The High Mountains of Portugal: A Thoughtful but Underwhelming Study of Grief

by Mary Kate Costigan
Never let it be said that Yann Martel doesn’t like wild animals. Fifteen years ago he published Life of Pi, a book about a man and a tiger that went on to win the Man Booker Prize and be adapted into an Academy Award winning film. His latest effort, The High Mountains of Portugal, revolves heavily around chimpanzees and the Iberian rhinoceros. As the saying goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The High Mountains of Portugal isn’t so much one novel as it is three novellas. Titled “Homeless,” “Homeward,” and “Home,” they deal with stories centered on the rural Portugues...