I’ve stopped reading the books of Paulo Coelho (PC) Novels published after 2000. I feel that his books published after 2000 are needlessly lengthy, weak in plot, and there is lot of resemblance in whole thought process. In PC’s books, plot generally is not the strongest aspect and I don’t generally look forward to it; it’s his philosophy, his thoughts and his flowing language that keeps a reader glued to the pages. But of late I’ve started to feel kind of repetitiveness in his later works, and books that are autobiographical in subject are not that interesting; making it difficult for a reader to carry on. So I mostly stick to his early works, which I can read over and over, whenever I feel like reading PC. That’s why, I’d no intentions of trying ‘Aleph’, sorry to say, but you can’t help it if someone gifts it to you. So, after 2 years of keeping it in the reading-life-cycle of “ignoring-trying-boring-dumping-ignoring-trying” I finally finished reading it in August 2013 – time of the year when I read PC.
Well, I finished reading ‘Aleph’, all 300 pages of it, and my opinion is still the same. Yes, the plot is interesting; it would have been gripping too, if it were finished in around 200+ pages. But that’s not much of a worrying factor though. In ‘Aleph’ one can see the author questioning his own philosophy – things that he preached in his earlier works. We mostly read PC for the way his books inspire HOPE in us, the way PC’s work make us believe in DREAMs again. When the preacher himself doubt and question his methods, where will the student go and find solace and Hope.
Coming back to the book, In ‘Aleph’ a reader finds PC – it’s an autobiographical story with PC narrating his own experience, not sure how much of it is true though – struggling with lack of progress on the path of Spirituality which has resulted in dullness in his life. He is still away from the spiritual light he has hoped from the path he has taken. So, his Guide J suggests that time for revival is on the way and he must take another adventurous journey to meet his destiny.
During his visit to London, in 2006, he met his publishers from various countries who helped him with the arrangement of number of travel trips to various European countries and one of them was a trip to Russia it involved a long and tedious train journey from one end of the Russian territory to another, from west to east, with visits to number of Russian cities on the way.
Accompanying him on the train are his Russian publishers and editors, and a girl named Hilal, whom destiny brings in. she’s actually the reason for his taking this arduous journey. Through the practice of Aleph, PC finds that he and Hilal, had been lovers in a past live some 500 years ago and in that incarnation he had played a role in the events that lead to her death. In current life, through Hilal, PC is looking forward to correct his mistake and atone for his past actions. Will he succeed? Will this strenuous journey, bring in the spiritual light that PC is hoping for? What exactly happened in that past incarnation, how it affected his later incarnations? Read ‘Aleph’ to find out.
‘Aleph’ is based on the concept of Karmas, wherein your actions of the past lives, affects and play a major role in deciding the destiny of your current life. Life after life we meet and live among the same souls based on our Karmic, and affect each other’s lives. We cannot go back in past and correct our mistakes, but we can surely compensate for them and also make our lives to come easy by being good, right and strong; and by being loving and kind to others.
Yes, there is newness in the plot of ‘Aleph’ and the aspect of train journey, from one end of the Russia to another, intrigue a reader. He finds himself transferred to those unknown but beautiful places, still untouched by modernization, in the Serbian region. I esp. liked the episode that covers ‘Lake Baikal’. Those few pages succeed in providing the glimpses of PC earlier writing style that I really loved. They are gripping and interesting pages, but few.
There are two aspects though on which ‘Aleph’ failed to impress me. Firstly I missed the essence of PC writing style, at most of the places. I didn’t feel connected; there were quite a few lines that have impressed me in general, but in the context of the story they seem artificial/hypocritical. At times you feel that PC himself is unsure of all that he has preached/or talked about in his previous books. He is not a living example of what he talks about. I know people change with time and it’s a good practice to question your own thought process and philosophy time after time. But the way its done in ‘Aleph’ is quite unexpected.
Secondly none of the characters impress in this book. May be they are not constructed properly. I know character build-up isn’t the forte of PC, but somehow you don’t feel anything for them, no love no hate. Don’t even like the self-portrayal of PC, wasn’t a good experience to know about the way he really is in life. A believer of PC Philosophy may lose some faith after reading book like ‘Aleph’
So, I wasn’t to read ‘Aleph’, but things don’t always work in accordance with your plan. But make no mistake, for a new reader of Paulo Coelho; ‘Aleph’ will definitely form a very good read. For old timers I am not sure. Its good in parts and towards the end get fast paced as well with a very dramatic climax. But I have read too much of Paulo Coelho by now - and that too mostly the better works of him - in that context ‘Aleph’ is quite an average affair. Its good but not as good as is expected from PC.
QUOTES: No matter what, Paulo Coelho’s books provides ample amount of words to Quote from. Here are some of the Gems from ’Aleph’:
1. “If you spend too much time trying to find out what is good or bad about someone else, you’ll forget your own soul and end up exhausted and defeated by the energy you have wasted in judging others.”
“Don’t be intimidated by other people’s opinions. Only mediocrity is sure of itself, so take risks and do what you really want to do.”
“Travel is never a matter of money but of courage”
“Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.”
“God only allows us to see such things when he wants something to change”
“Each time we embrace someone warmly, we gain an extra day of life.”
“It is possible to avoid pain? Yes, but you’ll never learn anything. Is it possible to know something without ever having experiencing it? Yes, but it will never truly be part of you.”
“To become really good at anything, you have to practice and repeat, practice and repeat, until the technique becomes intuitive”
“Only children believe they’re capable of everything.”
“It’s what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future.”
“Sometimes you have to travel a long way to find what is near”
“We become imprisoned by our memories, and that makes our lives wretched.”
“Suffering comes from desire, not from pain.”
“To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life.”
“When we turn around & come face to face with our destiny, we discover that words (spoken) are not enough. I know so many people who are brilliant speakers but are quite incapable of practicing what they preach. It’s one thing to describe a situation & quite another to experience it."
NOTE : Today - 24th August 2012 - marks the 66th Birth Anniversary of Paulo Coelho. This review is my tribute to one of my favorite Author on his special day