The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel

[Gannon]

Hi rockandroll,

a perfect example of your thoughts about actions and decisions made by individuals in the past having a direct impact on future generations is Tomas walking backwards in the first part of the book. We find in the third part of the book a group of people walking backwards, obviously this trend has come from Tomas. Tomas did it as a protest, turning his back on God for what had happened to him. I'm quite sure that the people who are walking this way in the third part of the book have no idea why they are doing it, and the reason has been lost in the past.

Yann Martel in interviews continually talks about using faith in his books, not just religious faith, but faith in anything.
I think that an underling theme of this book is religious faith vs faith in evolution. This is portrayed by the ape on the crucifix in the first part of the book, and the ape being found inside the body in the second part of the book. I am at a loss as to why the wife wants to be sewn up inside her husbands body. This part is very surreal, maybe it means that she wants to spend her spiritual life, the afterlife with him, again this goes back to faith, she has faith that they will be together in the afterlife. I'm just not sure.

I think the third part of the book returns to Darwin and evolution. It almost seems that Martel feels that we as human beings have evolved too far and that Odo, living in simplicity and harmony has a much better quality of life, and as their friendship develops, the senator starts to realise this. He feels better and at peace after throwing away all the trappings of modern life.

Well that's just a start. This book is very deep indeed.

[gali]

Nice review! I have once tried his other book, "Life of Pi", and quit it (it bored me), so I don't know if this book is for me. I am glad you enjoyed the book though.

[Gannon]

Nice review! I have once tried his other book, "Life of Pi", and quit it (it bored me), so I don't know if this book is for me. I am glad you enjoyed the book though.

Hi there gali. It most definitely is a polarising book. I agree with you, if you didn't like "Life of Pi", this novel will probably bore you even more. It has a similar feel to it, and once again Martel uses animals in his narrative.

[gali]

Nice review! I have once tried his other book, "Life of Pi", and quit it (it bored me), so I don't know if this book is for me. I am glad you enjoyed the book though.

Hi there gali. It most definitely is a polarising book. I agree with you, if you didn't like "Life of Pi", this novel will probably bore you even more. It has a similar feel to it, and once again Martel uses animals in his narrative.

[rockandroll]

Hi Gannon, glad to finally get on here and discuss this book. I've been very busy.

Some great thoughts on the book. I agree with you on faith vs evolution as being one of the main themes and yes the ape on the crucifix definitely shows that. I think Martel gets this across by trying to show that there is a very fine line between humans and other species and by showing communication between species. He is even willing to say that a human would rather live and communicate with an ape instead of his family after a tragedy (the senator's wife dying). This comes to your point from a different angle that we have moved too far away from nature. Animal species have a mystical quality at times in the novel, especially the rhinoceres that is seen, and thus are placed at an almost spiritual level that would rival religion.

I also think there is this evolution vs faith interplay going on in the second part of novel. The Agatha Christie vs The Bible segment to me is a secular vs faith based debate that goes with the whole faith vs evolution theme.

I regards to the wife being sewn up inside her husband , still thinking on that one.

One of the reasons I think faith arises as such an important theme in this book is that all 3 men experienced tragedy in losing their wives. So they question the reason this happens especially Tomas who objects God. And this brings the idea of searching into the book. Tomas and the senator search physically by traveling and all three men search metaphorically for an answer to their tragedy.

I need to go through this book again and look at some of the passages.

[Gannon]

Hi Gannon, glad to finally get on here and discuss this book. I've been very busy.

Some great thoughts on the book. I agree with you on faith vs evolution as being one of the main themes and yes the ape on the crucifix definitely shows that. I think Martel gets this across by trying to show that there is a very fine line between humans and other species and by showing communication between species. He is even willing to say that a human would rather live and communicate with an ape instead of his family after a tragedy (the senator's wife dying). This comes to your point from a different angle that we have moved too far away from nature. Animal species have a mystical quality at times in the novel, especially the rhinoceres that is seen, and thus are placed at an almost spiritual level that would rival religion.

I also think there is this evolution vs faith interplay going on in the second part of novel. The Agatha Christie vs The Bible segment to me is a secular vs faith based debate that goes with the whole faith vs evolution theme.

I regards to the wife being sewn up inside her husband , still thinking on that one.

One of the reasons I think faith arises as such an important theme in this book is that all 3 men experienced tragedy in losing their wives. So they question the reason this happens especially Tomas who objects God. And this brings the idea of searching into the book. Tomas and the senator search physically by traveling and all three men search metaphorically for an answer to their tragedy.

I need to go through this book again and look at some of the passages.

Hi there rockandroll.

I agree with everything that you have said. I like the idea of how each of the main characters deals with tragic loss in a different way. Especially the first and third. The first, Tomas turns his back on God and goes in search of the relic, which to him will justify his belief that God does not exist, or at the very least theology and the Bible have many things wrong. Martel has described this first part of the book as representing atheism.

In the third part, the Senator goes on his own search, but not disprove God's existence, but to find peace from his daily torment of loss. He finds it in the companionship of Odo. Martel has described this part of his book as representing belief. I think this is shown by Odo's belief in the rhino and the faith he has in showing the rhino to the senator. This part reminds me of the ending of "The Life of Pi".

I wish I could comment on the comparison of Agatha Christie to the Gospels but as I said to Fran, I have read neither of them.The comparison is explained well in the book by the wife however. Talking about the second part of the book, I need to go back and read it again. It's secrets still remain a mystery to me on the whole. I think I compared it to Fran as a surrealist painting.