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-seven 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.

Reviews

Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction "Let me tell you a secret: the name of the greatest living writer of the generation born in the sixties is Yann Martel."--L'Humanit� "A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction and its human creators, and in the original power of storytellers like Martel." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review
"If this century produces a classic work of survival literature, Martel is surely a contender.'--The Nation
"Beautifully fantastical and spirited." -- Salon "Martel displays the clever voice and tremendous storytelling skills of an emerging master." --Publishers Weekly "[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 "Audacious, exhilarating . . . wonderful. The book's middle section might be the most gripping 200 pages in recent Canadian fiction. It also stands up against some of Martel's more obvious influences: Edgar Allen Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, the novels of H. G. Wells, certain stretches of Moby Dick."--Quill & Quire
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Named for a swimming pool in Paris the Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel begins this extraordinary tale as a teenager in India, where his father is a zoo keeper. Deciding to immigrate to Canada, his father sells off most of the zoo animals, electing to bring a few along with the family on their voyage to their new home. But after only a few days out at sea, their rickety vessel encounters a storm. After crew members toss Pi overboard into one of the lifeboats, the ship capsizes. Not long after, to his horror, Pi is joined by Richard Parker, an acquaintance who manages to hoist himself onto the lifeboat from the roiling sea. You would think anyone in Pi's dire straits would welcome the company, but Richard Parker happens to be a 450-pound Bengal tiger. It is hard to imagine a fate more desperate than Pi's: "I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on to an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me." At first Pi plots to kill Richard Parker. Then he becomes convinced that the tiger's survival is absolutely essential to his own. In this harrowing yet inspiring tale, Martel demonstrates skills so well honed that the story appears to tell itself without drawing attention to the writing. This second novel by the Spanish-born, award-winning author of Self, who now lives in Canada, is highly recommended for all fiction as well as animal and adventure collections. Edward Cone, New York Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction "Let me tell you a secret: the name of the greatest living writer of the generation born in the sixties is Yann Martel."--L'Humanite "A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction and its human creators, and in the original power of storytellers like Martel." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review
"If this century produces a classic work of survival literature, Martel is surely a contender.'--The Nation
"Beautifully fantastical and spirited." -- Salon "Martel displays the clever voice and tremendous storytelling skills of an emerging master." --Publishers Weekly "[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 "Audacious, exhilarating . . . wonderful. The book's middle section might be the most gripping 200 pages in recent Canadian fiction. It also stands up against some of Martel's more obvious influences: Edgar Allen Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, the novels of H. G. Wells, certain stretches of Moby Dick."--Quill & Quire
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