Life of PI - Softcover

Martel, Yann

3.94

1,622,290 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156030209 ISBN 13: 9780156030205

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2004

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The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?

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Review:

Some books defy categorisation: Life of Pi, the second novel from Canadian writer Yann Martel, is a case in point: just about the only thing you can say for certain about it is that it is fiercely and admirably unique. The plot, if that’s the right word, concerns the oceanic wanderings of a lost boy, the young and eager Piscine Patel of the title (Pi). After a colourful and loving upbringing in gorgeously-hued India, the Muslim-Christian-animistic Pi sets off for a fresh start in Canada. His blissful voyage is rudely interrupted when his boat is scuppered halfway across the Pacific, and he is forced to rough it in a lifeboat with a hyena, a monkey, a whingeing zebra and a tiger called Richard. That would be bad enough, but from here on things get weirder: the animals start slaughtering each other in a veritable frenzy of allegorical bloodlust, until Richard the tiger and Pi are left alone to wander the wastes of ocean, with plenty of time to ponder their fate, the cruelty of the gods, the best way to handle storms and the various different recipes for oothappam, scrapple and coconut yam kootu. The denouement is pleasantly neat. According to the blurb, thirtysomething Yann Martel spent long years in Alaska, India, Mexico, France, Costa Rica, Turkey and Iran, before settling in Canada. All those cultures and more have been poured into this spicy, vivacious, kinetic and very entertaining fiction. --Sean Thomas

Review:

"A unique and original story, brilliantly told" (Guardian)

"Pi is bewitching, the tale both nihilistic and na�ve, philosophical and playful, deeply moving while always treading the line clear of schmalz" (Independent)

"Every page offers something of tension, humanity, surprise, or even ecstasy" (The Times)

"A terrific book . . . fresh, original, smart, devious, and crammed with absorbing lore" (Margaret Atwood Sunday Times)

"Ultimately uplifting" (Daily Mail)

"Extraordinary . . . Life of Pi could renew your faith in the ability of novelists to invest even the most outrageous scenario with plausible life" (New York Times Book Review)

"Martel's engaging characterization and vivid description enliven and enrich this dreamy, fantastic tale" (The Times)

"Full of clever tricks, amusing asides and grand originality" (Daily Telegraph)

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