The Best Story: Fictional Survival Tale Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi emphasizes the fictional "best story." Pi tells two different stories about the sinking of the TSIMSTUM, but neither actually explains why it sank. The two stories are quite controversial and really make the reader wonder what is fact from fiction. The best story is full of flowery details to disguise the real facts; a fictional tale that Pi uses to deal with his suffering. The best story includes a fictional island, a hallucinating carnivorous sailor, and reveals that the "animals" are actually people. It is evident that Pi made up "the best story" to cope with the traumatic events that took place. Pi comes across a mysterious island, which appears to be an uninhabited paradise. “…my sad decision was made: I would rather depart and die in search of my kind than live a solitary half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death on this murderous island.” (Martel 357) On the island, Pi finds human teeth which makes him realize that the island seems too good to be true, it attracts people, ...