever without a discernible pattern, and it is used in calculations of a circle's radius and diameter. What do you think the significance of Pi's name is to the novel?
5. Discussing zoo animals, Pi tells us, "All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive." How could this idea relate to Pi's actions in the immediate aftermath of the shipwreck?
6. Pi imagines that his brother would have teasingly called him Noah. How does Pi's voyage compare to the biblical story of Noah, whom God spared from the flood he sent to destroy the rest of civilisation?
7. "If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful. I am grateful. It's the plain truth: without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you my story." Can the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker be seen as an allegory of the challenges we face in our own lives?
8. The novel begins with an author's note, and we frequently hear the authorial voice through the book. Do you think the 'author' of this note is indeed Yann Martel? How do the different layers of narration within Life of Pi influence your thoughts about the story?
9. "I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order. Where we can, we must give things a meaningful shape. For example - I wonder - could you tell my jumbled story in exactly one hundred chapters, not one more, not one less?" What is the effect of giving such a precise structure, of exactly one hundred chapters, to Life of Pi? How does this regularity contrast with Pi's name, an irrational and infinite number?
10. "That's what fiction is about, isn't it? The selective transforming of reality? How does this question, from the author's note, affect your interpretation of the events in the novel? And what about the question Pi asks of his Japanese inquisitors: "Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?" What do you think is the truth of Pi's story?'
(Reading guide attached to 'Life of Pi' 2002 edition)
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