Y. Martel (Life of Pi author) new book: The High Mountains of Portugal

[Anemone del Camino]

Heard about it on the radio a few weeks ago but did not click until I saw it today in a book store. Yann Martel's second novel( author of the Life of Pi) is set in Portugal. Back cover says: " A quest, a ghost story, a mesmerising tale of love and loss". I have yet to read a page of it but look forward to it as I try to immerse myself in all things Portuguese before I head out for a stroll there is a few months. Oh, if the Life of Pi was intimidatind due to the number of pages in small print, this one is a standard 300 or so pages long.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

Heard about it on the radio a few weeks ago but did not click until I saw it today in a book store. Yann Martel's second novel( author of the Life of Pi) is set in Portugal. Back cover says: " A quest, a ghost story, a mesmerising tale of love and loss". I have yet to read a page of it but look forward to it as I try to immerse myself in all things Portuguese before I head out for a stroll there is a few months. Oh, if the Life of Pi was intimidatind due to the number of pages in small print, this one is a standard 300 or so pages long.

Martel's Pulitzer-winning Life of Pi is still one of my favorite novels, and I had heard of this more recent publication. Thank you for putting it in front of us. It should be a great read.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

The book cover I love: layers of shades of greens, yellows and a blue, with a tiny tractor going along one of them, just like we see daily as we walke the CF in Castilla.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

The book cover I love: layers of shades of greens, yellows and a blue, with a tiny tractor going along one of them, just like we see daily as we walke the CF in Castilla.

I can not wait to read it! So looking forward. Currently, I am reading a collection of world literature short stories.

 

[Maya Amanecer 2015]

I have just finished reading this book and liked it much better than Beatrice and Virgil and almost as much as the Life of Pi (I believe Yann Martel has published about 8 or 9 different books). The three stories in the book are all somehow connected to each other and to the village of Tuizelo in Northwestern Portugal and contain some elements of "magical realism"* and religion (like other works of Yann Martel). In the first story some neighborhoods of Lisbon are mentioned and will be remembered by pilgrims of the CP as will several cities on the camino from Lisbon up to Alhandra where the main character makes his way through these areas in a new Renault in the early 1900's and he has no idea of how to drive it! The second story it related to the first somewhat and occurs in Porto Alto and the third story is about a man who makes a chimpanzee into a great best friend. The stories interweave and are really interesting.

Posters here in the forum often discuss how friendly people are to foreigners in Portugal and these sorts of characters pop up in the book. It is a good read and I recommend it highly!

MA

*The Spanish writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses magical realism in his stories "Doce cuentos pergrinos" as well as One hundred Years of Solitude.

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

Heard about it on the radio a few weeks ago but did not click until I saw it today in a book store. Yann Martel's second novel( author of the Life of Pi) is set in Portugal. Back cover says: " A quest, a ghost story, a mesmerising tale of love and loss". I have yet to read a page of it but look forward to it as I try to immerse myself in all things Portuguese before I head out for a stroll there is a few months. Oh, if the Life of Pi was intimidatind due to the number of pages in small print, this one is a standard 300 or so pages long.

i recently read 'amor de salvación' by castelo branco. not a camino story per se, but the story does take place mostly in 'terras do minho' and has some fantastic descriptions of this part of the 'camino country' in the late 19th century.

likewise, looking forward to martel's new novel