Friday, 4 October 2013

91st Blog - "The Zahir" by Paulo Coelho


In my shelf, many books are still in line to finish, while from last two months when I didn't had completed any of book, I should have to feel a self-condemnation. From last two months whenever, I picked any random book, decided hard to read at late night and to complete the same within one or two day; unfortunately always ends with a nap without reading more than five or ten pages at time. But, in past two days, I have had decided, whatever happens or whatsoever condition will be but now I've to finish at least a book that I'm thinking of the days. This time I have done reading “The Zahir” written by Paulo Coelho and feel blessed to returned once again to one of my favorite author. This is fourth accomplished book from same author, the rest are “The Alchemist”, “Brida”, and “Eleven minutes”. While I've “Aleph” in my bookshelf to complete yet.

When I read the title of this book, I thought “Zahir” is the name of storyteller; after a lot of search I feel glad that I was wrong. I searched the meaning of “Zahir” on Google, asked few of my friends and I came to know and according to the book, the Zahir in Arabic means present, visible, incapable of being unnoticed. It is something that grabs our thought, mind and spirit and demands our full attention.

Like all of his other books, this time this book was not of the same superior class as was The Alchemist and Brida but still presented some noble and elevated concepts as presented in all of his books and perhaps is the only reason I read his books because it always tend to feature some sort of spiritual quest to follow a kind of own journey and in own way. I can say “The Zahir” is another stroke of his somehow magnificence efforts.

The anonymous storyteller of this book tells the story of his own, who's relishing the fame and success that his books bring and whose world suddenly comes blooming down with the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Esther, a war correspondent leaves him suddenly without any information or trace of leaving. A woman who leaves her husband with no explanation. When she disappears, he is disturbed by the mystery of what has happened. Has she been killed, kidnapped, or left him for another person. Confused and lost as to why she would leave him, the protagonist is forced to confront his reality, and with the help of an epileptic named Mikhail, begins on a journey of self-discovery. The narrator starts his struggle to find the reason of Esther's disappearance and eventually he realizes that she is the one who fills his life with meaning. The book take the reader on the discovery of love, loss, marriage and relationships. 

In this book Coelho try to take his reader through the process of discovering what love really means, it is not only a physical relationship, while it is a typical stereotype that need to represent from both side.

The story not touched my heart like as of The Alchemist or Brida, but it bring me to a point of enlightenment. Apart to that I like all the short stories which comes in the middle of book. A great book for anyone struggling with attachment or ownership of something that you love.

The best lines I like from this book are -:

“The most important part in a human relationship is a conversation, but people don't like to talk anymore, they don't sit down to talk and to listen. They go to the theater, watch TV, listen to the radio, read books, busy with gadgets, busy with living only a life, but they almost never talk. If we want to change the world, we have to go back to the time when warriors would gather around a fire and tell stories.”


Regards
Dhitendra
Keep Smiling :-)

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