Brida - Paulo Coelho

The latest book released from the celebrated Brazilian writer, was a huge disappointment, to say the least. Not sure if it is a new book, or it was translated to English recently.

Paulo Coelho, thread the path of the witchcraft, magic, spiritualism once again. After reading his last novel 'the witch of portobello' , this seems to have set in similar environment. Searching for one's own soul mate, the teacher , elaborated and meaningless rituals, and the similar playground in Ireland. The last one was set in England.

The novel follows Brida, 21 yr old Irish girl, in her quest for knowledge and wisdom. She is interested in the magic and its various form and wanted to know about the truth of the world. She meets a man in the deep of forest, who teaches her about overcoming fears and taking risks in life to follow one's own path. There is another teacher, who is a witch, takes her through the tarrot reading and to dance to the tune of the world. As she seeks her destiny and wisdom through teachers, one a man, who finds his soul mate in her , who practices the 'tradition of Sun, which helps the followers to learn things on their own; and the other a women , a witch, who practices the 'tradition of moon'.

Brida, as she seeks her knowledge and wisdom, trying to balance between the different traditions, , and the desire to become a witch. Wicca, the lady who practices the 'tradition of the moon' takes her through the process and rituals preparing her to become a witch. Novel ends with an elaborated ritual sequence at the end of which, Brida is conferred to the tradition of witches.

This has all the ingredients of a typical Paulo Coelho novel. Witchcraft, rituals , forces of nature, finding your own destiny, love, spirituality, re-incarnation , unlocking your Gift and what not. Weak story line, no insight apart from few sentences to be used at the end of your mail closing like , "if you want to learn about some thing, plunge in to it" or " life is about making mistake, the world move only on mistakes" etc..

Even for a hard fan of Paulo Coelho, this novel will be a let down. What was his last book which worth a mention ? " Devil and Miss Prym "?

Brida

Paulo Coelho

Harper Collins

266 Pages

Rs 295/-

The Queen of the Prisons of Greece - Osman Lins

Let me start this with a warning: This book is one of the toughest read I have ever had. Extremely complex and demanding.

Osman Lins is a prolific writer from Brazil and this is his last fiction completed an year or so before his death of cancer. He was relatively young ( 54 yrs) when died and was recipient of numerous literary awards in his short career in fiction.

In this book, the narrator, examines the unpublished novel of his deceased girlfriend , died in an accident. Was his intention to know her better, or to know their love and relationship better or to know himself better ? However, written as the entries in his diary ( with dates) he takes the reader (and himself) through the pages of the manuscript while discussing literature, critics, art , social commentary, history of Brazil and various other topics.

Maria , the main character of the fiction being discussed, is fighting with the social welfare system of Brazil to get her eligible benefit. As usual, she has been sent across various functionaries for want of multiple documents and proof. She was treated briefly in a mental asylum and we realise that the story of his girlfriend is no different from the character. At many point of time, the narrator, the writer ( his girlfriend) and the character of the novel Maria all intermixed. The division between the narrator,writer and character diminishes. At the end of the reading, you are still left with such a confusion and ambiguity, and not sure who is in the disturbed state of mind ? Is it the narrator, the writer whose unpublished novel the narrator is describing, or the character in the novel Maria. And may be that was the intention by the author. The last chapter was one of the most "unnerving" one I have seen. As the narrator himself declares he doesn't understand anything anymore.

However, this book has some of the best discussion I have seen about the art of writing, the role of narrator in a fiction , critics, the readers and the book itself. They are outstanding and will give us some insight, though adding more complication to the fiction.

Here are some important points, I noted:

The comparison between novel and reader in our times, however, is not limited to a matter of age. The contemporary reader and that of old days are different. The reader ready to evoke what he has read, seduced by processes the sum of which have resulted in a sort of magic he wasn't aware of, has been replaced by suspicious, rebellious reader, not in the least naive, who seems to be saying, when asked: "I don't remember and I don't want to remember"

The new relationship between novelist and reader emerges clearly in the elusive entity to which the narration is entrusted. The story obliterated the text..

Narrative is a verbal event, and therefore it requires an agent to enunciate it; the role of the narrator, enigmatic being, is mysterious and diverse; contemporary fiction has been eliminating the interdictions that hindered its mediator and attempted, in their rigorousness, to impose the laws of the physical world, unchanged, upon the universe of the novel.

This time has come many times for me, and the novels I have read open their sealed doors to some hidden corner of my soul. As for others, they remain inviolable and I contemplate them from the outside, half frightened, half ignorant.

What's the use of a book's synopsis ? A superficial practice, its spreads and resurrects the common idea according to which the story is the novel, not one of its aspects, among those that illustrate the art of narrating the least. Imagining desires, mishaps, reversals of fortune, capitulations, death or triumph, pertains to invention in its raw state. The novelist is born by the act of arranging these events and elaborating a language that could either reflect them or simply make use of them to exist.

I'm not , however, a respectable critic, I don't even aspire to being a critic, and, as far as respectibility goes - so often an industrial virtue, like endurance in engines or color fastness in fabrics- whoever said I possessed it? I'm a sensitive man and, from this point of view, out of step with my times, a sensitive and grieving man, simultaneously the bearer of his fascination for a text and of his love for the one who created it

What I conceal in my eyes is fear. Fear of knowing how time passes.

I know and you knew that works of art are as unlimited as our grasp is limited. For this reason at seeks more lasting and,in some ways, indestructible incarnations than men: so that many minds, successively prodded by the work's never ending secrets, may accumulate decipherings. It's for this reason too, we preserve them: because we know that they try to speak to us, they try to speak to us, they try.

This book require multiple reading to make some sense. If I borrow the words from the book "work of art is unlimited and our grasp is limited".

The queen of the Prisons of Greece
Osman LinsTranslated by Adria Frizzi
Dalkey Archive Press

The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho

The new book from the 'most popular' South American writer was released in India last month. I say most popular because, I think he is currently the most discussed or sought after author in India , more that Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I have read all the books released of Paulo Coelho in English, I have decided to get this book as well. He is not my most liked South American author.He has a very European way of writing and is very deliberate in his words.

The story of Athena, a gypsy parental girl adopted by Lebanese couple and grew up in Beirut and London. The mystical path inherited in her blood gives her visions of the Holy Angels during her childhood. The family moves into England following the disrupt and war in Lebanon and like everyone Athena too gets to the normal life of love, wedding , child and job routine . Multiple events with mystical backgrounds ( the house owner who plays the Siberian music to a team into trance , the Arabian calligraphy teacher ) awaken her quest for knowing the truth and "filling the spaces" of her life. She takes a tour to her native(?) Romania in search of her real mother and the meeting with the mysterious spiritual teacher, her gypsy mother and others takes a different turn in her life. Athena now become the protagonist of the "the Mother" and slowly develop a cult like following. During the ceremonies she become the incarnation of Hagia Sofia ( the name she invent for herself when she is in touch with "the mother" ) and gives sermon to the followers curing illness, helping in love lif and other miracles . And as it turns out she became the object of a modern-day witch hunt in England and a topic of discussion in the divided society.

As the case of his earlier fictions, Paulo Coelho, mixes Philosophy , mysticism and religion with his acute style of writing. This novel is also uses a new method of story telling; first person re-collection of people who are in some way associated or related to Athena. Each chapter is written as narrated by one of the participant to the author. The only other novel I remember to use a similar style is Life A user's manual by George Perec ( I read this book 10 years ago and writing from memory: I could be wrong).

And finally, it is a well written book and will go well with people who like his style of writing. However, this is not a COMPELLING BOOK ( as the critics say ) in anyway.

The Witch of Portobello
Author : Paulo Coelho
Harper Collins
322 pages ( paperback)

The Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector

'Death is an encounter with self' says Clarice Lispector in her last novel published in the same year of her death in 1977.

A very abstract and experimental novel mostly told in a 3rd Person narrative about a north-east Brazilian girl living in Rio de Janeiro slums. Macabea, the girl from the north-east living in poverty and misfortunes. There are many like her in this world whose life does not matter to the world, their existence is a mere biological fact and nothing more. They have nothing to look forward to it and just pushes their life until death. As Macabea puts it , she should be happy that she is alive. They also have hopes and despair , to be a movie star like Marylin Monroe as she says.

Macabea lives with the small income she gets as a typist and we mishaps after mishaps affect her until her sad end under a Mercedes. Soon after her birth her parents dies and she was brought up under a bad auntie (as in case of all the stories) . She comes to Rio as every one in search of job and food and lives in the slums of the red-district area of Rio. She is ugly and virgin and share a room with few others, about whom we have no information.

She represents the lower section of the Brazilian ( for that matter all the 3rd world countries) society. She is alien to the brash metropolis and what it has to offer and become more and more away from the mainstream. Her only contact to the external world has been her short term boy-friend ( whom she looses to her workmate) and her workmate who represent the new hopes and new world.

A very sad and disturbing existential book written when Claris Lispector was diagnosed with cancer. This book written during her time of serious illness would definitely have provided her with enough personal difficulties. The 3rd person narrative ( The novel is as told by Rodrigo S M ) is her other self and it possibly is her attempt to detach herself from the story.

The beauty of this novel is that you can have multiple interpretation of each character and incidents. Some of the prominent critics call this as "existentialism of the masses".

The hour of the star
Clarice Lispector ( Brazil)
Translated by Giovanni Pontiero ( with a beautifully written 'after word'")
96 pages
USD 9.95

Like Flowing River - Paulo Coelho

Just finished reading a brilliant book by Paulo Coelho. The book is called "Like Flowing River". Unlike his other popular books, this is not a fiction. As the title suggest it is a collection of thoughts and reflections.

This is a collection of the articles written and published by him on various subjects. You could call it a management, philosophical, spiritual, travelogue , stories or whatever you like. He writes with amazing ability of his encounters with people and events, stories told by people , reflections on social events.

There are many quotes from Bible , Quran, Buddism, Bhagavad Gita.
All the writings are a search for finding the essence of life, as he said every life has a legend and the journey of life is our effort to fulfill that legend. It is humourous , very touching and personal and very strong on views. And the judgement is yours..
Paulo Coelho has been one of the writers I liked. This was after I read the very poetic first chapter of "Like Piedra I sat down and Wept" . I have read all his fictions and was alwayed liked his style of writing.
I recommend all to buy and read this book and you will realise what I mean..