The high mountains of Portugal

I didn't realise when I started reading The High Mountains Of Portugal that the book isn't a novel. Instead it is three cleverly linked longish short stories that take place at different times over a period of about eighty years. To be honest, I wasn't at all enamoured of the first story! I struggled to get into the bizarre tale and I had limited sympathy for its beleaguered protagonist. Supposedly griefstruck by the deaths of his serving maid lover and their child, I irritatedly thought that perhaps he should have made the effort for them all to be a family while he had the chance rather than clinging to his family's privilege while he could and then making futile gestures too late to matter. Harsh?

The book and I clicked towards the very end of the first story and I thoroughly enjoyed Martel's wild imaginings and the totally unexpected directions his further two narratives take. This would be a good book for fans of oddness and magical realism. I am sure I didn't identify or correctly interpret half the symbolism, but I understood enough to appreciate the layering of these stories. At one level they could be simply mad fairytales. Step back and glance from a different angle though and Martel's ideas are practically leaping over each other in their rush for attention. At times it's almost overwhelming!

In three slightly interconnected novellas set in Portugal during the 20th century, a man drives a car for the first time and also walks backwards looking for a relic (1904), a pathologist performs an unconventional autopsy on a man whose wife carried him in a suitcase to the hospital (1938), and a politician gives up his uneventful life in order to move to another country with an ape (1981).

This book is a bit difficult to talk about because of the differences in each story. While it doesn't mess with your head as well as Paul Auster's New York Trilogy does, it's still a little on the weird side. The most important thing to say about it, and probably its strongest recommendation, is Martel's wonderful narrative. He writes beautifully--and English isn't even his first language. His narrative is so engaging that it's probably worth the read for that alone.

All of the stories deal with grief in one way or another. I found each time the subject was dealt with tenderly and compassionately. I haven't lost anyone close to me like the characters in the story have, so I can't speak from personal experience, but they do strike me as being soothing.

The first story is the one I enjoyed the most because of the experiences of the new driver, the anger he felt because of his loss, and the travelling he does on his quest. The bits about the automobile are relevant for us, not only regarding the problems cars cause in our society now, but also how different people approach new technology.

The second story is the one I liked the least. Hidden within it is an essay on Agatha Christie. I may have found it more interesting if I had ever read one of her novels or been a fan of hers, but I felt it distracted from the overall story and only served to lengthen it. I also had a similar problem with the last story, as it just feels too long for what it is. It makes a very good impact when the end finally comes, but I felt it was a long time coming.

It's an okay book, but not as meaningful as Life of Pi. I don't think anyone will be too disappointed with it. Just don't expect greatness and you'll be fine.