- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Knopf Canada; 1st ed edition (Sep 11 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0676973760
- ISBN-13: 978-0676973761
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 15 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 590 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (202 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #519,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Amazon.ca Canadian Essential
Yann Martel's second novel, Life of Pi, appeared in Canada in 2001 to enthusiastic reviews and moderate sales. A year later, it came out of nowhere to win the Booker Prize and became an international publishing phenomenon (and Amazon.ca's first blockbuster). In a wonderful display of storytelling verve, Martel takes a distinctly unpromising premise--a "story that will make you believe in God" about a boy trapped on a lifeboat with an enormous tiger--and pulls it off with complete and winning confidence.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Amazon.ca
Serious novels about young boys being drawn closer to God while trapped on lifeboats with dangerous wild animals ought to be impossible. Life of Pi, Yann Martel's second novel, proves they're not. Its plot stretches the limits of credibility into new and exciting shapes, and the fact that Martel has made his materials into an enchanting story is almost unbelievable. Martel's Pi is Piscine Molitor Patel, a boy from Pondicherry, one of the few Indian towns to be colonized by France. Pi is an intelligent, unusual child: he has a scientific turn of mind but is also a practising Hindu, Moslem, and Christian. Pi's family runs a large zoo, but they decide to sell their animals to zoos in the United States and emigrate to Canada. Crossing the Pacific (with their animals), they're shipwrecked halfway between China and Midway. Pi survives, only to find himself sharing a lifeboat with an injured zebra, a spotted hyena, an orangutan, and Richard Parker--an immense Bengal tiger.
Most of these animals are doomed, but Pi and Richard Parker cling to life, establishing a tacit order on the lifeboat. Martel handles this part of the story perfectly: one would expect Life of Pi to become cute, or perhaps preachy, but it is neither. Life on the boat proceeds in strict accordance with the rules of ecology and territorialism, and the interdependence of the passengers is both believable and absorbing. Life of Pi is a superb novel, both for its story and for its rich examinations of religion, isolation, and love. If this is an indication of what is to come, we can expect great things from Yann Martel. --Jack Illingworth
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First Sentence
My suffering left me sad and gloomy. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
My suffering left me sad and gloomy. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Life of Pi,
This review is from: Life of Pi (Paperback)
I finished reading Yann Martel's 'The Life of Pi' a few days ago, and I'm clearly at least three years too late. With all the hype heaped on the book after it won the prestigious Booker Prize, and the reams of rave reviews (from Canada and around the world) that followed, I expected something pretty good. What I found was a decent novel, but nothing spectacular or important. Sure, coming from the Canadian literary environment dominated by Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, 'The Life of Pi' was a fresh and exciting find. It was unexpected. But now that the freshness has worn off, and the novel's main conceit has been dispersed all around the internet, it's painfully clear that Martel's book isn't anything special.The main flaw of 'The Life of Pi' is obvious to anyone who's read the book, regardless of whether they want to admit it or not. There simply isn't enough story, character or idea to fill a novel. 'The Life of Pi' is based on one gimmick and has only one developed character. And despite an overlong beginning that tries to flesh things out, it's all too clear that you're only reading the novel for its final third. The rest is filler and, while sometimes interesting (the parts on animal behaviour and zoos are fun to read), seems to be there only because, well, other books have beginnings and no one will buy a sixty-page novel. In a cruel twist, the best-written and most rewarding part of the first half of the book is the prologue, in the neat form of an author's note. Another problem is the writing style. Martel writes literature in a way that calls attention to itself as literature, instead of just telling a story. As a result, too many parts of the novel are self-important and wordy. It's a good thing that he has talent then, because sometimes his style works, and the book starts to flow and becomes a pleasure to read. These moments are just too rare to elevate the thin story. But whatever Martel's shortcomings, 'The Life of Pi' is still eons ahead of most of the hackery that sells like mad these days (I'm looking at you, Dan Brown!). It's a mildly fascinating (and surprisingly gruesome) tale of survival on the high seas that manages to weave religion, science fiction and day-to-day monotony into something that is ultimately thematically rich. However, unlike the old Indian character who claims he can tell a story that will make someone believe in God, Martel's story is more about the role of stories, legends and myths in a society that is leaning evermore toward cold, boring facts than a discussion of religion. It is as a parable about the need for embellishment and imagination that 'The Life of Pi' is most successful and valuable. Jesus, Mary, Mohammed and Vishnu bless Yann Martel for that.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A life unlike any other,
By
This review is from: Life of Pi (Paperback)
Yann Martel's novel takes us from a small community in India to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where a boy and a tiger share a lifeboat and develop, if not a friendship, a unique understanding of one another. The novel begins slowly and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but I also couldn't put it down, especially once on the high seas. Like any seafaring tale, it may be "tall" in parts, and you can, if you wish, choose to believe an alternate story provided for you near the end, but I prefer the taller of the two tales, and was bleary-eyed but well rewarded for reading it in one long sitting.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful piece of literature!,
By Dan Goddard (Olds, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Life of Pi (Paperback)
This is one of the most powerful novels I have ever read. It begins with a section that builds up the main character flawlessly. Then it shifts to wonderfully written story of survival, exploring almost every angle of human nature in the face of adversity. It delves into relationships in the most interesting of ways, and makes one think twice about their own. The third and final section of the book brings a bit of a twist in the plot; it left me enjoying the book in it's entirity even more. It is one of those feel good books, which I could not put down.
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