‘Once upon a time, there lived a prostitute…..’
Do you find any contradiction in the phrases involved in the above line? If you do not want to find out, leave it; but if you want to, go for Paulo Coelho’s ‘Eleven minutes’.

Once upon a time…:
     Like for every girl, Maria’s life begins with innocence. She everlastingly dreams of a well-settled future, a handsome husband and most importantly, True Love. At each phase of her life, she learns a new definition of ‘True Love’. Through several silly mistakes, she matures, both physically and emotionally.

… there lived a prostitute…:
     Now there are two ways a mature girl can lead her life: one way threads along the norms laid by the society she lives in, and the other way is guided by the basic instincts in her mind. Maria chooses the latter. Like a soft and tender quill, her mind floats along with the flow of the breeze; it goes through the whirls and waves of the wind; and with the force of the wind, when it hits the hard wall, it waits for another wave of wind to take it away from there.
     
Eleven Minutes:
     A human mind can be controlled from waywardness out of two possibilities: one, with previous experiences and the second, with fear of future accidents. Most people fall in the latter category: fear stops them from going for what they want. Maria, in her quest to find true love, breaks several rules of the society. In her attempt to become a famous model, she ends up becoming a prostitute; because, she never knew the right way to become a model and is not afraid to do anything to earn money. She learns from her co-worker that the average time it takes for fornication is ‘Eleven Minutes’. After her painful ‘Eleven Minutes’ of fornication, by each passing day, she realizes prostitution to be exciting; because she never ever did what she was doing and she was not afraid of experiencing anything new.
     In my perspective, each phase of the story represents each phase of fornication. From ignorance to everlasting ecstasy, the story details on each and every chapter of ‘sex’ through the observations and analysis of the protagonist.

Paulo Coelho:
     Anyway, ‘eleven minutes’ is short when speaking of ‘sex’, but ‘Eleven Minutes’ is long in case of Paulo Coelho’s novel. Though his words and thoughts are easy to follow, the book drags from half way. The author explores all the weird things prostitutes’ experience, but it is too much detail for a normal reader. A person interested in research on ‘sex’ and prostitution may find this helpful, but not all. However, the saving grace here is the Paulo Coelho’s simplicity in expression.

The Final Words:
     No matter how many hardships she may go through, every prostitute wishes her story to be told as beautifully as a fairy tale and begin with the following words:
‘Once upon a time, there lived a prostitute…’

Plot Revealed In The Review:	Somewhat revealed
Purchase Price (INR):	295
Purchased From:	Book Store