A review by taniabotes
The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel

4.0

Loneliness comes up to him like a sniffing dog. It circles him insistently. He waves it away, but it refuses to leave him alone.

The High Mountains of Portugal is not really a novel, but rather three interconnected stories. The theme in all three the stories are loss, the grieving process and loneliness. I thought the first story was okay, sometimes absurd and funny and sometimes sad, but it never truly grabbed hold of my heart. I really liked the magical realism in the second story, as well as the interesting and quirky ideas shared by Maria. But the magic in this book lies in the third story - the writing, the characters, their relationship. I absolutely loved everything about it, and wished it was much longer.
Yann Martel is an amazing author, as he writes each story in a different style and it ends up feeling like you've read three different genre's in one book, but all of them written beautifully.
I wasn't sure if this should be 3.5 or 4 stars, but because I so adored the last story I've pushed up my rating. If you enjoy surrealism then this is for you.