1. How much of the Author's Notes is true, how much fiction? Did someone provide Mr. Martel with the story that would "make one believe in God" - OR is this part of the story he weaves?

2. What is the reality in the story on which the author's definition of fiction as "the selective transforming of reality" is based?

3. What is the elusive element that brings a real story to life, according to the author?

4. Who is the first-person narrator in Part I? Several chapters (beginning with Chapter II) describe the older Patel. Who is the narrator? What does the author achieve by alternating the narrator in these chapters.

5. Why does Pi relate more to atheists than to agnostics? How does he compare theologians and zoologists?

6. How are you pronouncing the book title, the charactér's name, "Pea" or "Pie" (The French word piscine is pronounced peecine? What are your thoughts on the name? Does the Greek Pi hold any particular significance?

7. Do you feel that animals in the wild are happier than those in zoos? Has the author convinced you otherwise?

8. Which is the most dangerous animal in the zoo? Why does Father Patel suspect his younger son needs the graphic tiger-eating lesson?

9. "Animals don't escape to somewhere, but from something." Do you believe that is true of all species?

10. What thoughts did you come away with after reading of the circus trainer's "super alpha dominance?"

11. For what reason does Pi hold on to his Hindu religion? What is the appeal of Christianity? Of Islam? Why does he wish to belong to all three? What is the real message here?

12. "This story has a happy ending." Does knowing that affect the suspense-building and the adventure of a story like this? What is achieved by telling the outcome at the start?

1. How long did it take for you to realize that Richard Parker was the tiger? Does the choice of his name contribute to the humanizing of the tiger?

2. "Richard Parker, don't you love life?" Can a tiger love anything? Is this an example of Pi's tendency towards "animalus anthropomorphicus" (the animal seen through human eyes), which so concerned his father?

3. Orange Juice appears..."floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light". What does the orang-utan represent in this story from the very beginning?

4. "Am I to suffer hell without any account from heaven?" How does Pi's question compare with Mr. Kumar's "Where is God?" when he was suffering from polio? Why does one lose faith, the other not?

5. How close does Pi come to despair? Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of improved spirits once you have given up all hope?

6. "Had I considered my prospects in the light of reason, I would have given up." How to you consider your prospects in tight situations? Do you rely on reason? or your faith in God? What keeps Pi from giving up?

7. What is your reaction to Martel's writing - his ability to capture the abstract as well as the physical in economical phrases, i.e. "tense, breathless boredom"? Will you share some of your own personal favorite examples of this?

8. Are you wondering why Richard Parker's fear doesn't bring forth his aggression? Is Richard Parker afraid of anything? Of the hyena? Of Pi? What are your thoughts about aggression and fear in general?

9. What was wrong with Plan #6 for getting rid of Richard Parker -(war of attrition)? How will #7, keeping him alive, benefit Pi? How might RP's presence save him?

10. "Survival should not count on outside help...nor idle hope," says Pi. What does it depend upon?

11. Prusten? Is Pi's realization of who he is, a zookeeper's son, the thing that will keep him alive? What are some of the other "small things" that will transform themselves to save him?

12. What does Pi say about fear? How does he manage it?

13. How does Pi's relationship with Richard Parker evolve?

14. What emotional 'swings' does Pi experience?

15. How has Pi been prepared for his confrontation with the tiger?

1. Pi says he has "descended to a level of savagery when he lost the revulsion about killing living things." Do you agree? Has he become the hyena?

2. Where can one turn when confronted with the desire to survive and the realization that humanity can not be counted on to rescue? Where does Pi turn?

3. What is Pi's greatest wish, other than salvation? What would you wish to have with you in his situation?

4. Do you find any practical applications in Pi's training program - psychological bullying of Richard Parker? Do you find yourself accepting the fact a man and a tiger could co-exist on a lifeboat if the tiger were trained like this?

5. "Faith in God is opening up and letting go." Is there an element of despair in faith? Does Pi despair when he realizes that God is not listening to him?

6. Is there a connection between Pi's "nickname" and his description of a castaway as one perpetually at the center of a circle, his gaze always at the radius?

7. What happened to their eyes, the blindness and then the unexplained recovery? Is there a medical explanation? Was this Phenomenon symbolic?

8. Did you find any significance in the appearance of the "supernatural" albatross? The appearance of yet another blind castaway? Why are they included here?

9. "Geology confirmed that the carnivorous island was a chimera, a play of the mind." Yet the author procedes to detail the vegetation, the meerkats, the tree. What was the significance of the island scene in the story?

10. Is reaching Mexico the answer to Pi's prayer, his salvation? Is this the "happy" ending promised from the start?

11. Richard Parker disappears into the Mexican jungle never to be seen again by anyone. Was Richard Parker ever real?

12. Is Pi's other story any more believable than the one he has already told us?

13. Do you believe only in what you can see?

14. Does this book have a happy ending?

15. How would you rate this book? From 1 to 5 how many points would you give it?