Life of PI [マスマーケット]

1977年7月2日。インドのマドラスからカナダのモントリオールへと出航した日本の貨物船ツシマ丸は太平洋上で嵐に巻き込まれ、あえなく沈没した。たった一艘しかない救命ボートに乗り助かったのは、動物たちをつれカナダへ移住する途中だったインドの動物園経営者の息子パイ・パテル16歳。ほかには後足を骨折したシマウマ、オラウータン、ハイエナ、そしてこの世で最も美しく危険な獣ベンガルトラのリチャード・パーカーが一緒だった。広大な海洋にぽつりと浮かぶ命の舟。残されたのはわずかな非常食と水。こうして1人と4頭の凄絶なサバイバル漂流が始まった…。生き残るのは誰か？そして待つ衝撃のラストシーン！！文学史上類を見ない出色の冒険小説。 --このテキストは、 単行本 版に関連付けられています。

1977年7月2日。インドのマドラスからカナダのモントリオールへと出航した日本の貨物船ツシマ丸は太平洋上で嵐に巻き込まれ、あえなく沈没した。たった一艘しかない救命ボートに乗り助かったのは、動物たちを連れカナダへ移住する途中だったインドの動物園経営者の息子パイ・パテル16歳。ほかには後脚を骨折したシマウマ、オランウータン、ハイエナ、そしてこの世で最も美しく危険な獣―ベンガルトラのリチャード・パーカーが一緒だった。広大な海洋にぽつりと浮かぶ命の舟。残されたのはわずかな非常食と水。こうして1人と4頭の凄絶なサバイバル漂流が始まった…。2002年度ブッカー賞受賞作。 --このテキストは、 単行本 版に関連付けられています。

沈没、遭難、漂流…。救命ボートに残されたのは16歳の少年と、シマウマ、オランウータン、ハイエナ、そしてトラ。生き残るのは誰か? 衝撃のラストシーンが待つ冒険小説。ブッカー賞受賞作。 --このテキストは、 単行本 版に関連付けられています。

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."

An award winner in Canada, Life of Pi, Yann Martel's second novel, should prove to be a breakout book in the U.S. 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. --Brad Thomas Parsons
--このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

Some books defy categorisation: Life of Pi, the second novel from Canadian writer Yann Martel, is a case in point: just about the only thing you can say for certain about it is that it is fiercely and admirably unique. The plot, if that痴 the right word, concerns the oceanic wanderings of a lost boy, the young and eager Piscine Patel of the title (Pi). After a colourful and loving upbringing in gorgeously-hued India, the Muslim-Christian-animistic Pi sets off for a fresh start in Canada. His blissful voyage is rudely interrupted when his boat is scuppered halfway across the Pacific, and he is forced to rough it in a lifeboat with a hyena, a monkey, a whingeing zebra and a tiger called Richard. That would be bad enough, but from here on things get weirder: the animals start slaughtering each other in a veritable frenzy of allegorical bloodlust, until Richard the tiger and Pi are left alone to wander the wastes of ocean, with plenty of time to ponder their fate, the cruelty of the gods, the best way to handle storms and the various different recipes for oothappam, scrapple and coconut yam kootu. The denouement is pleasantly neat. According to the blurb, thirtysomething Yann Martel spent long years in Alaska, India, Mexico, France, Costa Rica, Turkey and Iran, before settling in Canada. All those cultures and more have been poured into this spicy, vivacious, kinetic and very entertaining fiction. --Sean Thomas --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

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 (ne 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.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with 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?

--このテキストは、 ペーパーバック 版に関連付けられています。

"A terrific book... fresh, original, smart, devious, crammed with absorbing lore." Margaret Atwood, Sunday Times "Every page offers something of tension, humanity, surprise or even ecstasy." The Times "A unique and original story, brilliantly told." Guardian "Its sheer audaciousness, complex originality, breathtaking daring, virtuoso command of the language and imagery make Life of Pi a tour de force... It will stand the test of time." Lisa Jardine (Man Booker Prize judge 2002)" --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963, of Canadian parents. He is the author of Life of Pi, published to international acclaim in over forty countries and winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize, and a number of collections of short stories, including The Facts Behind The Helsinki Roccamatios. --このテキストは、 ハードカバー 版に関連付けられています。

マーテル,ヤン
1963年スペイン生まれ。外交官の家に生まれた彼は、幼少・青年時代をコスタリカ、フランス、メキシコ、アラスカ、カナダで過ごし、大人になってからもイラン、トルコ、インドと世界を転々としている。トレント大学で哲学を学んだのち、植栽、皿洗い、警備員など風変わりな仕事をするかたわら、執筆活動を開始。27歳で作家として生計を立てるようになった。主な著書に小説「Self」、ジャーニー賞受賞作の短編集「The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios」がある。現在はカナダのモントリオール在住

唐沢 則幸
1958年生まれ。長野県出身、青山学院大学卒。翻訳のほかに、書評なども手掛ける(本データはこの書籍が刊行された当時に掲載されていたものです) --このテキストは、 単行本 版に関連付けられています。