A review by ed_moore
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’ is a short but really intense book which I struggled to rate and review. It is just a series of small observations on aspects of life such as eating, death, friendship or giving, and makes some nice philosophical points but isn’t particularly engaging in formula. A man called Al-Mustafa is about to leave Orphalese and speaks to a group of people who just vaguely ask them about their area, for example a merchant goes “tell me about buying and selling” or a priest asks “tell me about prayer” and Mustafa will reply with an observation for 2-5 minutes. These were all good natured and valuable but as highlighted in the introduction due to the book being made of Gibran’s years of thoughts, it only speaks the answers rather than offering the roots and reasoning that brought him there, hence can seem very direct and uninspired in places. I felt there would be a lot more payoff if we heard of this journey in thinking. It was no means bad and as mention has value as a short read, but was really expecting the satisfaction and awakening that Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’ gave me, but this was far more basic hence far from the case.