Kate Says: "Reading Is Fun!"

I have read Yann Martel's, Life of Pi, and enjoyed it. I gave it a 3 star rating, so when I saw this at the free lending library in my neighborhood, I thought I would give it a try. However, I just didn't enjoy it as much. Let me explain.

The central character in this one is a novelist named Henry. Henry has written a very successful book that features animals as characters.

However, he did have a lot of trouble with the publishing process, due to the fact that he's not Jewish, and wrote about the Holocaust.  He just wanted to tell his story in an artistic way, and thus we go back to the beginning of the book, where we're introduced to Beatrice (a donkey) and Virgil (a howler monkey). They are the main characters in the play within the novel that Henry has written. 

So, basically what I'm trying to get at, is that the whole book is a story within a story, that talks about the Holocaust in an allegorical fashion, and uses animals as characters.

Unfortunately, this book was also written in the same style that Life of Pi was written in---animals, and intellectual essays---that take the reader on a journey, in order to discover where it's all leading, and then at the end, you get hit over the head with an emotional sledge-hammer.

I guess, I was just hoping for something different from Yann Martel in this one, and was disappointed that it was the same formula, again.

However, if you enjoy the emotional sledge-hammer and enjoyed Life of Pi, I would highly recommend this one for you. It just wasn't for me.