I am not good at reading novels and literature of serious nature or follow any author religiously as many people do, I prefer reading magazines, short stories, I could only complete reading “An argumentative Indian” by Amartya Sen and One night @ call centre by Chetan Bhagat previously.

I picked up this book from crossword store and began reading it through a bored kind of a feeling, just to pass time, because my problem with reading is that I tend to read through very fast I feel I may be missing some important message of the writer in the beauty of the words woven in a story, I prefer keeping away from such books, but the write up of Paulo Coelho made me read his words twice even if I was reading through fast I always slowed down my reading gears at the important moments in the story of the central character of this story, Maria.

Her journey from a small interior place in brazil to Switzerland is an timeless experience of a journey to embark on, which makes Maria release that her search for true love ends in a way she did not ever imagine and it brings her face to face with the harsh realities of life and amongst the events that surround her life, she finds the light within her which she could never recognize but sees it through the eyes of a painter, who makes her realize that the eleven minutes which she describes as the moment of ecstasy and the span of that moment of passion that lasted between her and  her customer’s had a completely different meaning of what she thought of.

The theme of this novel is dark, yet enlightening, the author does not preach through his writings, neither does he shows the central character of the movie to be weak, giving up on life and surrendering to prostitution, but the writer keeps the candles of hope burning for Maria, who keeps getting tougher from outside as the days go by from her journey to search a good job in a far off place, meet the man of his dreams and find true love,  finally seeking solace and pride in the profession of prostitution which is described freely but in a mature way in terms of words used to describe sex and sexuality in the novel, the author has wonderfully brought up his words up wisdom even through the most murkier situations in the novel.

It’s a journey of self-discovery that makes the reading of this novel quite gripping, there are times while reading this novel you may feel the author is trying to arouse your senses, but he does not, he describes these events without giving them much importance in the flow of the story, yet they play a important background role to deliver the final message the author intends to deliver through Maria, which also comes through in her diary writings.

The end of the story in this book is kind of filmy, yet acceptable, I really liked this book a lot and now I have started reading the Fifth Mountain post completing this book. Mr. Coelho you have definitely earned another reader of yours !

Few of my favourite lines from the book:

1) “if you want to achieve your objectives, you have to be prepared for a daily dose of pain or discomfort. At first, it’s unpleasant and de-motivating, but in time you come to realise that it’s part of the process of feeling good, and the moment arrives when, if you don’t feel pain, you have a sense that the exercises aren’t having the desired effect. ’The danger lies in focusing on that pain, giving it a particular person’s name, and keeping it always present in your thoughts.”

2) The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.

3) “Sex cannot be practiced at any time. We all have a clock inside us, and in order to make love, the hands on both clocks have to be pointing to the same hour at the same time. That doesn’t happen everyday. If you love another person, you don’t depend on the sex act in order to feel good. Two people who live together and love each other need to adjust the hands of their clocks, with patience and perseverance, games and ’theatrical representations’, until they realise that making love is more than just an encounter, it is a genital ’embrace’.”

4) Everything is important. If you live your life intensely, you experience pleasure all the time and don’t feel the need for sex. When you have sex, it’s out of a sense of abundance, because the glass of wine is so full that it overflows naturally, because it is inevitable, because you are responding to the call of life, because at that moment, and only at that moment, you have allowed yourself to lose control.

5) I had only the power you gave me. There was no obligation, no blackmail on my part, only your will; you may have been the slave and I the master, but my only power was to push you in the direction of your own freedom.’

6) When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.

7) Does a soldier go to war in order to kill the enemy? No, he goes in order to die for his country.
Does a wife want to show her husband how happy she is? No, she wants him to see how devoted she is, how she suffers in order to make him happy.
Does the husband go to work thinking he will find personal fulfillment there? No, he is giving his sweat and tears for the good of the family. And so it goes on:
Sons give up their dreams to please their parents, parents give up their lives in order to please their children; pain and
suffering are used to justify the one thing that should bring only love.’
 

Plot Revealed In The Review:	Somewhat revealed
Purchase Price (INR):	NA
Purchased From:	Book Store