
Beatrice and Virgil
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $13.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Bramhall
-
By:
-
Yann Martel
About this listen
Fate takes many forms.
When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist. As he is pulled further into the world of this strange and calculating man, Henry becomes increasingly involved with the lives of a donkey and a howler monkey named Beatrice and Virgil and the epic journey they undertake together.
With all the spirit and originality that made Life of Pi so beloved, this brilliant new novel takes the reader on a haunting odyssey. On the way, Martel asks profound questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity.
©2010 Yann Martel (P)2010 Random HouseListeners also enjoyed...
-
Life of Pi
- By: Yann Martel
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories and practices not only his native Hinduism but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is 16, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450 pound Bengal tiger.
-
-
Wonderful story and superb voice acting.
- By James Barmore on 12-11-18
By: Yann Martel
-
The Book Thief
- By: Markus Zusak
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books.
-
-
Glad I took a chance.
- By Robert on 08-20-11
By: Markus Zusak
-
The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Murder on the Links
- Agatha Christie's First Two Hercule Poirot Novels
- By: Agatha Christie
- Narrated by: Justin Longbourn
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Agatha Christie's first two Poirot novels, narrated with a general-American accent. The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Someone has poisoned wealthy Emily Inglethorp. But who? And how? Everyone suspects Emily's young husband, Alfred...and Alfred seems to be actually trying to get arrested and charged.... The Murder on the Links: Poirot comes to France in response to a desperate plea for help to find his client already murdered - stabbed in the back and lying in an open grave. Brusque, arrogant Inspector Giraud thinks he knows who did it.
-
-
Love Agatha Christie
- By Anonymous User on 03-29-25
By: Agatha Christie
-
The Colour of Magic
- Discworld, Book 1
- By: Terry Pratchett
- Narrated by: Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place that might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it’s carried though space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown). It plays by different rules. But then, some things are the same everywhere. The Disc’s very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the world’s first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land.
-
-
TERRIBLE Narration!
- By Kayla I on 07-08-22
By: Terry Pratchett
-
The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick – until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and poetry make it one of the great works of the 20th century.
-
-
The Very Good Gatsby
- By Ian C Robertson on 04-16-13
-
The People in the Trees
- By: Hanya Yanagihara
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, BD Wong
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1950, a young doctor called Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub "The Dreamers", who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle; unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States.
-
-
How to talk about this....
- By Ruthanne Johnston on 04-30-21
By: Hanya Yanagihara
-
Life of Pi
- By: Yann Martel
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories and practices not only his native Hinduism but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is 16, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450 pound Bengal tiger.
-
-
Wonderful story and superb voice acting.
- By James Barmore on 12-11-18
By: Yann Martel
-
The Book Thief
- By: Markus Zusak
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books.
-
-
Glad I took a chance.
- By Robert on 08-20-11
By: Markus Zusak
-
The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Murder on the Links
- Agatha Christie's First Two Hercule Poirot Novels
- By: Agatha Christie
- Narrated by: Justin Longbourn
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Agatha Christie's first two Poirot novels, narrated with a general-American accent. The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Someone has poisoned wealthy Emily Inglethorp. But who? And how? Everyone suspects Emily's young husband, Alfred...and Alfred seems to be actually trying to get arrested and charged.... The Murder on the Links: Poirot comes to France in response to a desperate plea for help to find his client already murdered - stabbed in the back and lying in an open grave. Brusque, arrogant Inspector Giraud thinks he knows who did it.
-
-
Love Agatha Christie
- By Anonymous User on 03-29-25
By: Agatha Christie
-
The Colour of Magic
- Discworld, Book 1
- By: Terry Pratchett
- Narrated by: Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place that might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it’s carried though space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown). It plays by different rules. But then, some things are the same everywhere. The Disc’s very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the world’s first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land.
-
-
TERRIBLE Narration!
- By Kayla I on 07-08-22
By: Terry Pratchett
-
The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick – until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and poetry make it one of the great works of the 20th century.
-
-
The Very Good Gatsby
- By Ian C Robertson on 04-16-13
-
The People in the Trees
- By: Hanya Yanagihara
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, BD Wong
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1950, a young doctor called Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub "The Dreamers", who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle; unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States.
-
-
How to talk about this....
- By Ruthanne Johnston on 04-30-21
By: Hanya Yanagihara
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Don't Quit Your Daytime Job, James
- By Keith on 11-20-15
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
One Hundred Years of Solitude
- By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
-
-
What in the heck happened?????
- By Melinda on 02-05-14
By: Gabriel García Márquez, and others
-
A Farewell to Arms
- By: Ernest Hemingway
- Narrated by: John Slattery
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse.
-
-
This is not unabridged
- By Valerian on 06-17-11
By: Ernest Hemingway
-
For Whom the Bell Tolls
- By: Ernest Hemingway
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1937, Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight", For Whom the Bell Tolls.
-
-
Don't "Clean Up" Hemingway
- By John W. Aldis, MD on 08-13-09
By: Ernest Hemingway
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
By: Connie Willis
-
The Sound and the Fury
- By: William Faulkner, Casey Cep
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner, Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
-
-
Hang in
- By W.Denis on 07-11-05
By: William Faulkner, and others
-
Cloud Atlas (20th Anniversary Edition)
- A Novel
- By: David Mitchell, Gabrielle Zevin
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Kim Mai Guest, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite.... Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter....
-
-
thoroughly enjoyed
- By Elizabeth on 01-05-08
By: David Mitchell, and others
-
H Is for Hawk
- By: Helen Macdonald
- Narrated by: Helen Macdonald
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Helen MacDonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer captivated by hawks since childhood, she'd never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators: the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral anger mirrored her own.
-
-
Mabel The Hawk--The Fire That Burned The Hurts Away
- By Sara on 04-09-15
By: Helen Macdonald
-
The Bone Clocks
- By: David Mitchell
- Narrated by: Jessica Ball, Leon Williams, Colin Mace, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following a scalding row with her mother, 15-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: A sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as "the radio people," Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life.
-
-
Not Short Listed, This Time
- By Mel on 09-23-14
By: David Mitchell
-
How to Stop Time
- By: Matt Haig
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history - performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life. So Tom moves back his to London, his old home, to become a high school history teacher - the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city's history first hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him.
-
-
Immortality is a bummer
- By Em on 02-09-18
By: Matt Haig
-
Hannibal Rising
- By: Thomas Harris
- Narrated by: Thomas Harris
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck. He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him. Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki. But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn. He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy.
-
-
Good book, good narration
- By User33 on 12-25-06
By: Thomas Harris
-
Cold Mountain
- By: Charles Frazier
- Narrated by: Charles Frazier
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain is a masterpiece that is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished American in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor.
-
-
Cold Mountain (Unabridged)
- By M. Dunn on 02-09-04
By: Charles Frazier
Critic reviews
"[A] fable-type story with iceberg-deep dimensions reaching far below the surface of its general premise." (Booklist)
Featured Article: 20+ Creative Quotes About Art to Leave You Inspired
Art is as much a part of human nature as breathing. Since the dawn of time, humans have taken to creating in various forms and schools, with all manner of reception. Whether beloved or highly critiqued, art is a fixture of culture and what it means to be alive. To inspire your creativity, we’ve compiled a list of the best quotes about art. From painting to dance, art has been enriching the world for centuries. Get inspired to share your passion with some amazing quotes.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would recommend this book to people who are interested in the study of human behavior. There are instances where the book is very dark and disturbing because the author goes to great lengths to describe torturous acts in finite detail. For that reason, I would caution readers who are looking for a light, "beach" book to stay away from this one.What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
The author did an excellent job of weaving all of the characters into one story with an ending that is very unexpected. There were subtle hints throughout the tale that were revealed as much more important details once the end comes into view. Although I would have added one other element to the summarizing chapter, the author chose an excellent ending!What does Mark Bramhall bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I really enjoy Mr. Bramhall's voice interpretations of the characters. With each different inflection, he captures an essence of a person in the form of the character so that the reader can visualize him/her. It was not difficult to determine in which voice Mr. Bramhall was speaking.If you could rename Beatrice and Virgil, what would you call it?
Wow. I wouldn't begin to think that my literary skills are near Yann Martel's. But to answer the question, I might venture to title the book "Measure of a Man" (not to be confused with Martin Luther King, Jr. or Sidney Poitier's work). It seems to me that the taxidermist was taking stock of his entire life and trying to put it into words. A comparison, if you will, so as to "measure" the things in his past to those of the prince in the story that was referenced early on; perhaps he was seeking his own redemption through the play.Any additional comments?
This story is excellent and I enjoyed 85 - 90% of the content. I really could have done without some of the more gruesome descriptions as I have a tender heart for people and animals. However, I also understand that none of us will never know the full extent of the atrocities that took place during the horrific historical event that is the back story for this literary work. In light of that, I am sure that what was described is a drop in the bucket to what actually happened.A Study in Human Psychology
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
memorable
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beatrice and Virgil is no Life of Pi
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is not an indictment of the violence and seeming nihilism; we need not demand happy endings. Life can suck. Very well. We are happy to engage any reaction to this, from stoic to the prophetic.
Rather, our dissatisfaction is that B&V never collects on its investment. It wanders hither and yon, leading to an abrupt ending, a suckerpunch lacking any revelation of import or meaning. Perhaps Martel meant to lead this work through such fragmentation and alienation as a matter of art, part of the Waiting for Godot riff on the apocalyptic. But on the whole the effect suffices neither art nor meaning. The vignettes are classic Martel, but they relate to no storytold whole. Instead of wabi sabi, the text is just shoddy. There is no pensivity, nor implication to connect, no zen transmission in this koan.
The cataclysmic in life, the daemonic dimension which stripes the land of the Shirt, indeed suffuses us with the bile of fey alienation. Martel is right to investigate this incommunicability of Hell's estate using kabuki gestures: the trembling moment of fierce and indifferent death, a list scratched in donkey fur. But we are disappointed that the vision of this text never dilates outward toward the greater view which Martel historically was so skilled at intimating. It left us to finish the work of the author in our imaginations, embarrassed by his gimmicky insult, rather than pondering and savouring implications.
Rather than whine through his protagonist that readers can't grok, Martel might profit/prophet better by condescending less.
A Faltering Effort
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you could sum up Beatrice and Virgil in three words, what would they be?
Glad I listened.Who was your favorite character and why?
VirgilWhich scene was your favorite?
I can't answer this.If you could take any character from Beatrice and Virgil out to dinner, who would it be and why?
The Taxidermist. Definetely. Maybe Henry, to another restaurant.Any additional comments?
Virgil and Beatrice helped me understand. I hope it made me better.Unusual
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you consider the audio edition of Beatrice and Virgil to be better than the print version?
Not sure as didn't read printed version.What was one of the most memorable moments of Beatrice and Virgil?
The interesting correlations of examples to events I wouldn't normally put together.What about Mark Bramhall’s performance did you like?
Great inflection, character voices, speedWas there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The last chapterAny additional comments?
Seemed to be very slow paced book at first. Caught my full attention in the end!Great story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Plodding Along . . .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Make an informed decision to read this
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
No, I would not. Ultimately, there are more questions than answers at the end. One never finds out WHY the taxidermist chooses Henry, or why the ending is as it is (not to spoil things). I never heard the name of WHAT city this takes place in (the reader's pronunciations suggest Canada), and for some reason that distracted me. I loved the characters of Beatrice and Virgil (who wouldn't?), ultimately, a very unsatisfying book.Disappointing plot
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Any additional comments?
I listened to the sample and then wanted to hear more. The story was interesting, I like the descriptions used in the book. Overall, the story was not what I expected and I was even a little disappointed in the end.Glad I "read" it, but wouldn't "read" it again.
Not what I expected
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.