It is the year 1099 and Crusaders have surrounded Jerusalem with the threat of invading the city. The townsfolk have gathered in the middle of the city and are receiving counsel from a learned man, a Greek, referred to as the Copt throughout the book.

Most of the Copt's teaching and his words are mixed and slightly altered lines from other scriptures and texts in the world, although no credits are given.

The entire book consists of questions from the people of the town and Copt's answers to them, with each question and answer constituting a chapter. Questions cover many topics such as solitude, love, sex, fear of change, anxiety, duty, defeat etc., and each one can easily be considered a sermon.

As such, the answers to the questions are profound, but the Copt comes out as someone with self-importance like some prophet, although I don't think any real prophet would take himself as seriously.

This book, however, has its basis in philosophy and advice on how to live; therefore, it wouldn't be fair to ask from it the requirements for fiction.

Taking out quotes from it and reading each chapter to muse on the concepts as if reading a piece of scripture.

Most of the insights.

PAULO COELHO, a Brazilian, was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist.

His other books are: The Alchemist, Veronika Decides to Die, Eleven Minutes, By the River Piedra I Sat down and Wept, Brida, The Devil and Miss Prym, The Witch of Portobello, The Fifth Mountain, The Zahir, Aleph, Like the Flowing River, Warrior of the Light, Life: Selected Quotations, The Winner Stands alone.

The ideas in it are profound and they do encourage a higher understanding of living, but if you are expecting another novel from Coelho like that of The Alchemist or The Witch of Portobello, you won't find it in this book.
I, however, enjoyed it greatly and found myself agreeing with the insights in the book.

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Created May 08, 2013 at 2:55pm • Submit your own review...