Product Description

Life of Pi, first published in 2002, became an international bestseller and remains one of the most extraordinary and popular works of contemporary fiction.

In 2005 an international competition was held to find the perfect artist to illustrate Yann Martel s Man Booker Prize winning novel. From thousands of entrants, Croatian artist Tomislav Torjanac was chosen. This lavishly produced edition features forty of Torjanac s beautiful four-color illustrations, bringing Life of Pi to splendid, eye-popping life.

Tomislav Torjanac says of his illustrations: My vision of the illustrated edition of Life of Pi is based on paintings from a first person s perspective Pi s perspective. The interpretation of what Pi sees is intermeshed with what he feels and it is shown through [the] use of colors, perspective, symbols, hand gestures, etc.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1221 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-07
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Amazon.com
Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion." At one point in his journey, Pi recounts, "My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time." It's safe to say that the fabulous, fablelike Life of Pi is such a book.

First published in 2002, Martel's breathtaking breakout novel became an international bestseller and went on to win the Man Booker Prize, and was also named Amazon.com's Best Book of 2002. In 2005, after an international competition, Croatian artist Tomislav Torjanac was selected to illustrate a special edition of Life of Pi that features 40 stunning illustrations that present a new perspective on this modern classic. --Brad Thomas Parsons

---

Amazon.com Exclusive: Outtakes from Tomislav Torjanac's Early Illustrations for Life of Pi

Tomislav Torjanac's Artist Statement

Island Study

Lifeboat Study

"I quite deliberately dressed wild animals in tame costumes of my imagination."

"Only when they threw me overboard did I begin to have doubts..."

"And what a thump it was."

"I threw the mako towards the stern."

---

About the Author

Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963 and lives in the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan. Life of Pi, his second novel, was published to international acclaim in more than forty countries and won the 2002 Man Booker Prize. He is currently working on a new novel.

Tomislav Torjanac was born in 1972 in Croatia, where he lives and works as a freelance illustrator. In 2006, he won the international competition to find an illustrator for this new edition of Life of Pi. Amongst other things, he's done many book covers and illustrated a few children's books, including James Joyce's The Cat and the Devil.

---

Customer Reviews

An amazing story
This is a truly beautifully written book and an amazing story. I love animals and this story provides such a wealth of fascinating insight into animal behaviour. I know it is not a new publication, but this made no difference to the tale, plus the illustrations are wonderful. What a great value also - I know I will be re-reading this time after time.

An allegory within and allegory
This is a really classic book.
This is an allegory within an allegory and therefore is a doubly deceptive book. If you try to read reality into it, you have missed the point. Remember this is a novel; it is not real life and and I do not refer only to the seeming confusion on the end.
This is the story of the difficulties of a young man forsaking one culture to live in another, when he is given no choice. Think of this boy moving from India to Canada and the difficulties that he faces particularly the pull of India that, if he does not conquer, will destroy him: the 450 pound tiger he has to control. Think of the alien character of the sea: Canada is as alien as the sea.
This is a truly exciting book that I recommend people re-read from the double allegory perspective.

The World Of Pi Completely Grab Me!
How exciting and memorable! But, in stating that, parts were unrealistic, even for fiction. But, in stating that, it was most enjoyable reading, from the zebra, the hyena, the orangutan, the bengal tiger, to all the outstanding illustrations...it was a delightful reading experience. Peggy Inez, Author [[ISBN 978-159858-400-4 The Gully.