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The Zahir - A Novel of Obsession

1 stars (Narcissism ne plus ultra) - This guy is so self referential that I kept reading mostly from complete astonishment. I bought this because I had five minutes and twenty choices in an airport; why do other people do it? It is self indulgent navel gazing drivel. Mary 3 stars (Not my Coelho's favourate) - The Zahir did not mesmarize me like Coelho's other books. It is not that it is a bad book, not at all, but I just found it to be below my expectation from a book by Paulo Coelho. 5 stars (A FABULOUS FABULIST COMPELLINGLY READ) - British stage, film and TV actor Jamie Glover gives a sterling performance, immediately intriguing listeners with a mesmerizing story of obsession. Told in the first person by a nameless narrator, Glover ably carries us along on a journey, a search not only for a loved one but also perhaps for meaning, answers to the riddle of life. The narrator is a successful author living in Paris with his wife, Esther, who is an accomplished journalist, a war correspondent. She has just returned from Iraq only to disappear again. It's not known whether she ran away or was kidnaped, whether she is alive or dead. She was last seen with a man younger than she, a man who hid his true identity but was known as Mikhail. Could he be her lover? According to author Coelho the idea of the zahir stems from the Islamic tradition, it means "incapable of going unnoticed. It can refer to an object or a person, and that object or person gradually takes over our every thought, until we are unable to think of anything else. This could be considered a state of holiness or a state of madness." We'll leave it to the listener to decide which description is most appropriate for our narrator as he undertakes a journey to find Esther. He knows that she felt a deep unrest and was unsatisfied with her life, although he cannot comprehend why. He was stunned when she announced that she wanted to become a war correspondent, yet he also understood that h...
HarperCollins :: Fiction & General :: Portuguese (Language) Contemporary Fiction :: Literary :: General :: Fiction - General :: Fiction :: Brazilian Novel And Short Story :: Paulo C :: The Zahir - A Novel of Obsession

 

The Alchemist- A Fable About Following Your Dream

4 stars (pleasant) - im personally drawn to portugese authors. in both the works of jose saramago and paulo i sense a very strong current: both of these men have a gift for capturing the essential human spirit in prose. to me, the alchemist was a dance; seamless blending of wordplay and personality, reaching for a portrait of the beauty of human experience. the story is fair and lighthearted, a saunter; however there is something quite magical about it. one could say it comes with paulo's integration of mysticism and arab cultures. there are many scenes where the reader, with the help of paulo, can deceive the senses into letting go as to transcend the present and play amongst the ethereal literary setting. all this works together to make reading this book a pleasantly positive and enjoyable experience. when low scores are given i do not understand what one could possibly be seeking other than a nice story. in terms of storytelling, this one is exceptional, and it would be something else if all approached this one with intent and respect. it deserves at least that. 2 stars (occasional insights in a shallow text) - Occasionally in The Alchemist there are moments that made me dog-ear the page, words and turns of phrase that I thought captured an important sentiment about life and the pursuit of dreams. But these rare moments are embedded in a foggy text, a text that has the appearance of wisdom but is actually quite shallow and vague. In Santiago's various discussions with the people and things he encounters, from the Englishman to the desert wind, there is a superficial feel of deep ideas being discussed when most of the time there is little substance to the ideas, little development and thought put into them. Profound words like "omen" and "heart" are tossed about without any effortful exploration of their meanings. These thoughts, these words, are dealt with too easily and superficially. Rather than stir me and engage me in deep thought, the book act...
HarperSanFrancisco :: Reading Group Guide :: Fiction & Literary :: Visionary & Metaphysical :: Literary :: Fiction - General :: Fiction :: Fables :: Paulo Coelho :: :: The Alchemist- A Fable About Following Your Dream

 

The Alchemist - 10th Anniversary Edition

4 stars (pleasant) - im personally drawn to portugese authors. in both the works of jose saramago and paulo i sense a very strong current: both of these men have a gift for capturing the essential human spirit in prose. to me, the alchemist was a dance; seamless blending of wordplay and personality, reaching for a portrait of the beauty of human experience. the story is fair and lighthearted, a saunter; however there is something quite magical about it. one could say it comes with paulo's integration of mysticism and arab cultures. there are many scenes where the reader, with the help of paulo, can deceive the senses into letting go as to transcend the present and play amongst the ethereal literary setting. all this works together to make reading this book a pleasantly positive and enjoyable experience. when low scores are given i do not understand what one could possibly be seeking other than a nice story. in terms of storytelling, this one is exceptional, and it would be something else if all approached this one with intent and respect. it deserves at least that. 2 stars (occasional insights in a shallow text) - Occasionally in The Alchemist there are moments that made me dog-ear the page, words and turns of phrase that I thought captured an important sentiment about life and the pursuit of dreams. But these rare moments are embedded in a foggy text, a text that has the appearance of wisdom but is actually quite shallow and vague. In Santiago's various discussions with the people and things he encounters, from the Englishman to the desert wind, there is a superficial feel of deep ideas being discussed when most of the time there is little substance to the ideas, little development and thought put into them. Profound words like "omen" and "heart" are tossed about without any effortful exploration of their meanings. These thoughts, these words, are dealt with too easily and superficially. Rather than stir me and engage me in deep thought, the book act...
PerfectBound :: Fiction-Literary :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Alan :: R Clarke :: Paulo Coelho :: :: The Alchemist - 10th Anniversary Edition