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parsed(2002-10-10) - pubdate: 10/02
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pub date: 1034226000
today: 1711688400, pubdate > today = false

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Life of Pi

Revised Edition
by Yann Martel
October 10, 2002 | Trade paperback
ISBN: 9780676973778
$21.00
Reader Reward Price: $18.90 info
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Description

Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Life of Pi tells the story of Pi, who lives in Pondicherry, India, where his family -- mother, father and an older brother -- runs a zoo. When the family decides to immigrate to Canada, they board a cargo ship with their animals and bravely set sail for the New World. Alas, early one morning in rough seas, the ship sinks. A solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the surface of the wild blue Pacific. In it are five survivors: Pi, a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. Yann Martel has given us a book to delight in, to talk about and treasure. It possesses that greatest quality of good fiction: the power to transform. It will convince the most jaded among us -- and remind the rest -- that something grander is afoot in our lives than we may have realized.

About this Author

YANN MARTEL is the author of Life of Pi, the #1 international bestseller published in more than 50 territories that has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, won the 2002 Booker (among many other prizes), spent more than a year on Canadian and international bestseller lists, and was adapted to the screen in an Oscar-winning film by Ang Lee. He is also the award-winning author of The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios (which won the Journey Prize), Self, Beatrice & Virgil, and a book of recommended reading: 101 Letters to a Prime Minister. Born in Spain in 1963, he studied philosophy at Trent University, worked at odd jobs and travelled widely before turning to writing. In 2021 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada. He lives in Saskatoon with the writer Alice Kuipers and their four children.

ISBN: 9780676973778
Format: Trade paperback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Published: 2002-10-10

Reviews

"Yann Martel's Life of Pi (Canongate) is another reminder of the largely unsung excellence of the Canongate list. The fiercely independent Scottish outfit remains an outpost of rare quality and distinction, and this exceptional understated novel is certainly a worthy addition to its output. . . . It would not be out of place on a Booker shortlist." --From The Bookseller

"In the end, Life of Pi may not, as its teller promises, persuade readers to believe in God, but it makes a fine argument for the divinity of good art." --Noel Rieder, The Gazette (Montreal)

"Martel's latest literary offering, Life of Pi, is an exquisitely crafted tale that could be described as a castaway adventure story cum allegory." --The Gazette (Montreal)

"Life of Pi is about many things--religion, zoology, fear--but most of all, it's about sheer tenacity. . . .  Martel has created a funny, wise and highliy original look at what it means to be human." --Chatelaine

"In many ways, Life of Pi is a good old-fashioned boy's book full of survival, cannibalism, horror, math and zoology. An impressive marriage of The Jungle Book with Lord of the Flies, it's the harrowing coming of age tale of a boy who survives for over a year in a lifeboat with a zebra, an organgutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger." --The Montreal Mirror

"A good story can make you see, understand and believe, and Martel is a very good storyteller. Martel displays an impresive knowledge of language, history, religion and literature, and his writing is filled with details and insights." --The Canadian Press

"[Life of Pi] has a buoyant, exotic, insistence reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe's most Gothic fiction . . . Oddities abound and the storytelling is first-rate. Yann Martel has written a novel full of grisly reality, outlandish plot, inventive setting and thought-provoking questions about the value and purpose of fiction. This novel should float." --The Edmonton Journal

"I guarantee that you will not be able to put this book down. It is a realistic, gripping story of survival at sea. . . . On one level, the book is a suspenseful adventure story, a demonstration of how extreme need alters a man's character. . . . On another level, this is a profound meditation on the role of religion in human life and the nature of animals, wild and human. His language . . . is vivid and striking. His imagination if powerful, his range enormous, his capacity for persuasion almost limitless. I predict that Yann Martel will develop into one of Canada's great writers." --The Hamilton Spectator

"[M]artel's writing is so original you might think he wants you to read as if, like a perfect snowflake, no other book had ever had this form. . . . In Life of Pi one gleans that faith--one of the most ephemeral emotions, yet crucial whenever life is one the line--is rooted in the will to live. In any event, when Pi does come to the end of his journey, he has it." --National Post

"Beautiful and astounding . . . . The book is a pleasure not only for the subtleties of its philosophy but also for its ingenious and surprising story. Martel is a confident, heartfelt artist, and his imagination is cared for in a writing style that is both unmistakable and marvelously reserved. The ending of Life of Pi . . . is a show of such sophisticated genius that I could scarcely keep my eyes in my head as I read it." --The Vancouver Sun

"A fabulous romp through an imagination by turns ecstatic, cunning, despairing and resilient, this novel is an impressive achievement -- "a story that will make you believe in God," as one character says. . . . This richly patterned work, Martel's second novel, won Canada's 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. In it, Martel displays the clever voice and tremendous storytelling skills of an emerging master. FYI: Booksellers would be wise to advise readers to browse through Martel's introductory note. His captivating honesty about the genesis of his story is almost worth the price of the book itself." --Publisher's Weekly

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