Inspired Read: The High Mountains of Portugal

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

Fifteen years after Life of Pi, Yann Martel finally returns with his new work of fiction The High Mountains of Portugal. Told in three separate sections at different points throughout the twentieth century, the novel takes the reader on a journey through great love and even greater loss.

The first part “Homeless” is set in 1904 and follows Tomas as he searches for an extraordinary artifact in one of Europe’s earliest automobiles. The second entitled “Homeward” takes place thirty five years later, as a pathologist who loves Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries tries to solve a mystery of his own. And finally, in the third instalment “Home,” a Canadian Senator takes refuge in his ancestral town in Portugal, where all three novellas finally weave together before concluding.

Filled with tenderness, humour, and endless surprise, it takes the reader on a road trip through Portugal in the last century—and through the human soul. – GoodReads.com

I have to be honest when I say that this book took a little while for me to get into and truthfully, I still don’t know how I ultimately feel about it. The first story was a bit longwinded in all its explanations of car parts and seeing the main character struggle so much was a little painful to read. But when I started the second section, and could glimpse at how the stories were inevitably intersecting, I started to enjoy it much more. And the third novella was by far my favourite! The characters, the relationships, the story…all were so well developed that I wished it had been longer.

I find it hard to review this book without giving too many details away…so all I’ll say is that if you are a Yann Martel fan and enjoyed Life of Pi, I think you will really appreciate this charming novel. It has just the right amount of tragedy, humour and mystery, and some great words of wisdom.