Having read The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, I had to pick up his second offering, Beatrice and Virgil. I thought the cover of his second book was wonderfully reminiscent of this cover from his first one:
I don't know if it was the same designer, but whoever designed the second one definitely had the first one in mind. I think they would look wonderful next to each other on the shelf.
But onto judging a book by its content... What to say about Beatrice and Virgil? It was odd and surprising, and at times even shocking (especially the climax for me).
The plot device was a little trite. A writer who won awards and acclaim for his first novel has a hard time writing his second novel (hmm, feeling the pressure Yann?). And the entire premise was a bit circular--the writer writes about a writer who can't write and sets out to help an amateur writer with writer's block write his first play.
I don't think he's writing to entertain or to provide an escape for his audience, so I think he accomplished exactly what he set out to accomplish. As a philosopher, I think Martel wants his books to make his readers think, which this one certainly did. And I think he'd even be pleased to know that his latest fare made this reader a bit uncomfortable.
This book is not for the average reader. That doesn't mean I don't recommend it, I'm just not sure who I'd recommend it to.
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