• Beatrice and Virgil

  • A Novel
  • By: Yann Martel
  • Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
  • Length: 6 hrs
  • 3.3 out of 5 stars (287 ratings)

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Beatrice and Virgil  By  cover art

Beatrice and Virgil

By: Yann Martel
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
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Publisher's summary

Fate takes many forms.

When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist. As he is pulled further 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 originality that made Life of Pi so beloved, 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.

©2010 Yann Martel (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"[A] fable-type story with iceberg-deep dimensions reaching far below the surface of its general premise." (Booklist)

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What listeners say about Beatrice and Virgil

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent writing . Maybe too good.

The excesses of war using animals as their spokesman. Or is it the other way around?

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

IF YOU LOVE PI - DON'T LISTEN

I had high expectations for this book. I am a big fan of Life of Pi. This book is a HUGE disappointment! It is a dark, depressing, sick book with no redeeming qualities. I kept listening, hoping it would get better. It never did.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome Book

Yann Martel has gotten something here. I had heard all the hype and read all of the reviews for his earlier book, "Life of Pi" ands decided to give a listen to a book a listen less known.

I was plesantly surprised by this book. His use of Animals as people brings a whole new feel to the story. The animal may say something politically incorrect but the listener does not come to a quick judgement because after all its just an animal.

He integrets the humans into the story by expertly letting the animals tell the story. The conclussion of the story is nothing you may think, it took me by surprise.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read, that is nothing like anything you have ever read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Unbearably Boring....

I had to bail on this book. Couldn't stand the boredom........the writer goes on and on and on.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Even Better Than Life of Pi

I loved Life of Pi. I'm sure you did too, and that that's why you're thinking about getting Beatrice and Virgil. I thought this book was even better. If you're reading these reviews, then you know by now that the ending of this book is shocking and sad, and that such endings are not for everybody. Perhaps I, having read those other reviews in advance, was inoculated from the shock of that ending, even as I spent the entire book in suspense, knowing that something awful was going to happen before it was over. Perhaps as a result of this forewarning (or perhaps not), I found the ending as brilliant and satisfying as it was disturbing and horrifying.

Prior to that ending, as even the harshest critics of the book here seem to agree, Yann Martel writes throughout with the same beautiful, flowing prose that made Life of Pi such an achievement. It is the audio-equivalent of a page-turner, every bit as much as that earlier book was.

Finally, I also want to praise the pitch-perfect performance delivered by Mark Bramhall. I normally feel that the best that a narrator of an audiobook can aspire to accomplish is simply to stay out of the author's way. But Bramhall narrates with such perfect emotional resonance, endowing each character with so much life and personality, that I believe that anyone who reads only the text version of this book will have missed out on the full experience of it.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Awful

This is an awful novel! If it wasn't for the brilliant narration of Mark Bramhall I would have stopped listening to the book after the first hour!!! I waited, and waited, for an exciting middle to ending but was highly disappointed in both!

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