There are animals in this story, as there were in Life of Pi. But it’s a very different story this time. In Life of Pi, you looked out at the animals and perhaps you forgot about yourself. In Beatrice and Virgil, I hope it’s the opposite: I hope your encounter with a donkey and a monkey named Beatrice and Virgil, besides other animals, will bring you closer to your humanity.
Yours truly,
Yann Martel
Earlier Comments 
Carolin McDonnell said: March 7 2012 at 21:09
I just finished reading Beatrice and Virgil for the second time. I feel like I have read a whole new book - the second reading, over a year later, shed light on so many aspects that had been murky in my first reading. But perhaps it is that my world has opened further to allow me to understand and appreciate certain aspects, for example 68 Nowolipki Street, where they found the milk containers of evidence from the Warsaw Ghetto. I was recently given copies of documentation written by a friend's aunt when she was in the ghetto, that were blessedly preserved in the humble tins. Thankfully Yad Vashem has the contents - they are safe for future generations. Yann has written beautifully and deeply about the unimaginable - and the untouchable. Like Henry, I don't see the Holocaust in everything - but I do see everything in the Holocaust - especially our innate human weakness - we must be ever vigilant or we will stumble again...
Sameer Kochure said: February 12 2012 at 08:08
Such a beautiful piece of art, this one. The Donkey and the Monkey had my heart right at the Pear scene and never let go. They took me to the deepest places, where neither Sun nor Faith reaches. And they showed me what friendship means. As happy as they made me, I would have been happier if they didn't exist. Because that would mean that neither did the horrors.
Rachel Grey said: February 5 2012 at 21:09
I have just closed this book after finishing stand as someone earlier states, I already miss Beatrice and Virgil. I am a history teacher and in my job it is very easy to become almost desensitised to 'the horrors'. This book has reawakened me to those horrors and refreshed my own desire to teach the Holocaust in a much more personal way and to ensure children understand that there continues to be horrors in our own time. I loved Life of Pi, so much so we used it as a table name for our wedding (theme was our favourite books) but I think this one has surpassed it. Thankyou for a devastating yet beautiful read.
Xelca Grace said: January 20 2012 at 09:09
I have just finished reading the book. At first I couldn't understand what the theme was about, but when I got near to the end, to Henry's realization as to what kind of man the taxidermist was, it all dawned on me. I was especially baffled by the story of Julian the Hospitator and the play on about Beatrice and Virgil but slowly I am able to piece them all together now. Though I was rather surprised at how different it was from the Life of Pi, I enjoyed reading the book tremendously, trying to understand what the author was trying to say. It was a good read, and made me think a lot about how they relate to the real life.
Jo Harding said: November 3 2011 at 18:06
This novel is exquisite. I have just finished reading it and have tears streaming down my face. Like Henry, I already miss and long for Beatrice and Virgil. I am in turn angry, humbled, despairing; the Holocaust is, as you have said, unmentionable, yet people and animals continue to be tortured and killed daily in ways that are as cruel and casual as those portrayed in Beatrice and Virgil. That you have conveyed such varied experiences and perceptions so keenly in such a short book is nothing short of genius. The conversation about the pear must be one of the most delicious dialogues that I have read in a very long time. I like to think of them that way, donkey and monkey. You have created a beautiful and devastating work of art. Thank you.