Excellent Storytelling in Life of Pi by Yann Martel

While the author chose to use Piscine Patel's voice for most of the book, there are chapters in which he describes the house of the future Piscine, as a third person observer:
     "On the shelf below are various articles of devotion: a beaker full of water; a copper spoon; a lamp with a wick coiled in oil; sticks of incense; and small bowls of rice and lumps of sugar. There is another Virgin Mary in the dining room. Upstairs in his office there is a brass Ganesha sitting cross-legged next to the computer, a wooden Christ on the Cross from Brazil on a wall, and a green prayer rug in a corner. The Christ is expressive--He suffers. The prayer rug lies in its own clear space. Next to it, on a low bookstand is a book covered by a cloth. At the centre of the cloth is a single Arabic word, intricately woven, four letters: an alif, two lams and a ha. The word God in Arabic. The book on the bedside table is a Bible."
This chapter connects to a later chapter told in the view of Piscine, after he has taken up Christianity in addition to Hinduism, in which he states:
"I entered the church, without fear this time, for it was now my house too, I offered prayers to Christ, who is alive. Then I raced down the hill on the left and raced up the hill on the right--to offer thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus of Nazareth, whose humanity I found so compelling, in my way."

     Although these sections of the novel are not right next to each other, they connect so well together to represent the unique and very interesting method of storytelling that Martel chose. Martel describes the future Piscine Patel, so that the reader gets a sense of what he will become. The reader learns that future Piscine worships God in three religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. In the next quoted section, Martel tells the story in Piscine's perspective so that the reader then understands how Piscine's love of the three religions came to be. The last sentence in which he prays to a god of the Hindu religion for his discovering a figure of a different religion is so powerful, because it is unexpected, but upon further review, makes perfect sense, since Martel already told the reader that Piscine was devoted to multiple religions. When Piscine first started discovering Christianity, I thought that he was going to convert to it, but without overtly saying that he loves God in different forms, the author subtly informs the reader that Piscine still intends to stay true to Hinduism, with the last sentence about Krishna. This is my favorite passage of the story because it stuck with me through the entire novel. The method of telling Piscine's story was not only unique, it was moving and intriguing. This passage made me want to read further to learn more about Piscine Patel.