Micki Watanabe Spiller

Micki Watanabe Spiller

  • Banned Book Bandoliers
    • Animal Farm & Slaughterhouse Five
    • Brave New World & To Kill a Mockingbird
    • Xeno Prize Bandolier
    • Lord of the Flies & Catcher in the Rye Bandoliers
    • The Color Purple Bandolier
    • Grapes of Wrath Bandolier
  • Idiomatic Garment Series
    • A Bee In Her Bonnet
    • Thinking Caps
    • Birthday Suit
    • His Heart
  • Book Jackets
    • The Woman in the Water
    • The Circle
    • The High Mountains of Portugal
    • The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
  • Curated Carryall Book Bags
  • Storytelling
    • Curated Carryall Storytelling @ QPL Woodside Branch
    • Game Day @ Windmuller Park
    • A Woodside Walk
    • Take the gAme Train
    • The Village Book Nook
  • Random Texts
    • Sweating Liquids
    • Fault Lines
    • No Living/Work Only
    • Princess Studies
    • Ex-Libris/ Harvard Club
  • Artist Books
    • Blooks
    • Altered Books
  • Installations
    • Between Floors
    • In the Blue
    • Survey
    • Etiquette: Edit/Cut
    • Trade
    • Fault Lines
    • Sweating Liquids
    • Princess Studies
    • The Match
    • Brief Case Studies
    • Present
  • Sculptures
    • FURNITURE BASED
    • POCKET BOOKS & PURSES
    • EONS AND EONS AGO
  • Drawings
    • Illuminated
    • floorplans
  • Blogs
  • CV
  • contact
Book Jacket: The High Mountains of Portugal
The High Mountains of Portugal was a book filled with small surprises. He builds suspense little by little, but I did not necessarily know it as I read. The words were comforting to take in and so once I realized something odd was going on, he made me do a double take and I found myself chuckling to at how cleaver he was to have duped me. You can almost hear him saying, "Wait, wait, wait for it..." before he exposes what is actually going on.
Martel makes lists of adjectives, lists of actions, lists of characteristics.
The way the protagonist walks,
The particularities of the artifact that Tomas is seeking,
The relationship between Agatha Christie and god,
The thread that exists between the three different stories,
without giving anything away.

There is some magic realism, and like the Life of Pi, the author wrestles with religion and god, and the mysteries of life.
However, the ending was a bit disappointing when I was left with the sudden appearance of a Rhinoceros.


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