Life of PiLife of Pi
Score Modern
What it's about
Pi Patel is a sixteen-year-old boy from Pondicherry, India, who practices Hinduism, Christianity and Islam all at once. His family owns a zoo, and they set sail for Canada with some of the animals. The ship sinks, and Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
Why it's worth reading
It won the Booker Prize and became a worldwide bestseller and an Oscar-winning film by Ang Lee. It's an adventure story and a fable about faith and the stories we choose to believe.
You'll love it if you liked
The Old Man and the Sea
Cloud Atlas
The MetamorphosesGood to know
The opening section on zoos and religion is slow before the shipwreck. The ending changes how you see everything.
By the numbers
- Readers33 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics67 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Bestseller72 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #135 of the 459 fantasy books we rank
- #489 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #935 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
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Quick answers
Is Life of Pi worth reading?
Yes. It won the Booker Prize and became a worldwide bestseller and an Oscar-winning film by Ang Lee. It ranks #935 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 73.6 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Life of Pi about?
Pi Patel is a sixteen-year-old boy from Pondicherry, India, who practices Hinduism, Christianity and Islam all at once. His family owns a zoo, and they set sail for Canada with some of the animals. The ship sinks, and Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
How long does it take to read Life of Pi?
About 12 hours (480 pages), or about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has Life of Pi won?
Booker Prize winner (2002).
What should I read after Life of Pi?
If you liked it, try The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell or The Metamorphoses by Ovid.