350 reviews for:

The Zahir

Paulo Coelho

3.3 AVERAGE


I have to admit, I didn't properly get into this book until halfway through, but I'm really glad I stuck with it because it has such a beautiful message
captainwinter's profile picture

captainwinter's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

only got about 100 pages into the book because I just couldn't find myself sympathising with the main character or feeling any sort of interest towards him. But that's okay! Not every book is written for everyone and this one obviously wasn't written for me.
emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A typical book by paulo coelho - nothing more, nothing less. Since the main character is an author, I believe the book reflects the emotions and processes of the writer himself. I’m glad that I learned about the concept of the Zahir, and the process of the main character finding his own way through it inspired me to strive to move away from mine, 

This was a story of a man whose wife left him and he doesn't know why. Of course in their ten year marriage they had some indiscretions - which were never talked about, just silently accepted - and they had disagreements like any marriage does. However, they had given each other freedom and room to grow. As their relationship became more of a comfortable routine, his wife suddenly disappeared. The first year of her disappearance was hard for him, but in the second year, he made some amazing self-changes and really found himself.

This was a great book with a lot of in depth character development which I loved. Definitely recommend!

This was a tougher read for me - I did a lot of pausing to consider what I'd just read, what it meant, and what I thought about it. I didn't really respect or like any of the book's characters, but I did appreciate their journeys through the idea of love - love as commercialism sells it, love as we think we want others to give it, and love as it should be: freeing rather than controlling, broadening and empowering rather than constricting. What I get from this book (and from other real-life couples) is a depiction of the journey a couple goes through in a marriage - passion, disillusionment, boredom, and the rather desperate feeling that there's something or someone else "out there" that can fix the way you feel, but the answer is rather in changing any attitudes of complacency toward your own life and the lives of others.

This is one of my favorite books by Coelho. I'm not sure what it was, maybe that it was a story about possibility. That every relationship has hope. It was interesting and uplifting. Many people I know didn't enjoy it as much though.

I've read a few Coelho books and generally, I really like them. This one fell short of the mark for me. This book is much heavier on the philosophy/"lesson" than on the story and one of the things I've enjoyed so much about Coelho is the balance between these things. Teh story focuses on love and what that really means. I don't know if I agree with the story, that one needs to empty oneself of the past to be open to the energy of love. It feels a little too... hippie? New Age-y? Nebulous? I think he sincerely tries to move past that, but I don't know if he ever achieves it.

Food: a Twinkie missing half its filling. Light, easy to consume, but there's something not quite there.

It's a very interesting concept of loving someone so much that your loving more the image or one piece of that person to the point of obsession and potentially destroying the relationship and the players as individuals.

Buku ini mengajarkan kita tentang makna cinta, keberadaan dan kehilangan.Dengan penuturan khas Paullo , kita diajak memahami makna cinta dari sudut pandang orang yang merasa kehilangan cinta tersebut.

Αγαπητέ αναγνώστη, προσοχή.
Αν θες να διαβάσεις αυτό το αριστουργηματικό (νοτ) βιβλίο του Παύλου Κοελλίδη (το λι όπως της Αμαλίας στο Παρά Πέντε) σταμάτα τώρα γιατί ακολουθούν σπόιλερς.
Αν πάλι είσαι φαν του Παύλου σταμάτα επίσης. Δεν θα μιλήσω ωραία.

Πριν να μπω στα σπόιλερς, να εκφράσω την γνώμη μου γι' αυτό το μυθιστόρημα(?)

description

Η Πλοκή
Απ' όσο θυμάμαι ένας πετυχημένος συγγραφέας (κάτι σαν τον Κοέλο) χάνει την γυναίκα του και την αναζητά (όχι στη Σαλονίκη, αλλά στην Γαλλία και στο Καζακστάν). Μετά από ένα μεγάλο οδοιπορικό την βρίσκει, τα λένε, φεύγει μόνος του και. δατς ιτ. . .

Να μην ξεχνάμε όμως ότι καθ όλη την διάρκεια του οδοιπορικού, ο Κοέλο μέσα πάντα απ' το στόμα του πετυχημένου συγγραφέα μας πλάσαρε διάφορες αμπελοφιλοσοφίες τύπου, Η αγάπη είναι η μεγαλύτερη δύναμη και λοιπά. Αυτά μας τα 'πε και ο Χάρι Πότερ, που με την αγάπη εξαφάνισε τον Βόλντεμορτ για 10-13 χρόνια, ιστορία που όμως είχε και δράση και ενδιαφέρον.

Του Κοελλίδη το βιβλίο ήταν επαναλαμβανόμενο, μονότονο, κουραστικό, ήθελα να το κάψω (αλλά ευτυχώς το δανείστηκα) και αθλίως ανιαρό. Ένα μείγμα φιλοσοφοθρησκευτικοσυναισθηματικοαφορισμων.
Ο πρωταγωνιστής ήταν νευρωτικός, εγωιστής, κλαψο-παραπονιάρης, σεξιστής (όλες οι γυναίκες ενδιαφέρονται μόνο στο πως είναι εμφανισιακά κλπ)

Βασικά η πλοκή ήταν μια αφορμή για να μας πλασάρει την δική του εκδοχή του Αγάπη μόνο
Και Κοέλο, μιας και μου θύμισες τον κλαρινογαμπρό εκείνον, πάρε 1,5 αστεράκια.