Rumble: Less Reading: The Witch of Portobello
I was looking forward to read Paulo Coelho's new novel, "The Witch of Portobello". I read most of his previous work, and found it passionate and inspiring. The last Coelho novel I read was "The Zahir", two years ago, while sailing the Caribbean. I remembered the setting: water, dark, starry nights, wine on the deck of our boat, anchored in the Tobago Cays (See the short story One Love).
All of that made me look forward to dig into the "Witch of Portobello", hoping as with the previous Coelho novels, only to put the book down once it is finished.
Unfortunately not so... The Caribbean setting was there. The wine was there. I mean the whole setting was perfect. Unfortunately, the Coelho I hoped for was just not there. The Witch of Portobello's script is simple, the story is rather monotonous (not to use the word boring), the 'lessons in life' read superficial and smell of mock-spirituality... I put the book down and started to read something else.. After 6 weeks I still did not finish it, even though I want to. But boy, is it a struggle to reach the final page...
This sounds all harsh criticism. Not sure if the book deserves it. Maybe, just maybe, it is as my friend E. says, maybe I am just not in the mood to read Coelho, maybe I should read it another time, at another stage in life... But as it stands now: I would rather recommended other books from Coelho.
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Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
2 comments:
YEs, I agree with what was said above. I love Coelho and his work, I admire his novels and his artistry, but The Witch of Portobello disappointed me greatly. Maybe Coelho needs to do his own soul searching anew just like his characters had to do in the books.
I don't agree, this novel didn't let me down at all. I loved it! Of course Coelho speaks of magic and stuff that maybe some people find uninteresting, but the messages are still deep and beautiful.
It's not superficial, at all, to try to explain, for example, how love cannot expect reward or hope to possess someone else; or how to stop living like if we were running a race were happiness depends on external elements, always working like a robot. Or how the only way to make a significant change in your life is to "break the rythm", to break old patterns completely.
I highly recommend this novel!
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