I really enjoyed this adventure which reminded me of the movie,"O Brother Where Art Thou" in some ways. Early Auden is a very special young man, indeed :o)
A strange story that was on the edge of believability, but never quite crossed that line. The parallel story of Pi made the quest sort of mythical, but I found the human connections to be more interesting than the quest.
Jack's life is uprooted by the death of his Mother. He is forced to go with his father who he barely knows and then put in boarding school. At school he makes friends with a boy named Early Auden. Early parents both are dead and has a older brother who as too died but Early does not believe it. Jack and Early set off one day to find Early's brother. I like the book but not easy to follow at times. I like the mystery part of the book a lot.