Life of Pi: Author's Note and Chapters 1-4

Thus far, the Life of Pi has been made up of little short stories, yet we as the reader know very little about Pi himself.
Author's Note
The author talks about his journey to India, and how the story he attempted to write lacked the spark needed to make it a great book. They go on to tell us about how they met an old man, who introduced them to this fabulous tale, which the author gets more detail about from Mr. Patel, whose story it is..
Chapter One
The main character tells us about his life generally in this chapter. He goes on to tell about his study of zoology and religion, and his view on sloths. How sloths move slowly, yet survive both in spite of and because of their dullness and slowness. The character then tells about his being a good student, the strange relationship between death and life, and how work can kill. This all leads into a comparison between India and Canada, a paragraph dedicated to Richard Parker, and how the character was injured and in a Mexican hospital. The last paragraph tells the tale of a waiter making him feel bad for eating with his fingers.
I found reading this chapter to be a confusing yet rewarding task. We learn little small things about Pi and his view on life, and the descriptive passages make the rather uneventful moments spring to life.
Chapter Two
Chapter two was short, and describes a man. The identity of both the speaker and the man is undefined.
Chapter Three
An anecdote about how Pi got his name is described in great detail in this chapter. Pi was taught to swim by Mamaji, a family friend. Pi's brother Ravi and parents attempted to learn, yet they never had quite the same passion for swimming. Pi tells us about how Pi's father enjoys swimming tales, and Mamaji loves to talk about Parisian swimming pools. While many of them were enjoyed by Mamaji, Mamaji's favorite was the Piscine Molitor, and after that pool Pi was named.
Chapter Four
Chapter four is a large description of the zoo Zootown, which Pi's father ran. A large comparison of how running a zoo is harder than running a hotel compares the animals to different people in daily life. Yet this contrasts with Pi's description of the place as a child. Pi makes it seem like a paradise of sorts, with each animal improving the zoo. Pi goes on to compare how being free for an animal does not equate happiness, and how being in a zoo can still result in happy animals. I loved this part with the rich descriptions, and the different viewpoint on zoos than we usually get to hear.