Here are four unforgettable stories by the author of Life of Pi. In the exquisite title novella, a very young man dying of AIDS joins his friend in...
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Aug 30, 2011
Jacob
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"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 More...
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 More...
Jan 29, 2012
Trish
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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
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Oct 10, 2007
Kathy
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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.
Th More...
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.
Th More...
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May 03, 2011
Anna
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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 craf More...
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 craf More...
Mar 09, 2011
Angela
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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 ver More...
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 ver More...
Mar 08, 2011
Matt
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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 Privat More...
The other two stories, "The Time I Heard The Privat More...
May 22, 2010
Seth
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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 depres
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Jan 07, 2011
Brida
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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
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Jan 16, 2012
LaToya
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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 level
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Jan 29, 2012
Roger
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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
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Jul 24, 2010
Anil
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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).
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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).
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May 28, 2010
The Awdude
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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
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Feb 05, 2012
Eric
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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 More...
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 More...
Feb 05, 2009
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
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Feb 10, 2010
Michelle
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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 un More...
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 un More...
Jan 02, 2010
Kent
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May 12, 2009
Mike
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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 sp More...
I once heard Martel sp More...
Feb 24, 2011
Katie
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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 More...
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 More...
Nov 30, 2009
Ruby
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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 an
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Feb 07, 2011
Paul
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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 t
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Feb 07, 2011
Greg
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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!
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Aug 22, 2009
Marissa
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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 in
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Sep 24, 2011
Ruby
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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 facto
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Apr 02, 2011
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
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Aug 05, 2010
Betsy
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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
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Mar 25, 2009
Ollie
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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 o More...
The first story, which takes the name o More...
Jul 26, 2011
Kurt
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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
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Feb 08, 2011
Emma
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This book is comprised of four short stories, each one amazingly different. After reading the introduction and learning that these stories are from the days when Yann Martel first fell in love with (and started) writing, immediately all expectations flew out the window. I noticed that the writing wasn't perfectly 'neat', as maybe something of a seasoned writer would be, but the stories were all excellent. In every story I found myself thinking 'What??' But everything came together quickly and ne
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Mar 28, 2011
Cruella
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May 22, 2010
Sam
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This is in an interesting collection of four short stories written by Yann during his earlier attempts at penmanship. The initial story that give the collection its name is moving, humorous, sad and brings home the reality of AIDS, not just on the sufferer and their family but also on their friends. The second story tells of a man who goes through the back streets of Washington and chances upon hearing a piece of music that stays with him but one that he can't portray or explain to his friends
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