Product Description

This memorable debut, originally published in 1993, was hailed for its power and elegance on both sides of the Atlantic. Ranging from the last hours of a condemned man, to the imaginary life of an AIDS patient, to the first performance of a bizarre new symphony, these tales are moving and thought-provoking, as inventive in form as they are timeless in content. They display the startling mix of dazzle and depth that have made Martel an international phenomenon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81190 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 258 pages

Review
"A small masterpiece...A serious and convincing work that demands to be read." Guardian; "Yann Martel is a vivid and entrancing story-teller." Sunday Telegraph; "Those who would believe that the art of fiction is moribund - let them read Yann Martel with astonishment, delight and gratitude." Alberto Manguel; "It is heartening to read a writer whose succinct powers of description are equal to the imaginative sharpness of a content that exists on several levels at the same time." Tribune; "This is one of those rare debuts that raises real hope and shows a principled talent excitingly capable of further growth." Observer"

Customer Reviews

Early works that shows sparks of what Martel can achieve
I have not read "Life of Pi" yet, but I have heard so many good things about that novel that when I saw this collection of short stories in the bookstore I was intrigued. I started browsing through the foreword, and immediately came to the conclusion that Martel has an innate ability for writing that places him in a select group of authors. That is why I decided to read this book, which contains four stories from the early stages of his career. When I compare the writing used in these stories with the one in the foreword, I cannot help feeling that the author has evolved considerably, but the stories still show early signs of a great writer.

The topics of these short works are highly unusual, which I believe makes them interesting overall, but at some points I found myself feeling that the author was trying to be unique to the extreme, and therefore, going overboard. The first story is the one that gives name to the collection, and the one I found to be the most touching. In this narration, the author presents the account of his relationship with a friend from college and the events that unfolded after this friend was diagnosed with AIDS. Martel shows a natural ability for reaching the heart of the reader with its vibrant descriptions of the emotions the characters experience when faced with such an enormous tragedy. Maybe the fact that the story is based on a real life event, that the author had to face, helped him with making it so vivid.

The other three stories use as topics a peculiar concert in Washington DC with references to how the Vietnam war affected the life of many, a collection of letters with different outcomes regarding the termination of a prisoner waiting for his death sentence, and a machine that makes mirrors by feeding on stories. As you can quickly realize, none of these have as a topic one that you are likely to find in works by other authors, and that makes them unique and valuable based on the author's imagination. The fact that the writing is not as polished as one would like is just evidence that the author was in the process of discovering himself and searching for the style that suited him best. It is extremely interesting to see how Martel wrote before becoming famous, and this is enough reason to make the book worth reading. - 3.5 stars.

Well worth the read
This is one of the hardest books to review that I have read. For starters, it's not a collection of short stories in the "normal" sense. The aren't scaled down works of fiction that one can read quickly and quietly in an afternoon and then feel that you have ticked the box on that author, so to speak. It isn't brilliantly well written or particularly clever. What it is though is honest and in doing that you can begin to see how an author learns his craft. In these short stories Yann Martell achieves something quite stupendous in that he really, truly opens himself up for us to see.

And when dealing with an art form, isn't that truly all we as readers can ask for?

The book is broken up into 4 stories and each is as different as they are off the wall. The first one, and the name sake of the title of the book describes a time when the author was in the tragic position of watching a good friend die from aids. He refrains from giving away too much of the interactions of the dying friend and for this I applaud him. It is up to him if he wants to bear his soul, but not fair to bear someone else's. This story is truly tragic and although not written as a tear jerker, or to particularly shock it manages both through the clever writing which really helps you to understand what it must have been like. This story to me is the most obviously powerful and well worth opening the book to.

The second short story concerns a piece of music that the author hears whilst visiting what appears to be quite an obnoxious friend (not relevant to the book though). This is a peculiar and somewhat less poignant story but powerful in it's own right. You can see how this could be turned into far more detailed story through either the musical genius of the guy playing or of his experience at war but because of the length and comparative ability of the writer at the time it becomes more of an observation piece. Impressive stuff though.

The penultimate story concerns a number of letters from the same person (a warden of a prison) regarding the same event (the execution of a man) to the same person (the man's mother). This is the weak link for me and is one of the stories that straddles brilliance and mediocrity without ever really justifying it's place in the later section. If written now this may have been far more impressive.

The last story concerns the authors grandmother during a period of reminiscence regarding an old machine that he finds. It is touching in places to see the relationship between them, swinging from love and respect to a feeling that he isn't quite good enough and doesn't measure up to his long dead grandfather. This has touches of the ability to come but as with the earlier stories is very rough round the edges.

Read this book not only to see how Yann Martell has grown as an author but also to appreciate a man bearing his soul for the world to see.

Awful. Just awful
I bought this book having read, and loved, The Life Of Pi. What a spectacular waste of money and time.

This 'collection' is pretentious, abstract nonsense. None of the four short 'stories' is worthy of the name story. They smack of a struggling writer, desperately scratching through a back catalogue of dreadful work, and cobbling together the best bits. All I can say is, I'd hate to have read his worst efforts.

I doubt many people will find this review helpful but I've already wasted enough time on this book, and can't bring myself to detail its shortcomings any further. If I succeed in persuading one person not to make the same mistake, I'll consider the review a success.