The Life of Pi aims, Martel tells us, to make the reader believe in God. This bold, seemingly evangelical premise places it on dangerous moral ground. DH Lawrence warned against using the novel as a forum for the author to assert his or her own moral or religious beliefs: Morality in the novel is the trembling instability of the balance. When the novelist puts his thumb on the scale, to tip the scales according to his preferences, it is immorality. (DH Lawrence, “Morality and the Novel”) Aesthetically, fiction that reveals a truth through an explicit sermon rather than through a natural conclusion drawn from the relationships and events it presents is distasteful, even “immoral.” In fact, Martel's statement is likely to have the opposite effect on its reader, provoking a counter-reaction determined not to succumb to a didactic religious agenda. Indeed, Life of Pi fails to live up to its ambitions. As he travels through its pages, seemingly on the Damascus Road to enlightenment, the reader, whether atheist or already committed follower, will not experience a major revelation of the mind, coming to , or restoring, a belief in God..