Filming of Ang Lee’s highly anticipated adaptation is now underway, so Yann Martel’s Booker Prize–winning masterpiece Life of Pi is our Friday Book Club pick this week.

After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The crew of the surviving vessel consists of a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, a female orang-utan, a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger, and Pi—a 16-year-old Indian boy.

Since Life of Pi was first published in 2002 it has entered mainstream consciousness and remains one of the most extraordinary (and successful) works of fiction in recent years. It is a transformative novel, a dazzling work of imagination that will delight and astound readers in equal measure.

Our resources page has reading group notes for download, with questions to generate discussion in your groups. You can ask us questions on facebook and twitter, too—or just let us know what you think about Life of Pi and other Text titles!