I had the opportunity to read the latest offering by Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi. His latest book, entitled Beatrice and Virgil, involves a popular author, whose name is Henry. To start this short novel, Henry had spent five years working on his latest book. It was a different perspective on The Holocaust: Holocaust fiction. He realized so much factual and historical non-fiction was written about The Holocaust, and he wanted to write a fictional take on it. After submitting the initial offering to his publishers, he was flown to London. He thought his latest efforts would be praised. They weren't.
He was flown to London to meet a firing squad. Henry is told that his latest book would be a "flip-flop"; it lacked focus and drive, and would have a hard time selling. Henry is devastated and moves away with his wife Sarah. He continued to receive letters from people all over the world, praising his first book, asking questions, and telling him what certain parts of his book meant to them and how it helped them through rough times. It kept him going. He then received part of a play in the mail…the play is entitled Beatrice and Virgil. The writer wanted help from Henry regarding how to make his play work. The play is about a howler monkey and a donkey…and they are just talking. The play was written by none other than a very serious-minded and elderly taxidermist.
The book proceeds along a projected path. Throughout the book, I thought that the big payoff would be Henry finding inspiration to rewrite his Holocaust novel for his publishers. It didn't quite turn out to be that way, but if you want to know the dénouement of this book, you'll have to read it for yourself. I finished reading this novel, sleepily reading through pages on a Saturday morning, content that the story would end along the path I projected it would. But it didn't…when Henry has his moment of realization, I was wide awake, and eagerly finished reading. Pick it up…you won't be disappointed.
~Jason A. Wright~
