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 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)

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..