Life of Pi
Publishers often claim that a book will ‘change your life’. Canongate have higher aspirations for Yann Martel’s second novel. It will, they claim, make you believe in God. Hyperbole aside, this is an astonishingly original novel. The eponymous Pi is a 16-year-old boy whose father runs a zoo in Pondicherry, India. His pondering on the behaviour of the animals leads him to develop a strong religious zeal and he decides to become a practising Muslim, Hindu and Christian – greatly disconcerting the authorities of these faiths.
Following political instability, Pi’s father decides to sell the zoo and emigrate to Canada. The ship carrying the family and the animals sinks in mid-Pacific and Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a female orang-utan, a hyena, a zebra and Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger. Survival logic operates remorselessly and soon only Richard Parker and Pi are left. In order to survive Pi has to become a ‘high seas animal trainer’.
Together boy and tiger embark on an epic voyage of suffering and discovery as they drift for months on the open ocean. To sustain such a slender and fanciful plot is trick enough but this mesmeric, dreamlike novel does much more, immersing the reader in a dazzlingly inventive narrative and even springing a startling twist in the final pages which sheds new light on the whole tale. This wonderful book did not make me believe in God but it did reinforce my faith in the considerable redemptive powers of fiction.
- Product information
- by Yann Martel
- Publisher
- Canongate
- Product number
- ISBN 1 84195 245 1
- Star rating
- Product link
- http://www.canongate.net ">http://www.canongate.net
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
