The Blurb:

“Fate takes many forms …When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist. As he is pulling into the world of this strange and calculating man, Henry becomes increasingly involved with the lives of a donkey and a howler monkey – named Beatrice and Virgil – and the epic journey they undertake together. With all the spirit and orginality that made Life of Pi so treasured, this brilliant new novel takes the reader on a haunting odyssey. On the way, Martel asks profound questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity.”

(source: Amazon)

What I thought:

I barely know where to start with this book. I actually finished it over a week ago but wanted to wait a while to collect my thoughts about it and see if they are any clearer after some consideration. They aren’t: I am just as confused.

I was so desperate to get my mitts on this book: Life of Pi is one of my all-time favourites and I have developed a huge crush on tigers since reading the book. When I saw the cover and the blurb for Beatrice and Virgil I was practically cartwheeling round the room in anticipation of my my brand new crush on donkeys and howler monkeys. It’s by Yann Martel. It’s got animals in it. What’s not to love?

I will attempt to describe the plot now: There is an author called Henry who has had two really successful books out and he has just written a third which gets panned by his publishers. In the first 20 pages of this book I learned more about flip books than I ever realised I cared (and am assured that I still don’t). Henry throws his toys out of the pram and moves to another (unamed) city to live off his previous royalties and do things like join an orchestra and a drama group without writing another thing. One day he ets a strange letter from a man also called Henry. The letter contains a chapter of a play that Henry #2 has written and asks Henry #1 for help. Coincidentally, Henry #2 lives in the same city where Henry #1 has just moved to so Henry #1 decides to pay him a visit and finds that Henry #2 lives and works as a taxidermist. The rest of the book flits between the play that Henry #2 has written which is about a donkey called Beatrice and a howler monkey called Virgil who live on a striped shirt, and the two Henry’s meeting to discuss the play.

I have to be honest that if a) I hadn’t loved Life of Pi so much and b) been kindly sent my copy by the publisher for review I’m not sure that I would have wanted to carry on reading after the first 50 pages. I say wouldn’t have wanted to, but even so I probably would have as I felt strangely compelled to keep reading. The play with the animals was a very obvious metaphor for the holocaust and there were times when I felt like I was being beaten over the head with them. The ending too: I can’t decide whether I was being blatantly manipulated or whether Martel has just done a really good job of making me feel what the holocaust was ultimately all about – I was heartbroken at the end, both with the ending of the play and with the Games for Gustav which was a series of “Sophie’s choice”-like questions about what would you do in this situation?

I think that this is possibly the first time I have been so unsure how to score a book. It certainly wasn’t a book I necessarily enjoyed but was it a good book? I really don’t know whether it’s complete trash or absolute genius. Having said that, I do still keep thinking about it.

Have you read it? What did you think? I’d love to hear what others thoughts are on this book – it would certainly make a great discussion.

Farm Lane Books  had this to say: Overall I found that the whole book made my blood boil with rage.

(my copy of this book was sent to me for review from Canongate – thank you).