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Life of Pi

by Yann Martel
Life of Pi

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Award Excerpt

ISBN13: 9780156027328
ISBN10: 0156027321
Condition: Standard


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Awards

2002 Man Booker Prize

Staff Pick

I admit it: Before reading Life of Pi, I thought, There's just no way that Yann Martel can write a whole book about a teenage boy and a tiger stranded together in a lifeboat for 277 days. But I was so wrong; he pulls it off beautifully. You will love this utterly charming and unforgettable book. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

More than seven million copies sold...

New York Times Bestseller * Los Angeles Times Bestseller * Washington Post Bestseller * San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller * Chicago Tribune Bestseller

After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan — and a 450-pound royal bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and beloved works of fiction in recent years.

Universally acclaimed upon publication, Life of Pi is a modern classic.

Review

"This breezily aphoristic, unapologetically twee saga of man and cat is a convincing hands-on, how-to guide for dealing with what Pi calls, with typically understated brio, 'major lifeboat pests.'" The New Yorker

Review

"[B]y the time Martel throws Pi out to sea, his quirkily magical and often hilarious vision has already taken hold....Martel is so mesmerized by Pi that one can't help but be enchanted too." Suzy Hansen, Salon.com

Review

"A work of wonder....[T]he kind of twist-and-turns spellbinder that's almost impossible to forget." Paul Evans, Book Magazine

Review

"An impassioned defense of zoos, a death-defying trans-Pacific sea adventure a la Kon-Tiki, and hilarious... : This audacious novel manages to be all of these." The New Yorker

Review

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

Review

"Life of Pi is a real adventure: brutal, tender, expressive, dramatic, and disarmingly funny....It's difficult to stop reading when the pages run out." San Francisco Chronicle

Review

"A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction." Los Angeles Times Book Review

Synopsis

A MODERN CLASSIC AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan -- and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, 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?

A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

About the Author

Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963 of Canadian parents. Life of Pi won the 2002 Man Booker Prize and has been translated into more than forty languages. A #1 New York Times bestseller, it spent eighty-one weeks on the list and was adapted to the screen by Ang Lee. He is also the author of the novels Beatrice and Virgil and Self, the collection of stories The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, and a collection of letters to the prime minister of Canada, 101 Letters to a Prime Minister. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada.

4.8 12

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.8 (12 comments)

`
j1ll , October 22, 2014
Life of Pi is my favorite book. Martel's rich characterization of Piscine is just incredible and moving. This story will really stick to you. Martel is a truly talented artist and his works are phenomenal.

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janqu , January 01, 2013
It fascinated me that Pi, in the first part of the novel, raised as a Hindu,introduced to Christianity and Islam, tries to follow all three religions. He tries to understand and love God through each religion accepting the benefits of each. When his family decides to sell their zoo over a land dispute with the government, we get insights into the politics and complications of Indian government. The storytelling becomes wild after his family's death when survivor Pi is in a small lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, and an orangutan. My favorite part was the incredible relationship that Pi and Richard Parker create...very bizarre and totally unbelievable but I could not put the book down. In the third part of the novel, two Japanese government officials doubt Pi's story and I loved the way he creates a different explanation which might be the truer one and he asks them to pick their preferred one! I am always amazed when a person creates such a complicated plot. I will want to read this book again but am not sure I want to see the movie!

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WNCGal , January 01, 2013
Martel is a superb storyteller and writes sentences with many a wonderful turn of phrase.

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Isabella , November 26, 2012 (view all comments by Isabella)
I started this book thinking it was going to be another survival story, only with a tiger thrown in. I was so wrong. Yann Martel's story was amazingly written and made me feel like I was there on the lifeboat experiencing the character's thoughts and feelings. The situations and settings that Pi found himself in were both beautiful and brutally horrific at once. And then there was the ending.... Fantastic.

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melissamarkham , September 26, 2012
Like good wine and a good friend, this marvelous book gets better with age. The first read-through is a delightful journey of discovery. Subsequent readings delve the discerning reader into Martel's profound meaning. The reader is presented with two stories and asked which is the true story. In the end, though, it doesn't matter. What matters is why we believe (or refuse to believe) that which requires imagination.

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Pauleen , August 16, 2012 (view all comments by Pauleen)
This is an exciting story with an amazing twist! You will fall in love with the protagonist, Pi, as well as his life changing story. Pi's adventure gives the reader hope and encouragement to face challenges and tell their own stories as the audience realizes, that it isn't the end result that matters, it's the telling of the tale.

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LauraAdams , June 27, 2008 (view all comments by LauraAdams)
I chose this book for our book club but was a little disappointed in it overall. The first half of the book was a little hard to get interested in. It jumped from the author to Pi and was a little scattered and hard to follow. I found the 2nd half of the book much more interesting. It was a little out there and I did not find it a book that "made me believe in God" as tauted. I do believe in God but this book did nothing to strenghen that in the least. I came away feeling like the animals were sybolic of other things as in Animal Farm, etc. I did not hate it or love it. Not sure that I really even understood it.

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uncle_loki , July 07, 2007 (view all comments by uncle_loki)
This book made me smile. The descriptions were vivid. I enjoyed the zoology included in the plot. And Pi himself was delightful. It was just the right mix of the plausible and the fantastic.

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ROBODOC2004 , April 06, 2007 (view all comments by ROBODOC2004)
i loved this book ! i read it cover to cover in one day,i could'nt put it down.i love yan martel's writing style.he pays amazing atention to detail.he makes you feel like you know the characters personaly.you really understand them and what their going through.

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imajojobean , February 11, 2007 (view all comments by imajojobean)
If you haven't read through the synopses of this book, take my advice and CLOSE YOUR EYES AND CLICK ADD TO CART. Do not read about this book, just read the book - the less you know the better. Believe me, you'll thank me later. The whole tale left me breathless and exhilirated, as if I had survived Pi's ordeal in the lifeboat myself. Fantastic, brilliant stuff.

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stephanie , December 28, 2006 (view all comments by stephanie)
Awesome. I was fully engrossed by what looks like--from the outside--a long story about a boy in a boat with no food and no chance of survival. I loved the way it made you believe in Pi's existence the way that "Memoirs of a Geisha" made you believe that she was telling her story firsthand.

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debbthatsme , October 02, 2006
When I read a story that makes me question reality verses fiction, I know I have been expertly entertained. It reminds me of when I first watched the movie Jurassic Park in the theatre. I was sure the dinasaurs were real. They seemed so real on the screen I had to keep reminding myself it was Hollywood. When I read "Life of Pi" I had to again keep reminding myself this was fiction. I compare it to an art picture that so relistically captures the object, it fools your senses. A wonderful way to spend your time!

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780156027328
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
05/01/2003
Publisher:
CLARION & MARINER
Pages:
352
Height:
.94IN
Width:
5.31IN
Thickness:
.75
Age Range:
14 and up
Grade Range:
9 and up
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2003
Series Volume:
108-107
Author:
Yann Martel
Author:
Yann Martel
Subject:
Tigers
Subject:
Orphans
Subject:
Pacific ocean
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc.
Subject:
Zoo animals
Subject:
Popular Fiction - Adventure
Subject:
Ocean travel
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Adventure fiction
Subject:
Storytelling
Subject:
Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks
Subject:
Human-animal relationships
Subject:
Teenage boys

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This title in other editions

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  • Used, Hardcover, Starting from $9.95
  • Used, Mass Market, Starting from $3.50
  • Used, Trade Paperback, Starting from $7.95
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