Life of Pi: Deluxe Illustrated Edition

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
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."

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.

Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

the deluxe Life of Pi October 7, 2007
31 out of 32 found this review helpful

If you haven't read the Life of Pi you are in for a treat. Originally published in 2002, this is a new illustrated edition and it is simply wonderful.

A teenaged boy is shipwrecked and set adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with some unusual companions; a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a fierce Bengal tiger. They drift together for a long time as this savage and philosophical tale plays out.

The addition of 40 illustrations by Tomaslav Torjanac is an incredible enhancement to the book. His pictures are brilliant and colorful. Some seem almost photographic.

Re-reading the book was an absolute pleasure. I caught things I missed the first time through.

3 out of 5 stars

And Yet April 6, 2008
17 out of 24 found this review helpful

Have you ever been watching a drama on TV and half-way through the season it switches to a comedy, complete with laugh track? Or reading a scientific text on the lifestyle of gorillas that suddenly morphed into British Chick Lit? Did you enjoy that? If so, you'll enjoy this book.

Life of Pi is wonderfully written. Martel elegantly captures the twists and turns of his character's mind, and exquisitely describes his world, particularly as it relates to the animals. It feels as if Martel's spent thousands of hours sitting and observing various animals, just as his character did. I had no doubt that I was there in the zoo with Pi, watching the animals. His intricate details on marine life were both accurate and enthralling. Truly Martel knows how to create. I also appreciate how Martel plays with the line between fiction and nonfiction in the beginning of the book, to bring us into a netherworld of reality. And the illustrations- Oh! So beautiful they could be paintings in the middle of the book.

And yet. And yet. I was profoundly disappointed with this work. For I was gripped in the middle of a fascinating story- fiction to be sure, but believable- that suddenly changed into magical realism. Don't misunderstand- I enjoy magical realism, much as I enjoy good comedies on TV. I just don't like my genres mixed. The change was abrupt enough to be jarring, but hidden enough that the reader is at a loss to understand what has happened until many pages later. Thus at one point I am thinking that Pi is suffering from dementia, and I begin skimming the pages, only to discover later that the dementia- as fantastic as the events seem- is meant to be reality. Or are they? Later Martel plays with an idea little better than the Dallas dream retcon, in which a wonderful realistic story of a boy lost at sea with animals becomes something horrific worthy of Stephen King.

The descriptions were wonderful but Martel has great difficulty in describing settings. I still don't understand the layout of the lifeboat and lifebuoy, because no matter how many times I went over it, it didn't make sense. The illustrations were wonderful but they too often telegraphed events. We have a chapter of an individual being rescued, mentioned by name, and it is clear that the author intends us to think this individual is human. But the picture on the very same page shows a tiger being rescued in the middle of the ocean. The religious subtext was interesting, but ultimately a red herring that didn't illuminate the finale, and was frankly insulting to numerous religions with the caricatures and stereotypes of the worst of them.

There was so much in this book that I enjoyed. Had it not been for the twist gotcha ending I would have rated it higher. As it is, it felt like this was a failed writing exercise by an excellent writer. Or in Yann Martel's words, "Your theme is good, as are your sentences. Your characters are so ruddy with life they practically need birth certificates. The plot you've mapped out for them is grand, simple and gripping. You've done your research, gathering the facts - historical, social, climatic, culinary - that will give your story its feel of authenticity. The dialogue zips along, crackling with tension. The descriptions burst with colour, contrast and telling detail. Really, your story can only be great. But it all adds up to nothing." In this case, it was not a missing spark of emotional death- it was a cruel cancer spreading throughout the work, only revealed in the last few pages.

5 out of 5 stars

A wonderful follow up and a superb work with its exuberant images. December 6, 2007
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Canadian author Yann Martel's international bestseller Life of Pi was first published in 2002 and it was the recipient of the prestigious Man Booker Prize in that same year. In 2007 this work of fiction was reintroduced with a Deluxe Illustrated Edition that now includes dazzling illustrations contributed by Croatian artist Tomislav Torjanac of some of the most unforgettable scenes of the narrative.

The narrative revolves around a most outrageous tale concerning a young boy, Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, who lived in Pondicherry, India. Pi's father was a zookeeper and as a result Pi learned a great deal about zoos and the diverse behavior patterns of the various animals. When Pi, who is a Hindu, reaches adolescence, he decides to experiment with different religions such as Christianity and Islam for he just can't figure out how to find God or for that matter, himself.

Facing political oppression, Pi's father decides that he has had enough with the politics of Mrs. Gandhi and opts to leave India with his family for Canada. On the 21st of June 1977, Pi, who is now 16, together with his mother, father, and older brother as well as seven animals from his father's zoo begin the long trek to Canada on a Japanese cargo ship, Tsimtsum.
Unfortunately, tragedy strikes and the cargo ship mysteriously sinks somewhere in the Pacific leaving Pi the sole human survivor- the result of being miraculously tossed into a lifeboat before the ship sank.
However, Pi is not alone on the lifeboat. Joining him is a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger, a zebra, a hyena, and an orang-utan.

Pi, who now has front row seats, observes the survival of the fittest when the hyena demolishes the zebra; however, shortly thereafter the tiger devours the hyena. Pi, sensing the danger he is in, cleverly manages to avoid conflict with the tiger, which he has named, Richard Parker, by staying away from his territory on the deck of the boat.
In order to survive, Pi manages to fish and feed himself as well as the tiger. Eventually, the two are washed ashore upon a strange island that apparently was formed with tightly knit edible algae.
Pi meanders about and finds some strange fruit of containing human teeth in its center. He comes to the conclusion that it must have been a huge plant like organism that has previously gulped down a human.

From here the pair find their way to Mexico, where the tiger leaves Pi. By the time Pi winds up in a hospital, we learn that he has survived 227 days from the day the Tsimtsum sank. How did Pi manage to live to tell the tale? Martel puts all of this into perspective when Pi is called upon to explain to the individuals investigating the sinking of the cargo ship.

Torjanac was an excellent choice in breathing new energy into the now classic tale. It should be mentioned that Martel's English publisher came up with the idea of an illustrated edition and Martel was agreeable to the idea since in the past fiction authors as Jules Verne and Mark Twain often had their adult books illustrated.

Before executing his poignant and dazzling images, Torjanac first read the book in English and then in Croatian. He uses oil paints enhanced with the combination of digital technology. And as you will notice, all the pictures are executed from Pi's perspective. We never see his face only his elongated reddish brown, hands and feet appear on some of the illustrations. Torjanac's use of contrasting colours and perspective really take you into the scenes so marvellously imagined by Yann Martel. You feel the struggle, the hot relentless sun, the brutality of the stormy seas and Pi's efforts for survival.

The animals are drawn to perfection. For example, the painting of the black leopard contrasting with a snowy mountain peak in the background is stunning. You can sense Pi's disbelief, when he is informed that the family will be leaving India for Canada, just by looking through his eyes as they peer at his brother and parents. The scene of the storm and the sinking of the cargo ship will surely catch the eyes of the reader when Pi's hands throw a lifebuoy to the Bengal tiger.

Particularly noteworthy is the last image in the book that is quite intriguing. It is here we notice a hand pressing a button on a tape recorder, which turns into a vase full of "flowers"- so you believe! However, if you take a second peek you find that the "bouquet" is really a summary of the entire novel. Look for Pi's hands catching a fish, his mother, the hyena, the Bengal tiger, the meerkats, the carnivorous island, the Zebra jumping on the lifeboat. All the elements are cleverly assembled in a bursting posy of reddish, orange algae on a lush green background.

This second edition is a wonderful follow up and a superb work with its exuberant images that as the publisher's publicity material mentions, "offers a fantastic insight on the unique creative process between writer and illustrator."

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures & Lily Goldman, Artist

5 out of 5 stars

A Mirror Held Up to the Reader May 22, 2008
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

Life of Pi was a fairly engaging story in terms of plot and character, but what made it such a memorable book, for me at least, was its thematic concerns. Basically, this is one of the most thematically interesting and thought-provoking books I've read in a while, even though it's a fairly simple story. Is it a "story that will make you believe in God," as Pi claims? I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I would say that many people who enjoy thinking about the nature of reality and the possibility of God would find this a compelling read.

To me, the entire thrust of the book [SPOILER ALERT] is aimed at the idea that reality is a story, and therefore we can choose our own story (as the author himself put it). So if life is a story, that leaves us two basic choices: we can limit ourselves only to what we can know for sure - that is, to "dry, yeastless factuality" - or we can choose "the better story." I suppose in Pi's world the "better story" includes God, but he doesn't suggest that this is the only meaningful possibility. In fact, Pi calls atheists his "brothers and sisters of a different faith," because, like Pi, atheists "go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap."

Pi's point, in my opinion, is that human experience always involves interpretation, that our knowledge is necessarily limited, that both religious belief and atheism require a leap of faith of one kind or another. It's not that you must believe in God to be happy (even though Pi clearly finds peace in his beliefs); rather, the important thing is that you make a choice to bring meaning and richness to your life, that you look beyond pure, uninterpreted fact and find a better reality, that you exercise faith and strive for ideals (whatever the object of your faith and whatever those ideals might be ). Or as Pi himself puts it: "To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."

In the end, I didn't necessarily read this book as an invitation to believe in God, but rather as a mirror held up to the reader, a test to see what kind of worldview the reader holds. [SPOILER ALERT] That is, as Pi himself says, since "it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without the animals?" Or, as I took it: Is it my nature to reach for and believe the better but less likely story? Or do I tend to believe the more likely but less lovely story? What view of reality do I generally adhere to?

Another equally important question is this: How did I come by my view of reality? Do I view the world primarily through the lens of reason? Or do I view it through the lens of emotion? For Pi, I think it's safe to say his belief comes by way of emotion. He has, as one reviewer noted, a certain scepticism about reason (in fact, Pi calls it "fool's gold for the bright"). Pi also has what I would call a subtle but real basis for his belief in God, namely, "an intellect confounded yet a trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." But belief still isn't easy for him. Despite his trusting sense of purpose, Pi acknowledges that "Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer." So it's not that a life of faith is easier, in Pi's opinion, it's that for him belief is ultimately more worthwhile.

This is not to say, however, that Pi holds a completely postmodern view of God or that he believes in God as a matter of art rather than in a sincere way. [SPOILER ALERT] True, Pi suggests that whether you believe his story has a tiger in it is also a reflection of your ability to believe in something higher. And of course it's easy to read Pi's entire story as an attempt to put an acceptable gloss on a horrific experience. Still...there are a number of clues throughout the book that give the reader at least some reason to believe that Pi's story DID have a tiger in it (for instance, the floating banana and the meerkat bones). As such, Pi's two stories could be seen as an acknowledgement that both atheism and belief in God require some faith, and therefore it's up to each of us to choose the way of life that makes us the happiest. He's not necessarily saying that the truth is what you make it, he's saying we don't have unadulturated access to the truth: our imagination, personalities, and experiences unavoidably influence the way we interact with the world. But that's not the same as saying whatever we imagine is true. I think Pi, for instance, knows which of his stories is true. It's not Pi but the reader who is left with uncertainty and who therefore has to throw her hands up and say "I don't know," or else choose one story or the other. And to me, this isn't too far off from the predicament we all find ourselves in.

[SPOILER ALERT] And that's what makes Life of Pi such a challenge to the reader: Pi's first story is fantastic, wonderful, but hard to believe. Yet there's some evidence that it happened just the way he said it did. And Pi's second story is brutal, terrible, but much easier to accept as true. Yet it's not entirely plausible either, and it leaves no room for the meerkat bones or Pi's "trusting sense of presence and ultimate purpose." If the reader personally dismisses the tiger story out of hand, I suppose that's another way of saying the reader, by nature, tends to believe the more likely but less lovely story. In the same way, if the reader gets to the story's payoff and still believes there was a tiger in the boat, the reader is probably inclined to believe the more emotionally satisfying story. But it should be born in mind that Pi doesn't definitively state which story was true, something which only he can know for sure. All we can really be sure of, in Pi's universe, is that he was stuck on a lifeboat for a while before making it to shore. [SPOILER ALERT] So which story do I believe? I struggled with that question for a long time. But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I'll end this review with the final lines from the book: "Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal Tiger."

5 out of 5 stars

One Great Book! November 12, 2007
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

I would have to say that this is one of the greatest books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Yann Martel pulls you in from the beginning with his curious and cogitative way of examining human (and animal) nature in a tale you won't soon forget.

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