I was a bit surprised to find so many negative reviews of this book here at Goodreads as I truly enjoyed it. I guess it helps that I never read "The life of Pi", so I came to "The High Mountains of Portugal" without the same expectations as apparently many other readers. One of the things I enjoyed the most is how Portuguese the book feels, its weirdness and tragicomedy reminds of Saramago and one almost never senses the tone "of the foreign writer describing the exotic land", which I greatly appreciated. In any case Portugal is just the scenario of the book, its main topic is mourning and each part is also a lesson on topics so different and unexpected as automobile pioneer era, christian theology and chimpanzee behavior - real lessons, not mere show off of random knowledge. All in all I found it tremendously enjoyable and enriching. A must read.