Winner of the
Man Booker Prize
Fate takes
many forms...
Listen to what the reviews are saying…
June 13, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Beatrice and Virgil combines the horrific with the comic, the playful with the serious, and allegory with realism to produce a novel which succeeds where Henry himself failed in his own book; to merge fact and fiction in search of a greater truth. Read the full review.
June 12, 2010 at 3:26 pm
It takes the Holocaust as its subject matter but in an original and provocative way, challenging the reader to examine his or her feelings towards representations of the Holocaust in fiction . . . I was hugely impressed by Beatrice and Virgil, by the brave stance that Martel takes and by his ability to move [...]
June 11, 2010 at 3:25 pm
As an elliptical fable, [Beatrice and Virgil] is a model of clarity and dread. Read the full review.
June 10, 2010 at 3:23 pm
A slim but potent exploration of the nature of survival in the face of evil. Read the full review.
June 9, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Audaciously original, never less than engrossing, often disturbing, and in its denouement truly horrifying. Read the full feature.
June 8, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Somewhere between Beckett and Ionesco…with its textures of genre and allegory, there also comes an explosion of ideas that keep the pages turning…a wild, provocative novel. Read the full review.
April 6, 2010 at 9:00 am
If “Beatrice and Virgil” were a piece of music, it would be an extended fugue, beginning so quietly as to be almost inaudible, and culminating in a moment of overwhelming noise followed by silence. With each new piece of his story, Yann Martel examines the form of the novel and how it functions as a [...]
February 27, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Those spell-bound by Man Booker prize-winning Life of Pi will find much to love in Yann Martel’s new work of fiction… In Beatrice and Virgil, Martel again evokes the power of allegory, this time to address the legacy of the Holocaust—as well as the pleasure of fairy tales. At the heart of this novel are [...]
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Illustrations: Andy Bridge | Site: IfLooksCouldKill