Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi delivered an absorbing narrative of man among animals, followed by a lengthy modernistic coda that explored broad concepts; the upshot was a surprise literary hit amplified by a Booker Prize. Martel’s apparently arduous follow-up, Beatrice and Virgil, again uses humanized animals but in the service of a much deeper theme, that of the Holocaust. The plot concerns a writer (containing too many shades of Martel himself to be a coincidence) and a mysterious taxidermist writing a play starring howler monkey Virgil and donkey Beatrice, but the author signals early that this is a post-modern novel of ideas, such as how to represent genocide in the modern era. A conventional narrative mixes with play fragments, a picture or two, and macabre game cards. The novel is a brave foray into experimental writing but it certainly does not work as a character-infused story, and the violent excursions into Holocaust territory have only muted emotional impact.
Overall, there is much to admire about Beatrice and Virgil but it fails to engage as either story or intellectual journey. 2 stars.