Life of Pi

NOW ON BROADWAY

The international bestseller and modern classic of adventure, survival, and the power of storytelling is now an award-winning play.

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?

Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.

Author: Yann Martel
Publisher: Mariner Books Classics
Published: 06/04/2002
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.38w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780151008117
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.7
Point Value: 16
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 65915 / Life of Pi


Award: Man Booker Prize - Winner
Award: Book Sense Book of the Year Award - Nominee
Award: Tayshas Reading - Commended
Award: Colorado Blue Spruce Award - Nominee
Award: Green Mountain Book Award - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/08/2002 pg. 200
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2002 pg. 613
Booklist 05/15/2002 pg. 1576
Booksense '76 Jul/Aug 2002 07/01/2002 pg. 1
Library Journal 06/15/2002 pg. 95
New York Times 07/07/2002 pg. 5
Entertainment Weekly 11/08/2002 pg. 110
USA Today 11/11/2002 pg. 1
New York Times 12/08/2002 pg. 63
Christian Century 02/08/2003 pg. 34
New York Review of Books 03/27/2003 pg. 17
Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2003 pg. 139
Best of Book Sense/First 5 Yrs 04/01/2004 pg. 1
Outside 10/01/2007 pg. 66

About the Author
Martel, Yann: - YANN MARTEL was born in Spain in 1963 of Canadian parents. Life of Pi won the 2002 Man Booker Prize (among other honors) and was adapted to the screen in the Oscar-winning film by Ang Lee. Martel is also the author of the novels The High Mountains of Portugal, 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, What Is Stephen Harper Reading?. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada.