Yann Martel
The High Mountains of Portugal
[Canongate]
Yann Martel’s The High Mountains of Portugal offers a triptych of stories on themes familiar to the Canadian novelist – loss, spirituality and the search for belonging. The first, ‘Homeless’, concerns Tomas, who walks backwards through the streets of Lisbon in 1904 following the death of his wife and child. After discovering a diary telling of a mysterious crucifix in some upcountry church, he sets off in his uncle’s 14-horsepower Renault – one of the first cars in the country – to find it. The second, ‘Homeward’, features an Agatha Christie-loving pathologist and his wife, who receive a late night visit from a woman looking for an autopsy on her late husband. Soon after, it veers into a tedious surrealism that feels ill at ease in the novel. The book’s closing story ‘Home’ enters more familiar Martel territory, with widowed Canadian senator Peter Tovy developing a close bond with Obo, a monkey he bought while visiting a research facility. He then moves to Portugal, to his ancestral home, bringing us back to the high mountains of the book’s title.
Though Martel weaves all strands together neatly, the first two stories are uneven. The slapstick adventure of the first piece and the bizarre surgery plot of the second detract the underlying parables Martel tries to convey. Yet Martel remains an impressive force when pondering the relation between man and animal. The final work ‘Home’ is, appropriately, where his style and metaphysical curiosity feel most comfortable.
Words: Ruairí Casey
