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A review by rita_pereira
The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel
2.0
Extremely disappointing. In this book Martel's writing was terrible, a mix of the following: touristic-like references (yes, you know what "saudade" is in Portuguese, who doesn't?), boring descriptive actions (name of a street after name of a coffee place after name of a town), repetitions ad nauseam and ugly, uncalled for metaphors (one of my favourite examples being: "his beloved Lisbon gone too, scraped away like the leftovers of a meal off the plate").
Having read a long time ago The life of Pi and being Portuguese, I was very excited about this book, which I saw praised everywhere. The quality of the writing made it almost impossible to read the first story completely, the worst of the three. The second one I read more easily, due to the fact that is mostly a reflection/re-tale of Christianity with a touch of the fantastic. The third story had a good beginning that quickly vanished as the tiresome writing went on. Maybe if the three stories were made to be actual short stories they would benefit from it. Maybe Martel's just not a talented writer.
The way he tries to tackle grief felt unsincere and cliché. Every time he tried to speak about Portuguese culture and life through the alleged Portuguese characters and depictions it was as if we were before a bad comedian or an over-excited tourist. The only place where the Portuguese references felt authentic was in the third tale, coincidently the one that adopts the point of view of a foreigner, with little to no connection to Portugal, who moves in a small village in the north. Not even the connections between the three tales, made to be discovered as a precious link by the reader, could save this unsavory book.
I would not recommend it.
Having read a long time ago The life of Pi and being Portuguese, I was very excited about this book, which I saw praised everywhere. The quality of the writing made it almost impossible to read the first story completely, the worst of the three. The second one I read more easily, due to the fact that is mostly a reflection/re-tale of Christianity with a touch of the fantastic. The third story had a good beginning that quickly vanished as the tiresome writing went on. Maybe if the three stories were made to be actual short stories they would benefit from it. Maybe Martel's just not a talented writer.
The way he tries to tackle grief felt unsincere and cliché. Every time he tried to speak about Portuguese culture and life through the alleged Portuguese characters and depictions it was as if we were before a bad comedian or an over-excited tourist. The only place where the Portuguese references felt authentic was in the third tale, coincidently the one that adopts the point of view of a foreigner, with little to no connection to Portugal, who moves in a small village in the north. Not even the connections between the three tales, made to be discovered as a precious link by the reader, could save this unsavory book.
I would not recommend it.