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trappednerve 's review for:
The High Mountains of Portugal
by Yann Martel
This surrealist journey through Portugal, parts of Angola, and tbe United States invites the reader along fot a mind-bending look into faith and reality. Written as 3 novellas, or a three part novel, we follow each character through some stage of grief.
1. Tomás, who works for some kind of library/archive in 1904 Lisbon. He has recently witnessed the deaths of his wife, his son, and his father. Struck with grief, he has taken to walking backwards and decides to pour all his effort into finding an artifact mentioned in the long-forgotten journals of a long forgotten priest in 1630s Angola. His journey- riddled with problems and delays - takes him to the High Mountains of Portugal.
2. Eusebio Lozora, a pathologist in Bragança, listens to his wife weave connections between Agatha Christie and religion. When she leaves, a widow comes to his office with her husband’s body tucked into a suitcase. She asks to watch the autopsy, to “see how he lived.” And so we see just that.
3. Senator Tovy, missing his late wife, Clara, adopts a chimpanzee in the heat of the moment. He lives to Portugal, where the chimp becomes his greatest companion.
The three stories had a way of connecting, weaving themselves into each other, so what looked like a mess of lines actually made something beautiful. And that’s not even getting into the metaphors. I recommend this book for anyone who likes to be challenged, who likes to be left with more questions. For anyone who likes a good chuckle while the world around a character is falling apart.
1. Tomás, who works for some kind of library/archive in 1904 Lisbon. He has recently witnessed the deaths of his wife, his son, and his father. Struck with grief, he has taken to walking backwards and decides to pour all his effort into finding an artifact mentioned in the long-forgotten journals of a long forgotten priest in 1630s Angola. His journey- riddled with problems and delays - takes him to the High Mountains of Portugal.
2. Eusebio Lozora, a pathologist in Bragança, listens to his wife weave connections between Agatha Christie and religion. When she leaves, a widow comes to his office with her husband’s body tucked into a suitcase. She asks to watch the autopsy, to “see how he lived.” And so we see just that.
3. Senator Tovy, missing his late wife, Clara, adopts a chimpanzee in the heat of the moment. He lives to Portugal, where the chimp becomes his greatest companion.
The three stories had a way of connecting, weaving themselves into each other, so what looked like a mess of lines actually made something beautiful. And that’s not even getting into the metaphors. I recommend this book for anyone who likes to be challenged, who likes to be left with more questions. For anyone who likes a good chuckle while the world around a character is falling apart.