The role of the reader in the interpretation of a text is important. Given who you are –your social, culture background, your gender, beliefs, etc.– how might you respond differently to this book than others?

I have never read a novel to which I could relate to. Usually when reading books, I can relate to many things. However, with this book, there was hardly anything I could really relate to. Pi and I are completely different. I think the only common thing is our age, 16-years-old. Otherwise, he grew up in India which is very different from Canada, he’s a guy, and he believes in multiple religions, whereas I believe in one. At least my religion is also one of his. He also grew up in a zoo, getting to know and love animals and I don't even like animals very much.

For many people to be able to really enjoy a book, they need to be able to connect with the characters, or events. However, that’s not the case for me. I still liked reading this novel just as much as many other books.

Because I’m not familiar with anything about or in this novel, probably the biggest difference between this one and many others is that I ad to imagine quite a bit more. Even when Pi would describe the lifeboat, I would get confused because I wouldn’t know how everything fits in there. Also, I’m not good at all at imagining measurements so it was hard to form a clear picture in my mind of the lifeboat, among other things.