Beatrice and Virgil

By: Yann Martel
Genre: Fiction
Stars: 4 out of 5
A writer spends five years writing what he considers his greatest masterpiece. But after it is rejected from his editor, in defeat he moves with his wife to start a new life. In his pursuit of something different, Henry receives a strange fan mail. It’s a scene from a play by an old author as well as a scene from the fan’s own play. In curiosity, Henry goes to pay the fan a visit. He finds out the fan is actually an old taxidermist and has been writing this play about a monkey and a donkey for years. Henry then becomes involved in editing and listening to this odd man’s play and finds out the play may be more than he expected.
This book was interesting to me. I have not read Yann Martel’s bestselling novel “Life of Pi” so I did not know how his writing style was. But I do like his writing style. It is different from mainstream fiction writers and so it was entertaining to read and see what happens next with this man’s play. However, it was a little slow going at first, but overall a great and different read.