ang lee

How ‘Life of Pi’ Was Really Written: Paying Homage to Moacyr Scliar

Mary Jo McConahay

Martel ambiguously thanks Scliar in an author’s note for “the spark of life.” In an Internet essay, he said he got the idea for Pi from an “indifferent” review of Max and the Cats by John Updike in the New York Times. Updike never wrote a review of Max and the Cats, anywhere. Also, it is difficult to believe a reader could be “indifferent” to Max, whose multilayered story evokes a mix of emotions, where Pi might be characterized as a good one-note read.

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