The High Mountains of Portugal

The book tells the stories of three men over a period of 80 years.  First, there is Tomas in 1904.  Tomas has made a great discovery in an 300 year old diary and believes a precious artifact can be found in the high mountains.  His wealthy uncle lends him an automobile - a marvel of the day - to go on his quest.  By the time he reaches his destination, the car is a wreck and he's killed a little boy on the road.  The artifact does not fill the void in his life and he has a mental breakdown.

Thirty five years later, a pathologist is working late.  His wife visits him and discusses how Agatha Christie novels illuminate the Bible.  The Bible is a murder mystery with Paul as the Hercule Poirot of his day and Jesus as the murder victim.  No sooner has his wife departed than a woman arrives with her dead husband.  She proves to be the mother of the boy who was run over by Tomas those many years ago.  She guides the coroner in performing an autopsy on her husband, during which he extracts unusual items.  In the morning, the secretary arrives to find the pathologist asleep at his desk and feels great sympathy for him since his wife died.  However, she also finds the dead husband and the suitcase of unusual items.  How much of the events described were hallucination and how much was real?

Lastly, a Canadian senator Paul Torvy is alone after his wife dies.  To get away for awhile, he accepts a junket to Oklahoma where he tours a facility that studies great apes.  He is drawn to one of the chimpanzees and purchases him.  Abandoning Canada, he migrates to Portugal with his chimpanzee and settles in the town where he was born some 62 years ago; his parents migrated to Canada when he was 2.  Endlessly amazed by the chimpanzee, Paul is entirely absorbed in the care and maintenance of him.  It is not until his son visits that Paul discovers he is living in the very house where he was born and that the boy who Tomas ran over was his grandfather's nephew.

 

Each story is engaging but none satisfactorily resolved.  The book ends with a list of questions for the reader.  This is a book aimed at book clubs.  Each character is a widower who is in the midst of grief when the related events occur.  With Tomas, a considerable time is spent describing the use and maintenance of an automobile when such were a rarity.  It is funny to compare the ordeal for Tomas to drive a relatively short distance in Portugal vs. Paul driving from Oklahoma to New York with a Chimpanzee in the car!  The tale of the coroner is the oddest since the crazy autopsy clearly took place though perhaps not as he perceived it.  What does it mean?  Discuss among yourselves.

 

The book is written by Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi.  There is symbolism to decipher and much to ponder.  Mostly enjoyable.