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The Zahir. When I picked this book up, I thought it must be the name of the villain or of some place. I am sure people like me would have started this book thinking the same. I dont think revealing what the Zahir means here would be fair. So I won’t.
Talking about the story first. Our protagonist is a writer whose name is not mentioned anywhere (just like the concept of The Zahir) and his wife Esther is a war representative. They are currently living in Paris, France. Their relationship is beyond my understanding. They love each other and some other people (at the same time) too. Everything is going good between them. Esther helps out our protagonist become a writer and supports him but soon after he becomes a famous writer, the relationship between them changes (according to Esther). She feels lost and unwanted so one day she disappears. Now the author feels detached and left alone and want her back.
This is the story. Nothing extraordinary. But I can bet that if you start reading this book you won’t be able to put it down. The way Paulo Coelho has written it is mesmerising. No wonder he is so loved all around the world. And the story seemed interesting till some point too. I literally thought it is some psychological thriller when Esther went missing. Some part of me wanted the protagonist to go and solve some mystery and find her but to my surprise (or shock) it majorly focused on human emotions and realisations.
Story that started as a mystery comes to an end as a story of love (?) , obsession and realisations.
There were characters, if had given more exposure, the story could have been different. Like there was a character of a film actress dating the writer while Esther was gone, is just there for a few conversations. No role to play. Just to talk. (???) The character of Mikhail played an important role here. He plays a role of a person Esther is having (kind of) an affair with. His character gets too much of importance through out the story, is left by the end. The character of Esther herself isn’t exposed much with an excuse of the story focusing more on pilgrimage (??) of the protagonist to love and loss and of his feelings change and how he discovers not only Esther, the love (??) of his life but himself.
What I am trying to tell here is, you don’t really need a story of pilgrimage and realisation to be this long. If you are reading a book, you expect much more than just realisations from it.
To me the story somewhere became vague and lengthy. Many characters left way too early when I was expecting them to do something that would give an unexpected turn to the story. So many characters came with absolutely no role to play.
Summing it all up. I did love the story telling but the story itself was lacking a touch of excitement for me. The end was sudden and lame. Characters were too dramatic.
It’s not a book that you shouldn’t read. According to me Paulo Coelho deserves to be read for what he conveys through some parts of the story he tells. But don’t keep your hopes high.
Talking about the story first. Our protagonist is a writer whose name is not mentioned anywhere (just like the concept of The Zahir) and his wife Esther is a war representative. They are currently living in Paris, France. Their relationship is beyond my understanding. They love each other and some other people (at the same time) too. Everything is going good between them. Esther helps out our protagonist become a writer and supports him but soon after he becomes a famous writer, the relationship between them changes (according to Esther). She feels lost and unwanted so one day she disappears. Now the author feels detached and left alone and want her back.
This is the story. Nothing extraordinary. But I can bet that if you start reading this book you won’t be able to put it down. The way Paulo Coelho has written it is mesmerising. No wonder he is so loved all around the world. And the story seemed interesting till some point too. I literally thought it is some psychological thriller when Esther went missing. Some part of me wanted the protagonist to go and solve some mystery and find her but to my surprise (or shock) it majorly focused on human emotions and realisations.
Story that started as a mystery comes to an end as a story of love (?) , obsession and realisations.
There were characters, if had given more exposure, the story could have been different. Like there was a character of a film actress dating the writer while Esther was gone, is just there for a few conversations. No role to play. Just to talk. (???) The character of Mikhail played an important role here. He plays a role of a person Esther is having (kind of) an affair with. His character gets too much of importance through out the story, is left by the end. The character of Esther herself isn’t exposed much with an excuse of the story focusing more on pilgrimage (??) of the protagonist to love and loss and of his feelings change and how he discovers not only Esther, the love (??) of his life but himself.
What I am trying to tell here is, you don’t really need a story of pilgrimage and realisation to be this long. If you are reading a book, you expect much more than just realisations from it.
To me the story somewhere became vague and lengthy. Many characters left way too early when I was expecting them to do something that would give an unexpected turn to the story. So many characters came with absolutely no role to play.
Summing it all up. I did love the story telling but the story itself was lacking a touch of excitement for me. The end was sudden and lame. Characters were too dramatic.
It’s not a book that you shouldn’t read. According to me Paulo Coelho deserves to be read for what he conveys through some parts of the story he tells. But don’t keep your hopes high.