Beatrice and Virgil

Yann Martel is an exceptional author & this work does not let his readers down.

While Henry, it's main character decries the lack of fiction works about the Holocaust, this is a fiction about the holocaust.

Unlike Martel's earlier works, this story has a significantly disquieting effect. Which is exactly as it ought to be. No book about the Holocaust, fiction or non-fiction ought to leave its reader untouched.

The taxidermist is a strange & discomforting character & the more time Henry spends with him or reading from his play the more uncomfortable we become, while we are drawn into the characters of Beatrice & Virgil.

It is an awkward feeling to so admire the play written by a character so disturbing in every other way.

My favourite scene is one from the play in which Virgil describes to Beatrice a pear - it's form, scent, texture. This description is unparalleled in any other work I've read. It sounds odd, perhaps dull at best, but trust me, not for a moment. Divine.

Unsettling, occasionally horrific, this story will be appreciated by people who enjoy literary fiction & who are looking for something special.

It is an excellent story, wonderfully narrated.

Should have stopped listening when I got tired first, but I carried on, through the end. What a waste of time! The author came down the totem pole, his work in Life of Pi and this is not is the same level of comparison. Do not read it.