The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios

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The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios

3.44 of 5 stars 3.44 · rating details · 1,863 ratings · 220 reviews

Revised and with a new author’s note and cover, here is Man Booker Prize–winning author Yann Martel’s debut.

First published in 1993, this remarkable collection of four stories launched the career of a masterful writer. In the exquisite title novella, a young man dying of AIDS joins his friend in fashioning a story of the Roccamatio family of Helsinki, set against the yearl...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published October 12th 2004 by Vintage Canada (first published 1993)

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Aug 28, 2011 Jacob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own, short-fiction, 2011

"The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios"
The narrator and his friend, Paul, an AIDS patient, spend Paul's last few months constructing an elaborate story about an Italian family in Helsinki and their lives throughout the Twentieth Century--elaborate, but ultimately unfinished.

"The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton"
The narrator, visiting a friend in D.C., attends a concert of Vietnam War veterans in a ruine...more

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May 21, 2010 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, literature, totally-unexpected, something-completely-new

After Life of Pi was published, I sought a remainder copy of this title out from somewhere in Canada. It was perplexing in the way that I now know all Martel books are. I didn't like it. After Beatrice and Virgil was published, I bought an audio version of this so that I coudl have another crack at it. I find reading Martel's works and listening to them are two distinct pleasures. Indeed, this was something new, to hear it spoken, and I see many of the themes Martel has touched on in his other w...more

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Oct 10, 2007 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From a blog post I wrote in 2005:
I was browsing the new fiction section at the library and saw a book of short fiction by Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi. I was a little leary when I found they were stories he had written before Pi. The thought crossed my mind that maybe he was just cashing in on his popularity by putting out some old stuff that wasn't that good. I was wrong, though. The stories were very well written and I'm glad I took the chance and checked the book out.

The title story was...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Nesa Sivagnanam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Long before the Life of Pi there was this collection of 4 rather odd and long short stories.

"Manners of Dying" consists of variations on a single motif, the description of a convicted criminal's last hours before his execution. Each one is written in the form of a letter to the prisoner's mother from the warden of a correctional institution.

The details that are catalogued include the man's last meal, whether he ate it, how much time he spent with the chaplain, what attitude he displayed in expec...more Long before the Life of Pi there was this collection of 4 rather odd and long short stories.

"Manners of Dying" consists of variations on a single motif, the description of a convicted criminal's last hours before his execution. Each one is written in the form of a letter to the prisoner's mother from the warden of a correctional institution.

The details that are catalogued include the man's last meal, whether he ate it, how much time he spent with the chaplain, what attitude he displayed in expectation of the inevitable and precisely how he died.

The man is always named Kevin. In one version, he chokes himself on a potato. In another he laughs bizarrely through the ordeal. One time he plays backgammon and one time he asks for writing paper. He asks for mineral water; he asks for Champagne and cigarillos.

In "The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company: Mirrors to Last Till Kingdom Come," the pages break down into separate sections representing different voices. One belongs to an old woman who tells the story of her life on the page's left-hand side; occasionally, this disintegrates from actual writing into repeated rows of "blah-blah-blah-blah-." And on the right-hand side, we find the commentary of the bored grandson who is listening to her: "Man, she can go on," "My head will explode soon" and so on.

The title refers to a strange device that the grandmother has: a machine that makes mirrors and runs on memories. Beyond appreciating the charm of this quaint invention, we are headed for the realization that the grandmother was wiser than the young man ever realized.

Something magical, goes on in "The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton." This mouthful refers to the strange experience of a Canadian who visits Washington, DC, in 1989 and winds up in a ghostly, abandoned theater hearing a musical ensemble of Vietnam veterans. Their wartime experience leaves its mark on him in unexpected ways.

"Music is a bird's answer to the noise and heaviness of words," he thinks. And hearing this music turns out to be a life-altering experience: "During those few minutes everything in my life that is waste, torment and drivel was swept away - the clouds parted - and I beheld the sublime."

Now for the Roccamatios: they are an imaginary family of Italian extraction, living in Finland. And they allow the narrator to play Scheherazade for a friend named Paul, who is dying of AIDS. The tale begins in 1986, and its sad trajectory is all downhill - except for the game that Paul and the narrator dream up ( taking their inspiration from Boccaccio's "Decameron") to keep their grief at bay. They will construct an elaborate, multi-generational Roccamatio story. The cleverest part of Martel's own story is that except for a few passing mentions, he never tells the reader what this fable actually says.

Instead, "The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios" allows Paul and his friend to pick one fact from each year in the 20th century, taking turns as they go. And much about them is revealed by the kinds of choices they make. Some are historically significant (1901: the death of Queen Victoria). Some are more frivolous (1913: the zipper is patented). And some reflect Paul's deteriorating condition, as when he thinks that 1921 was the year the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Together, all these choices reflect a desperate wish to preserve the past and preserve Paul, too.

So this novella becomes an odd hybrid: part history, part Roccamatio fiction, part poignantly evoked medical crisis. ("When you're with people who are really sick," the narrator observes, "you discover what an illusion science can be.") Will 1938 be remembered for the Nazi pogroms of Kristallnacht, or for the invention of the ballpoint pen? "The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios" invents an odd, wishful universe that gives these two options equivalent moral weight. (less)

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May 03, 2011 Anna rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, bookcrossing

The title grabbed my interest. Something about a family of Italian origin living in Helsinki, by Yann Martel, who wrote the Life of Pi? (Which I found a decent holiday read)

Well, my interest wasn't satisfied. There are four short stories in this book, of which the Roccamatio one is 82 pages.
On the back cover of the book it says: "In 'The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios', two young friends discover the transformative power of the imagination as they join togeher to craft a story about a Fi...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Life of Pi is one of my all-time favorite books; however, Martel's most recent novel, Beatrice and Virgil, was incredibly disappointing. So I was a little reluctant to pick up this earlier effort, and didn't have high expectations for it.

That said, I really enjoyed this compilation.

There are four short stories in this volume. I found three of the four to be very worthwhile. I struggled through the fourth one - titled "Manners of Dying" - which is simply many versions of a letter written by a p...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book consists of four pieces of short fiction. Basically, it is a 50/50 deal: two of the stories are okay and two are extraordinary. The title story and the third one, called "Manners of Dying" are the ones that are just okay. The title story is unique in concept but not terribly so in execution. "Manners of Dying" is something almost experimental and, while interesting, did not move me in any particular way.
The other two stories, "The Time I Heard The Private Donald J. Rankin String Conce...more

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May 22, 2010 Seth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While I enjoyed Life of Pi much more than these short stories, this is a gem of a book. There are four short stories. The title (The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios)is one of them. I will only discuss this story. The story is about two friends Paul and the narrator. Paul is infected with AIDS from a blood transfusion arising from a car accident. The narrator (Paul's friend) tells the story of their friendship as Paul dies. The news of his death leads to a meaningless spout of depression. I...more While I enjoyed Life of Pi much more than these short stories, this is a gem of a book. There are four short stories. The title (The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios)is one of them. I will only discuss this story. The story is about two friends Paul and the narrator. Paul is infected with AIDS from a blood transfusion arising from a car accident. The narrator (Paul's friend) tells the story of their friendship as Paul dies. The news of his death leads to a meaningless spout of depression. Its all despair in Paul's home. Paul's friend decides to create meaning by sharing an ongoing series of fictional stories based upon events spanning the 20th century. This ritual of telling one another the story brings meaning to Paul's fading life and provides a wanted distraction from his self pity.

Martel's insights about death and fear are very compelling. The AIDS treatments are so ugly and destructive that Paul's friend finally loses his optimism. In a fit of frustration and despair he rants:

"After the hospital I go tramping about the streets of Toronto. I catch the headlines at a newsstand-blood in Sri Lanka, the West Bank, Haiti, Iran, Iraq; the Ku Klux Klan wins an election in Louisiana (book takes place in 1986); a science magazine rings the alarm bell on the health of oceans-and I am delighted. It sets me off. The world is metastasizing! We are not a viable species! The environment is our worst enemy! Long live the green house effect and acid rain! Down with animals! Let us all rise to the defense of the shrinking tropical forest and the expansion of the Sahara and the emptying of the oceans. All stocks will be replenished with starvation. Everything will be made better with pollution and human blood. Our mission is a cleansing one; we must scour the earth of anything living. Death is our destiny and destruction our greatest talent. So hip-hip-hooray for war! Three cheers for poverty! Boo Amnesty International and the white rhinoceros and Mother Teresa! In Pol Pot and Shining Path we trust! LONG LIVE DEATH! DEATH TO INTELLIGENCE!"

While this is the melodramatic rantings of a despairing friend it also conjures a resonating emotion. Although mankind can create beauty when in a state of enlightened discipline, our natures desire destruction. When we are at our lowest the base destructive nature dominates our rational and disciplined facade.

Another gem is Paul's friend's observation of the family's grief. Paul's dad Jack becomes obsessed with History. While the narrator has no interest for Jack's research he converses with a pretended interest out of compassion for Jack's pain.

"I love the man because of his pain. When we talk about the Battle of Queenston Heights or the tragic Tecumseh or the tireless John Graves Simcoe, I come away with the impression that we have been talking about Paul all along."

Its a sad and insightful point that a father should never have to watch his child die.

Finally, my favorite thought is on how we die. I have always hated the idea of dying slowly and pathetically. The narrator feels the same. After watching Paul deteriorate into a 78 pound feeble mass of rotting green flesh he asserts a better way:

"Not in bed for me for sure. I have thought about it. Better a bang than a whimper. Better a car crash with metal screaming and glass exploding, than slowly in bed. Better no goodbyes than slowly. Better a bullet than slowly. Just not in bed, not in bed."

I think Martel is one of the greatest modern writers. His style is so real and vivid. He is efficient and his metaphors are a critical part of the themes. It makes for a wonderful and profound read. AIDS and lack of adventure are the only reasons I don't rate this 5 stars. The topic is so unappealing to me. I prefer a more manly story and only read because of my respect for Life of Pi. However, despite my lack of immediate interest on the topic, Martel's writing is so compelling and crisp that I was hooked from page one. This story was written before Life of Pi and is no less genius in wisdom or style. Martel's powerfully focused themes of death and friendship left me with moist eyes. Its a beautiful story.(less)

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Jan 07, 2011 Brida rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a book of four short stories, told in the first person. That makes them very intimate, and drags you into the story. They're all simple, but very beautiful in my opinion. There's one thing I noticed while reading Life of Pi, and I've noticed it here as well. The love. I know it sounds cheesy, but yes - love. I'll concentrate on the first story ''The Facts Behind...''. The narrator's love for Paul (the AIDS patient, but more importantly his best friend) is incredible. I don't quite know h...more

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Jan 16, 2012 LaToya Hankins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Of the four short stories, only one in my opinion fell flat. The title story to mean really hit home for me as it describes the toll HIV/AIDS takes on those who are challenged with the diagnosis and their family friends. Part history lesson, part study in friendship, it changed the way I viewed the process of dying. The second short story, "The Time I heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin by the American Composer John Morton, operates on so many levels, it...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Roger DeBlanck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Canadian writer Yann Martel became a literary sensation when his novel Life of Pi went on achieve worldwide bestseller status while also winning the distinguished Booker Prize in 2002. Many readers were elated to learn that Martel, although virtually unknown before Pi’s success, had actually published his first book way back in 1993, an unceremoniously-received collection of short fiction entitled The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. With his newfound stardom, his publisher re-released his...more

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Jul 24, 2010 Anil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Life of Pi has been a favorite of mine so let me see how this one goes.

This is a collection of 4 shortish stories. When you write a book like Life of Pi and then go back and publish some of your early books they just will not measure up. Having said that, I enjoyed reading this collection of stories. You can see that this is a young man writing as the author reminds in the stories. It is full of youth's earnestness and seriousness and certainty and doubt (oxymoronic as that is).

The first story (...more Life of Pi has been a favorite of mine so let me see how this one goes.

This is a collection of 4 shortish stories. When you write a book like Life of Pi and then go back and publish some of your early books they just will not measure up. Having said that, I enjoyed reading this collection of stories. You can see that this is a young man writing as the author reminds in the stories. It is full of youth's earnestness and seriousness and certainty and doubt (oxymoronic as that is).

The first story (the title of the book) is a story of a friend dying of AIDS. Hard as that is, the author does weave his stylistic experiments to weave in a context for the story and a way to come to grips with the sadness.

The second is one where the author goes to hear a music concert in a broken down theatre in DC to hear a Vietnam vets composition and is moved by it. Like I said, young men are open to experiences and are touched deeply more than jaded elders and this young man knows how to write about it. And only a purveyor of words and punctuations could throw in lines like: "What a strange, wondrous thing, music. At last the chattering mind is silenced. ... The grunting of language and the drudgery of semiotics are left behind. Music is a bird's answer to the noise and heaviness of words", to describe music that he himself admits that he does not quite understand or know how to describe. And to show his literary pedigree he throws in a line by Joseph Conrad and centers his story on how Conrad uses punctuations!

The third story is a collection of different possible letters from a prison warden and executioner send to the mother of the one who is hanged to death.

The last story is the reflections of a grandmother telling the stories of her past, as she shows the grandson (the author) how a mirror making machine from the attic works. I know why I like this author. He shares some of my ideals as he declares "Happiness doesn't come in dry goods of varying sizes. Happiness isn't a bulk product. I won't exist through objects. Objects leave me cold. I'm more preoccupied with furnishing my head than the place where I live. (Like I told you - a young mans chutzpah. He doesnt realize the furnishings in the head fade and rot just like real objects). I dont want the captivity of ownership. I want nothing but the human, nothing else.(less)

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May 28, 2010 The Awdude rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This collection by Yann Martel (author of Life of Pi) was originally published in 1993, and it contains the four long stories that he considers to be his first successes. There's a fair amount of experimentation here; some of it works, some of it drags. The titular story is especially sluggish, though it pays off to keep reading to its well-wrought ending. These stories are also somewhat autobiographical, which gives Martel's narrators (all four are first-person) the chance to be frank with the...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-fiction, something-to-ponder

A collection of short fiction by Yann Martel.

In “The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios”, a novella of about 85 pages, the main character describes how he touches the life of his friend (Paul) dying of AIDS. Together they write stories based on historical facts from each year of the 20th century. I wanted to know more about the story within the story, the story that they wrote together, but that wasn’t what it was about. It was about the tragedy of the young man’s early death. It is fitting...more A collection of short fiction by Yann Martel.

In “The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios”, a novella of about 85 pages, the main character describes how he touches the life of his friend (Paul) dying of AIDS. Together they write stories based on historical facts from each year of the 20th century. I wanted to know more about the story within the story, the story that they wrote together, but that wasn’t what it was about. It was about the tragedy of the young man’s early death. It is fitting that the stories they create are absent. It leaves the impression of things left undone or incomplete; the same way Paul’s life is cut short.

The title of the next story is “The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton.” If that title doesn’t catch your interest then I don’t know what will. Or maybe you just don’t have an interest in contemporary orchestral music, but in any case it caught my interest. I wanted to be there to hear that music. What does a concerto sound like with an intentionally discordant violin? I’m still dying to know. Reading the story just made me want to hear it more. It’s really too bad because I did a Google search on “Concerto with one discordant violin” and I couldn’t find any real concertos. If it’s not on Google you know it doesn’t exist.

“Manners of Dying” is a collection of alternate letters from the warden of a prison to the mother of a man executed for his crimes. Each letter presents an alternate version of how the man faced his punishment.

The final story, “The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company: Mirrors to Last Till Kingdom Come” is told in a type of stream-of consciousness style. And the most common word in this story is “blah”. I’m not making that up.

Perhaps there is something about the brevity of these stories, the compressed format, that both touches me and bothers me. There is so much more I want to get out of them, but it is precisely because they are so short that they are so potent – all superfluous details have been left out. In all of these stories Martel is trying to deal with Big Things. Death. AIDS. Memories. Art. Music. Dreams fulfilled. Dreams wasted. The fact that these stories are short doesn’t diminish them – it enhances them.
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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Martel's Booker-Prize winning Life of Pi (**** Nov/Dec 2002) merged fact with fiction, reality with fantastical constructs as an Indian boy navigated the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. This collection, written a decade before Life of Pi and spruced up for an American audience, shares the novel's imaginative plotting, deep humanity, and narrative finesse. But__except, perhaps, for the deeply affecting title story__it's not a masterpiece. A few reviewers criticized Martel for his

...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: recentlyread

I listened to the audiobook version of Yann Martel's novel "Life of Pi" last summer on a 5-hour road trip to one of my favorite places to golf and swim in PA, Treasure Lake.

The story started off slow but picked up momentum as the story focused on a boy who is trapped on a small boat adrift at sea with a big tiger for many months. (Tough for that scenario not to be interesting.) Both survive, and without a doubt Martel's power of imagination is revealed through twists and unexpected turns of the...more

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Jan 02, 2010 Kent rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 16, 2012 Amy St. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A collection of five of Yann Martel's early short stories. He is really such a brilliant storyteller, and it was great to see so many different styles of his packed into this one book. Most compelling, I believe was the short story that the collection takes its name after, "The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios." The story was so poignant and took the reader through the twentieth century, from its great inventions to devastating wars, to new art forms. The years parallel the declining health...more

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May 12, 2009 Mike rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Yann Martel went to my high school, so I keep picking up his stuff and trying to like it. But there's something about his writing that isn't for me. I've heard that he's a perfectionist and that could be what throws me off - his writing feels like it's been picked over, cleaned up, and redone too often. These stories were all written before "Life of Pi" and I like the ideas behind them, but his writing just feels too stilted and rehearsed for my taste.

I once heard Martel speak in Montreal, too....more

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Feb 24, 2011 Katie Mcsweeney rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ohhh call me stupid but I bought it because I loved Life of Pi and I did not realise it was a collection of short stories. I hate short stories. I only ever go for them if I'm trying to read in French or Irish and I know a short is all I can manage.
This is possibly the only collection of short stories I have ever completed. The reason: it was the only book I brought on holiday to Poland (Oberniki was not awash with English language bookshops). So I was forced to stick with it, I was glad I did i...more

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Nov 30, 2009 Ruby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

I'm not a big fan of short stories but I loved the title story about two young men, one of who is fatally ill and the other who supports his friend through this trying time. The ill young man doesn't really want to talk directly about his illness so the two friends take turns making up a story about an Italian family, the Roccamatios, who come to reside in Helsinki. Each episode of the story indirectly reflects the progression of the illness until the young man dies in the end. In our day and ag...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How did I not review this book? I just read it this summer and must have forgotten to log in. I really enjoyed this book except the title piece. I thought Roccamtios story was a bit over done and Martel's use of the story within a story was clumsy and actually not engaging. The following three short stories were excellent particularly the one with the mirror. I'm still thinking of all of the possible life metaphors for the mirror that is made of memories, yet as that is being explored and the me...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this at a Big Lots marked for $3 but it rung up 54 cents. A neat find and worth much more! I really enjoyed the whimsical experimental quality of these stories. The first wasn't my favorite but the rest were spectacular. The descriptions of the music in the second one really spoke to me and made me feel as if I could hear the music being performed, including the mistakes! Manners of Dying is hypnotic in its repetition. Really makes me wonder how this was made into a feature film! Finally...more

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Aug 22, 2009 Marissa Pineda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

These short stories were written before the better known Life of Pi, but they show Martel's genius, his turn of mind. My favorite story in this book was written as different "drafts" of a letter from a prison guard to the mother of a man on death row. In each letter, the guard gives a description of the inmate's last hours. Each letter is a story in and of itself; though the names of the people in the letters are the same, the personality and behavior of the prisoner and those who interact with...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Ruby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The captivating feature of this book is that Martel's writing style is distinctive. While reading the story of his friend dying of AIDS, and how he and his family (including their beloved dog) coped was heart wrenching, it was a tasteful and loving tribute to his friend. I especially found another story, the one about his grandmother and her mirror making machine, to be intriguing as well. While a few of the stories fell flat for me, I found the writing style and voice of Martel to be a factor t...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Lianne added it · review of another edition

The title refers to one of the four novellas contained in this collection. Picked this up at a remainder table at Borders. The stories are all very inventive, as one would expect from the author of "The Life of Pi." However, beyond the title novella the rest are a bit uneven and not as polished as one might expect.All the stories treat the act of dying in various ways. The title story is about a young man dying of Aids. He and his friend get through the ravages of the illness by making up an epi...more

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Aug 05, 2010 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A stunning group of stories that continue to haunt me to this day. The first, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios was so incredibly poignant and moving, that I, usually not an emotional reader, cried while reading it, on an airplane no less. I will not tell you what the story was about, because the emotion was not about the result, but the process. Read it. In fact all the stories were very moving and definitely struck an emotional cord. The second story was about a concert performed by wa...more

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Mar 25, 2009 Ollie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a collection of four short stories (in large font, double-spaced, to make the book appear longer than it is) written by Martel before he became famous for his Booker-prize winning novel The Life of Pi. Four short stories that he got published and praised for when he was just starting out as a fiction writer - the kind of collection that fans of the writer might want to check out, but which isn't really an essential read for anyone else.

The first story, which takes the name of the collec...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Africableu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Martel has such honest, painful lyricism in his writing. My favorite of the stories in this collection was "Manners of Dying," in which the warden of a prison writes to the mother of an executed man, explaining to her the manner of her son's death. The different versions of one man's death was stunning and leads the reader to reflect on the "best" way to die. Each story has that raw sense of loss--the last line of "The Vita Æterna Mirror Company: Mirrors to Last till Kingdom Come" actually made...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Kurt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

These are four beautiful, moving, challenging stories. They each have creative setups (in one, a young man starts a project with a dying friend to tell stories within a structure, and Martel's story itself begins to fit itself into the structure - another is a series of letters from a warden to an executed man's mother, describing numerous ways a man faces his impending death, with no clear answer as to what actually happened), and at least one kept me awake at night, staring at the ceiling. I w...more

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About Yann Martel

Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.

Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963 of peripatetic Canadian parents. He grew up in Alaska, British Columbia, Costa Rica, France, Ontario and Mexico, and has continued travelling as an adult, spending time in Iran, Turkey and India. Martel refers to his travels as, “seeing the same play on a whole lot of

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“The most beautiful rooms I have entered have been empty ones. Warehouses full of light and dust. Empty attics with a view. Coastlines. Prairies.” — 4 people liked it

“I am magical: I can bleed for five days and not die.” — 4 people liked it

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