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Set in Paris and in the enchanting landscape of central Asia, this new novel by the author of the international bestsellers The Alchemist and Eleven Minutes follows the journey of a man obsessed with finding the wife who left him without an explanation. The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in Paris and enjoys all the privileges that money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who, despite her professional success and freedom from the conventional constraints of marriage, is facing an existential crisis. When she disappears along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover, the authorities question the narrator. Was Esther kidnapped, killed, or did she simply abandon a marriage that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn't have any answers but he has plenty of questions of his own. Then one day Mikhail, the man with whom Esther was last seen, finds the narrator and promises to take him to his wife. In his attempt to recapture a love lost, the narrator discovers something unexpected about himself. A haunting and redemptive story about the dark side of obsession, The Zahir explores its potential to both fulfill our dreams and to destroy them. It is also a thoughtful meditation on faith, celebrity, marriage -- and their relationships to freedom and creativity.… (more)
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The book is about an internationally acclaimed author whose wife has disappeared. She is a War correspondent and, therefore, the husband does not know whether she left him, or whether she was kidnapped or something far worse. One day a man appears at one of the author's book signings with a message from the wife to say that she is okay. The husband then becomes increasingly obsessed with idea of finding her. She becomes his 'Zahir' which is defined as something which, once seen or touched, can not be forgotten. We follow the husband in his journey to find his wife, and also in his own personal spiritual journey along the way.
It is described as a novel of 'obsession' and, in my view, Paulo has done a great job in writing the book in such a way that the reader has almost a compulsion to read on to find out what happens - almost as if the book becomes an obsession.
The book isn't perfect, so I can't give it five stars. I did find it a bit confusing in places, as there are often long conversations in the book between characters (sometimes multiple characters) without reference as to who is the speaker. Also, the lack of quotation marks at the beginning of new paragraphs when a character was making a speech or talking over a few paragraphs, was a bit annoying and also confusing.
Finally, I was quite disappointed with the ending; for me it was too predictable and a bit contrived.
But on the whole I enjoyed this book, and would definitely recommend it.
As hard as he tries to let her go, she has become his zahir, a thing that cannot be forgotten. The desire to find her
When Mikhael appears, bearing the news that Esther is in Kazakhistan, the author sets off on a quest, both spiritual and literal, to find her.
This book is very typical Coelho. It is obvious that he writes from deep within his soul, with great passion. Although I do find his brand of spirituality interesting, it is not for me. I prefer to read his work as more of a simple, basic quest. I can only take his work in small doses, but find him enjoyable enough to read if I'm in the mood.
Faubourg Saint-Peres
Encyclopedia of the Fantastic (1953)
This book, was another journey with Coelho into his world of the spirit, and this time the real essence of love. What it means to love someone, and yourself... And again, the main character appears to be him, with the same background and his life experiences, although I'm not sure that this particular thing ever happened to him. The narrator/protagonist in the story is never named.
The book also addresses happiness and wealth. He talks about what it's like to be a celebrity, more importantly, what it's like to be a human being while being a celebrity.
This novel had a wonderfully strong start, but started to get very disconnected in the middle. Overall, it was such a joy and
Three and a half out of five.
The narrator seems to speak directly to the reader for most of the book. He tells the story of his life, and his marriage. His journey to find love, his place in life, and how he lost
His wife becomes his obsession, his Zahir. As he works through the process of trying to figure out how he lost her, where she is, if he wants her back, and how to go about it, he realizes that the Zahir is a symptom of the problem.
The narrator explains his philosophy on love and life, and what he has learned, the mistakes he has made, and the spiritual growth he has achieved.
At first it was not enjoyable because of the odd method of telling the story, then the narrator seemed unlikeable. But around page 25, it because interesting, and I was hooked. I don't know if I would read more of this type of fiction, but it was a change for me and it sucked me in. The narrator also seemed to be exploring lots of uncomfortable truths about life and living. If the reader has not already done some thinking along these lines, s/he might become uncomfortable and unable to enjoy the flow of his journey.
There was a bit of magical realism mixed in with a character who has visions. The story takes place mostly in Paris, and then ends on the Asian steppes of Kazakhstan. All in all very interesting.
“The Zahir” is the story of a world famous author
This book is the reason I sometimes need a break from Paulo Coelho.
The identity of the central character and narrator is never revealed to the reader. He is a best-selling author whose wife, Esther, a war correspondent,
One day Mikhail, his wife's presumed Russian “boyfriend”, turns up at one of his book signings. Mihhail, informs him that his wife is alive and that he knows where she is. Mikhail apparently gets visions and premonitions and believes that he has been given a mission to teach the world about love so before he will reveal Esther's whereabouts he informs the narrator that he must lead him on a journey in search of self discovery.
I found the main character selfish and arrogant. He talks of his love for Esther and his constant feelings of loss yet when they were actually together theirs was an openly unfaithful and casual marriage, meaning that I struggled to grasp quite why he should miss her so much other than it being a case of hurt pride. Nor were any of the other characters totally convincing either. Equally after a long and convoluted journey which eventually leads to the steppes of Kazakhstan we are left with a rather disappointing ending. The reader is none the wiser into what motivated her to leave.
Throughout Coelho makes some pretty sweeping generalizations. In particular that no one really knows how to be happy even going as far as suggesting that a group of drunk hippie beggars know the answer to happiness whilst more conventional, up-right citizens do not. Equally he implies that it is fear that stops us from reaching our full potential.
“…there is always an event in our lives that is responsible for us failing to progress: a trauma, a particularly bitter defeat, a disappointment in love, even a victory that we did not quite understand, can make cowards of us and prevent us from moving on."
This second part I will admit to finding an interesting notion but surely it must be rather dependant on what you regard as success. Similarly whilst it is probably no bad thing for us all to reflect back on our own lives, choices, motivations and in particular quite what it is that we love about that one person in our lives and whether or not we could/should show them that love more often, those two elements alone doesn't necessarily make this into a great read.
This is largely because it is difficult to decide whether or not this was supposed to be a stand alone, moralistic tale or a piece of semi-autobiographical work based on real events in the author's own life, (a fact not really helped when The Alchemist is referred to on more than occasion). Whatever the case I found this was to be a generally lazy piece of wring that stands poorly in comparison with some of the author's other novels that I've read.