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 ... This kiss of death notwithstanding, it would not be out of place on the Booker shortlist. -- Greg Eden * The Bookseller *
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. The peripatetic Pi (n' the much-taunted Piscine) Patel spends a beguiling boyhood in Pondicherry, India, as the son of a zookeeper. Growing up beside the wild beasts, Pi gathers an encyclopedic knowledge of the animal world. His curious mind also makes the leap from his native Hinduism to Christianity and Islam, all three of which he practices with joyous abandon. In his 16th year, Pi sets sail with his family and some of their menagerie to start a new life in Canada. Halfway to Midway Island, the ship sinks into the Pacific, leaving Pi stranded on a life raft with a hyena, an orangutan, an injured zebra and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. After the beast dispatches the others, Pi is left to survive for 227 days with his large feline companion on the 26-foot-long raft, using all his knowledge, wits and faith to keep himself alive. The scenes flow together effortlessly, and the sharp observations of the young narrator keep the tale brisk and engaging. Martel's potentially unbelievable plot line soon demolishes the reader's defenses, cleverly set up by events of young Pi's life that almost naturally lead to his biggest ordeal. 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. * Publishers Weekly *
Yann Martel's third work of fiction, Life of Pi, is a terrific book.It's fresh, original, smart, devious, and crammed with absorbing lore... Life of Pi is not just a readable and engaging novel, it's a finely twisted length of yarn....Like its noteworthy ancestors, among which I take to be Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, the Ancient Mariner, Moby Dick and Pincher Martin, it's a tale of disaster at sea coupled with miraculous survival - a boys' adventure for grownups. -- Sunday Times * Margaret Atwood *
Life of Pi is a great adventure story, the sort that comes along rarely and enters a select canon at once.This would be enough to justify its existence, but it is also rich in metaphysics, beautifully written, moving and funny.It's an allegory about faith and the value of religious metaphor - not just for the converted, but for all of us. * Scotland on Sunday *
Absurd, macabre, unreliable and sad, deeply sensual in its evoking of smellsand sights, the whole trip and the narrator's insanely curious voice (which evokes and intellectual humming-bird compelled to sip deep from every possible blossom) suggests Joseph Conrad and Salman Rushdie hallucinating together over the meaning of The Old Man and the Sea and Gulliver's Travels. -- Ruth Padel * Financial Times *
Life of Pi is a hilarious novel, full of clever tricks, amusing asides and grand originality.Its subtext exists in that delightful area between the possible and the fantastical, and its tome reminded me of Italo Calvin's Our Ancestors.As to whether it makes you believe in God - well miracles can happen, so why not to you? -- Toby Clements * Daily Telegraph *
Of all the many books I read this year.Yann Martel's Life of Pi stands out head and shoulders above the rest.It's sheer audaciousness, complex originality, breathtaking daring, virtuoso command of language and imagery make it a tour de force.I am proud to have chaired the Man Booker team of judges that chose it, and have nothing but disdain for those who (without reading it) disparaged it for its passing plot resemblance to The Owl and the Pussycat.Believe me, it will stand the test of time. -- Lisa Jardine * The Times *
Martel sends Pi on a voyage that echoes countless other postcolonial narratives of exile and loss, but he turns the cliches on their head with his vigorous and quirky imagination.The result is a parable about trust, fear and about touching the bounds of being human. -- Jonathan Heawood * Observer *
Life of Pi is a deeply serious book, but it wears its profundity lightly.Martel teases the reader just as Pi teases his Japanese inquisitors at the end.He handles his huge concerns - dear, love, belief - with delicacy, humour and tact. -- Charlotte Moore * Mail on Sunday *
Despite a highly bizarre premise... it turned out to be a fantastic read. * Derbyshire Times *
