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Beatrice & Virgil
Beatrice & Virgil | Yann Martel
10 posts | 25 read | 1 reading | 8 to read
Henrys second novel, written, like his first, under a pen name, had done well. Yann Martels astonishing new novel begins with a successful writer attempting to publish his latest book, made up of a novel and an essay. Henry plans for it to be a flip book that the reader can start at either end, reading the novel or the essay first, because both pieces are equally concerned with representations of the Holocaust. His aim is to give the most horrifying of tragedies a new choice of stories, in order that it be remembered anew and in more than one way. But no one is sympathetic to his provocative idea. What is your book about? his editor repeatedly asks. Should it be placed in the fiction section of a bookstore or with the non-fiction books? a bookseller asks. And where will the barcode go? To them, Henrys book is an unpublishable disaster. Faced with severe and categorical rejection, Henry gives up hope. He abandons writing, moves with his wife to a foreign city, joins a community theatre, becomes a waiter in a chocolatera. But then he receives a package containing a scene from a play, photocopies from a short story by Flaubert about a man who hunts animals down relentlessly and a short note: I need your help. Intrigued, Henry tracks down his correspondent, and finds himself in a strange part of the city, walking past a stuffed okapi into a taxidermists workshop. The taxidermist also named Henry says he has been working on his play, A 20th-Century Shirt, for most of his life, but now he needs Henrys help to describe his characters: the plays protagonists are a stuffed donkey and a howler monkey named Beatrice and Virgil, respectively, and Henrys successful book was in part about animals. He wants help to finish his play and, we may suspect, free himself from it. And though his new acquaintance is austere, abrupt and almost unearthly, Henry the writer is drawn more and more deeply into Henry the taxidermists uncompromising world. The same goes for the reader. The more we read of the play within the novel, the more we find out about the lives of Beatrice and Virgil in a series of initially funny, and then increasingly harrowing dialogues the more troubling their story becomes. As we are drawn deeper into their disturbing moral fable, the relationship between the two faltering writers named Henry becomes more and more complex until it can only be resolved in an explosive, unexpected catastrophe. Though Beatrice & Virgil is initially as wry and engaging as anything Yann Martel has written, this book gradually grows into something more, a shattering and ultimately transfixing work that asks searching questions about the nature of our understanding of history, the meaning of suffering and the value of art. Together it is a pioneeringly original and profoundly moving accomplishment, one that meets Kafkas description of what a book should be: the axe for the frozen sea within us. From the Hardcover edition.
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review
zurazureen
Pickpick

Questions of life from two unusual friends' point of view. A bit drag

2 likes1 stack add
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CrisRon
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Panpan

A very unsatisfactory read. There was an unexpected plot twist towards the end, which seemed whimsical rather than logical.

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rockabillybibliophile
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"you are who you are, and then people project onto you some notion they have"

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Echo
Pickpick

This only kind of went where I thought it was going. This is a short book, which is both a lighter read (no heavy plot points) and a heavy read (subject matter that makes you think).
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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goodbyefrancie
Beatrice & Virgil | Yann Martel
Panpan

I didn't care for this one at all. I thought it would be quirky enough to hold my interest, but just not for me. Lost me early on, and downhill from there.

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Smatt852
Beatrice & Virgil | Yann Martel
Pickpick

Loved the plot twist. Did not see it coming.

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Nebklvr
Beatrice & Virgil | Yann Martel
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Bailedbailed

1/2 way--see no plot, just lots of meandering and taxidermy

MrBook Seems like it would be. 8y
OneLitChick I totally could not get into this book either! I loved the movie though... 8y
Nebklvr @OneLitChick I was not aware of the movie. May check it out 8y
Nebklvr @MrBook I usually like quirky, but just couldn't get into it 8y
26 likes4 comments
blurb
Moray_Reads
Beatrice & Virgil | Yann Martel
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For me the premise of the story held very little value and was horribly self-indulgent, which is ironic considering the conversations the protagonist had with his publisher at the beginning...

#threwitacrosstheroom #photoadaynov16 #day5

Libby1 I loved this! Ha ha. 😄 8y
Moray_Reads @Libby1 Oh well, at least we agree on Miss Smilla! 😆 8y
9 likes2 comments
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Babs_book_obsession
Beatrice & Virgil | Yann Martel
Mehso-so

Honestly I didn't think I was going to get through the first half but it came together for me in the second half. I am a bit stunned. I can't stop thinking about the Horrors. Is it good? Probably not worth it if you decide in the first hundred pages? Very strange.

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TheEscapist
Beatrice & Virgil | Yann Martel
This post contains spoilers
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Panpan

I enjoyed Life of Pi. Last week I learned the word "hate-read," and it perfectly describes how I felt in 2012 when I read this. Martel is careless with the suffering he describes: it is cruel, yet pointless. This novel also features the most vapid twist ending.

rachelm I hated hated hated this book 8y
1 like1 stack add1 comment