Life of Pi is a Canadian philosophical novel by Ian Martel published in 2001. Its protagonist is Piscine Molitor "P" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry who explores spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He survived 227 days after a shipwreck while stuck in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger in the Pacific Ocean that questions the nature of reality and how it is perceived and told.