Fiction Pick of the Week: Beatrice and Virgil

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel 2010

Critically acclaimed Beatrice and Virgil is not at all like Yann Martel’s earlier work, The Life of Pi; there is scarcely a mention of a tiger or a boat. However, there is Beatrice, a howler monkey and Virgil the donkey. They live on a striped shirt. When you read this quite brilliant novel, you will understand how those three things: a donkey, a monkey and a shirt are created to explain some very blunt truths of the world. This animal enigma wrapped in a story is a highly crafted, original and very provocative piece of work. It takes Henry, a patient and helpful man who we meet at the beginning of the story, to slowly piece it all together for us when he receives in the mail a rather thick envelope.