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A review by roshnara
The Spy by Paulo Coelho
2.0
I learnt more about Mata Hari through Wikipedia than I did reading this book.
Paulo Coelho does what he does best, which is to spin a tale of metaphors and look for deeper meaning in everything. The strategy worked in the Alchemist, but failed miserably here.
Mata Hari was actually a woman of many layers, driven to doing what she needed to do to keep life going, and inadvertently gaining notoriety for it. She lived a hard life, and went through poverty, sexual abuse and the grief of losing her children. She is far from the liberated, hippie seductress Coelho paints her to be in this book, and he does grave injustice portraying her as such a one dimensional person.
I honestly would not recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about the life of such a controversial woman.
Paulo Coelho does what he does best, which is to spin a tale of metaphors and look for deeper meaning in everything. The strategy worked in the Alchemist, but failed miserably here.
Mata Hari was actually a woman of many layers, driven to doing what she needed to do to keep life going, and inadvertently gaining notoriety for it. She lived a hard life, and went through poverty, sexual abuse and the grief of losing her children. She is far from the liberated, hippie seductress Coelho paints her to be in this book, and he does grave injustice portraying her as such a one dimensional person.
I honestly would not recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about the life of such a controversial woman.