ellenreading_theend 's review for:

The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel

3.0

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This book confounded me. I am a huge fan of Life of Pi, so I picked this one up, and was mildly enjoying the tale of a man who has lost his wife, son and father trying to deal with his grief. He drives to the high mountains of Portugal, inspired by the diary of a priest. Shortly after his arrival, we start a new story, set decades later, about a coroner working in the same area who is visited by his wife. She spends pages describing how the novels of Agatha Christie are related to the murder of Jesus Christ. Then he's visited by a woman who has conveniently brought the the body of her dead husband to his office in a suitcase to be examined. Then things get really weird. I was trudging through this part and really wanted to give up, but then the third story started. It is the story of a man who has also lost his wife and visits a chimp sanctuary on a business trip and leaves having adopted one of the animals. He then moves to the high mountains of Portugal. I don't know what it was, but I loved this story. Thus, hard to say if I recommend it or not. I think it is supposed to be a meditation on grief, but perhaps some of it went over my head.

Read my full review: http://theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/15201950-123/high-mountains-waits-until-last-of-3-stories-to-hit-high-point