catdad77a45 's review for:

The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel

3.0

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I debated between a 3 and a 4 (it's really a 3.5 in my book), but opted for a 3. I almost bailed after part one, which is literally 130 pages about a temperamental car ... I found it boring and slow moving (much like the car itself!). I plugged on and part two did improve significantly, with a long, engaging 'sermon' (delivered by a character who turns out to be deceased), comparing the Gospels with Agatha Christie mysteries - and then a longer section giving somewhat gruesome details of an autopsy, in which the deceased turns out to be filled with both vomit and the bodies of a chimpanzee and a bear cub (WTF???!!!) Not sure, even now, what to make of that, or what it 'means' - or the extinct rhinoceros that seems to have some mystic significance that also escapes me. The third part, I DID find more palatable, and even delightful, in parts, and the three sections (more or less) come together in some surprising (and some NOT so surprising) ways. Martel's prose is fine, and even exciting sometimes, although what's with all the snake metaphors? Despite several attempts, I never made it through more than 10 pages of 'Pi', so I should have known this wouldn't be to my taste, and doubt I will read that or any other Martel in future - but this was a good one off taste of his talent.