Books
by Yann Martel
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Beatrice and Virgil |
Does Yann Martel succeed in his objective of presenting the Holocaust in a new and meaningful way? His allegory, presented within the novel as a play written by a taxidermist in which the leading characters are a donkey and a howler monkey, is clever and memorable. The skilfully constructed autobiographical story explains the eight year gap since Life of Pi (bwl 17). But a success? I'm not sure, but jolly glad I read it!
(Denise Lewis - bwl 57 Summer 2010) |
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Life of Pi |
The choice of Booker prize-winners inevitably seems to surprise and often annoy and this one was no exception. Its theme of ship-wrecked Indian boy on a lifeboat with a zebra, an orang-utan and a tiger sounds whimsically Disneyish. Don't be put off, the animals are red in tooth and claw and the tale is far from whimsy. Whether it will make you believe in God as one character suggests, I leave you to discover.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 17 February 2003) |
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