Eleven Minutes – Paulo Coelho

‘You can’t say to the spring: “come  now and last as long as possible. ” You can only say: “Come and bless me with your hope, and stay as long as you can “. ‘ 

   Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho 

This is a completely spoiler free review so you are welcomed to read the whole thing if you haven’t read the book . In here are my views on this book and what I liked or didn’t like . My experience with this book may help you to get to know if this book is for you and if you should read it or not . Also this isn’t a sponsored review. It’s my own honest words.  

From the back over –   Eleven Minutes,  tells the story of Maria,  a young girl from a Brazilian village,  whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heart-broken . At a tender age , she becomes convinced that she will never find true love , instead believing that “love is a terible thing that will make you suffer…” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune yet ends up working as a prostitute.  

In Geneva,  Maria drifts further and further away from love while at the same time developing a fascination with sex. Eventually ,Maria’s despairing view of love is put to test when she meets a handsome young painter. In  this odssey of self discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness ,sexual pleasure for its own sake , or risking everything to find her own “Inner Light” and the possibility of sacred sex , sex in the context of love . 

In this gripping and daring new novel, Paulo Coelho sensitively explores the sacred nature of sex and love and invites us to confront our own prejudices and demons and embrace our own “inner light ”  

“His books have had a life-enchanting impact on millions of people .”-  The Times.  

Before we head over to the actual review let’s know a bit about the author.  

                  PAULO COELHO 

Paulo Coelho de Souza Portuguese (born August 24, 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He is the recipient of numerous international awards, amongst them the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. Early in 2017 he has been nominated by the Albert Einstein Foundation as one of the 100 leading visionaries of our time . His novel The Alchemist has been translated into 81 languages.According to The Washington Post, Paulo Coelho has sold an estimated 350 million books and is the all-time bestselling Portuguese-language author.

(Extracted from Wikipedia).

Okay so now that you know about the author and the blurb of the back cover . Let’s get deeper into the review.  

           My thoughts on this book . 

Passion makes a person stop eating,sleeping, working,feeling at peace . A lot of people are frightened because ,when it appears ,it demolishes all the old things it finds in its path.. .

               -From Maria’s diary. 

Ratings – 4.5/5 

This book is a box full full of paradoxes. It begins with “Once upon a time there was a prostitute named Maria…”  It follows the life of a young girl named Maria from her first heartbreak to her discovery of sacred sex;  a perfect blend of true love , spirituality and pleasure of the body.  

Maria’s life as she thinks is a series of mistake, her  pure innocence is shattered by bitternesses  in relationships in her childhood.  She seems adventure and denies to be a ordinary country girl from Brazil that she is . She believes  there’s much more to life . She grabs her share of fortune and flys to  city of her dreams – Rio de jenerio ! Lured by an foreigner Roger, for money fame and adventure she lands up as a bar dancer in Europe.  

But soon the need for money and prevailing circumstances takes her in to the profession of body trade – Prostitution. She enrolls herself in one of the most top pick up bars of Geneva, Switzerland. Every day there’s more clients, she takes it strong, only as a profession and continues . Soon she’s the favourite of all . The “Special client’s too.  

“I would like to believe that I am in love .with someone I don’t know and who didn’t figure in my plans at all. All these months of self control , of denying love ,have had  exactly the opposite results. I have let myself be swept away by the first person to treat me a little differently. ”

           – From Maria’s diary. 

Then enters a handsome painter Ralf Hart and in no time Mr.Hart steels Maria’s heart.  They get into a mysterious relationship.  Not of love , not of friendship but of something even more than that.  And then begins her quest for the meaning of love , does that pleasure she wants she gets?  Will Ralf Hart stay with her?  What will be Maria’s next mistake ? 

Read to find it out . 

Let’s get on to the next segment … The segments which makes us connect to the book . You guessed it right . The characters.

  

Paulo Coelho’s books are mostly character driven. His lyricist side is shown by the words of his characters . The lead character or protagonist was weak , meare, clumsy in the beginning and grew up to be a confident , self satisfied woman . Maria who never got into proper relationships and always searched for love learnt to love without expecting a return , and learnt to love without conditions . Most importantly she learned to love herself . Maria’s life was taken from a real life Prostitute. 

Apart from Maria there was one notable character . And that is Ralf Hart ! A successful 29 year old handsome painter with whom Maria secretly falls in love. Ralf was portrayed as a twice divorced melancholic man who has lost interest in everything except his passion for painting. 

The growth of the characters was quite appreciable.  The way the characters bloomed and discovered themselves caught me . I felt for the characters. And that’s how characters should be.  They should touch your soul and imprint a mark on them.  A mark for the rest of your life . 

Getting on to the writing segment .. 

I loved the writing style of the book . The chapters are written from a 3rd person’s point of view.  But after each chapter there’s a note from Maria’s diary where she pours her heart out and writes what she feels . Through these little segments the author connects the readers to his characters.  There are quotable words and phrases all around the book . Also as expected we get to see Coelho’s lyricist style of writing.  The writing of the book makes it a treat of read and hooks you up untill the last page . 

This image is created by me and is not subjected to any copywrites

This quote is one of my favourite quote among many others from the book . The writing is so surreal and it almost relates to your own life . 

I liked this book alot.  And it’s been a day I haven’t started on a new book cause the book touched me so deep that I wanted to treasure the feeling of it . The reason behid me giving it a 4stars and not a complete 5starts is that , there are minor mistakes in the book . Like the confusion of places . If you are someone who is not familiar with different places it will be a little hard for you to grasp things . As there was many location changes in the book we expect to be transported to those exotic location with the words and feel the places (at least that’s what I expect from a book) but the author failed in on that aspect. The places were not described vividly and I craved for details . The book is written apparently and focus is made on the development of characters so it lacked that narrative parts . There weren’t much of an explanation to anything . And that’s the reason I ended up giving it a 4star.  

Recommended to?  

Above 18 read is appreciated.  As topics like sadomaschism and body trade are openly discussed . Also there are explicit parts of orgasms and sexual contents. So read only if you are comfortable with that . The book is sought of philosophical so not recommended to young souls . And if you enjoy lyrical writing you are bound to love this book . 

This ain’t a clicklit or anything of that sought so don’t expect cheesy romances . (Spoiler! There aren’t any cheesy romance scenes ) but if you into understanding the deeper meaning of love , life and relationship then read this book .

This ain’t a book for beginners!  There are deep thoughts expressed in here so you won’t enjoy much and you can’t get into the book . (There’s no fun reading a book you can’t enjoy right ??? ) 

Till the next time keep spreading book love . 😍😘 Bye lovelies and keep reading .