I went on reading, by the time I realized I was half way through. this book is a master piece, it speaks about the obsession one can have over another person, the zahir that’s what author calls it. we all lack in universal love that’s what I feel, if you do to this book can shed some light on it.
Story is short and crisp, one can finish it in two sittings. A famous writer gets accused in missing case of his wife Esther, she left him with no answers, police think that she ran away with another guy, one day a guy named Mikhail approaches to writer at a book signing and reveals to him about a mystery of his wife sudden disappearance. both Mikhail and writer meet several occasions in a bar where Mikhail speaks about love. though Mikhail and Esther have a strange connection still he helps writer to set out an pilgrimage to find his wife.
Paulo Coelho used concept of love and mixed it with mysticism. and most part of the story speaks philosophy of love. and there is one short story he wrote in which two fire marshals walk to a lake, and one person’s face was dirty and other one was looking good. here writer posses question who is going to wash his face first, we all think it is dirty faced guy but turns out it not, the one with good looking face washes first because he looks at face of his friend and thinks even my face is dirty I need to get cleaned. this story applies to all of us, we try to find ourselves or answer to our questions from other people, in reality we can just ask our-self or maybe go deep within.