I read Life of Pi. Twice. Nearly hated it the first time, and read it again for a book club and liked it. When I saw Beatrice and Virgil on the shelf at Tattered Cover, I was excited...if only because it's been so long since Martel published a novel. It wasn't until page 82 that it dawned on me to make any sort of comparison between the two. When that idea first struck me, I was pissed. Frustrated that he would employ the same tricks, and angered that I might fall for them again.
Needless to say, I didn't love this book. Gladly, it was a short read and held some interest in that a plethora of literary references are made within the 224 pages. Orwell, Camus, Diderot and Flaubert all make appearances-and then the obvious allusion to Dante in the title characters.
Henry is a novelist, a rather famous novelist who uses a pen name. He receives a manuscript of a play from a fan, looking for ambiguous help, and Henry tracks him down. The guy is a taxidermist, and Beatrice and Virgil are not only the main characters in his play, but also stuffed animals he keeps in his shop.
Martel repeats himself in getting to his point, and uses a combination of the play and Henry's trepidation to come to a conclusion as to what this guy wants...even though it is clear to both Henry and the reader where this story is going and what has inspired it.
The most disturbing thing, for me, is that I tortured myself by reading the appendix (of sorts) called Games for Gustav. Some 18 random hypothetical situations, each more terrifying and gut-wrenching than the last. Sadly, I then read a few aloud to friends simply to relieve myself of some of the horror.
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