Eleven Minutes: A Novel (P.S.)

by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads author!)

published	2005 by Harper Perennial
first published	2003
binding	Paperback
isbn	0060589280 (isbn13: 9780060589288)
pages	320
description	Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . ." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey 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. ...more [close] Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . ." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey 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. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
date added	09-13-06 edit book

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | more...

discuss this book

topics	replies	last activity
Paulo Coelho Group	1	10/23/2007 04:02AM
fara cuvinte	0	03/31/2008 11:03PM
help plz	2	09/22/2007 12:21AM

new topic | see all topics »

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 3310)

Bookshop rated it:

(review of isbn 0007166044)

07/29/07

bookshelves: biography

Read in January, 2006

I was burnt by his book titled "Veronica decides to die". When I flipped through his bestseller, "The Alchemist", I was not too impressed either. I thought he was too "Celestine Prophecy". When I asked people what "The Alchemist' was all about, they always said it was about searching for something. But they could never be able to explain what that something was and they quickly moved on to rave about how inspirational the book was. How you can say searching for...more I was burnt by his book titled "Veronica decides to die". When I flipped through his bestseller, "The Alchemist", I was not too impressed either. I thought he was too "Celestine Prophecy". When I asked people what "The Alchemist' was all about, they always said it was about searching for something. But they could never be able to explain what that something was and they quickly moved on to rave about how inspirational the book was. How you can say searching for something you don't even know inspirational is beyond me. I'm too dumb for stuffs like that.

Anyway, I picked up this book in Freiburg's train station while waiting for our train to Titisee. I remembered wrongly that this was the book that Cindy raved about. Having read her review, I wanted to give Paulo Coelho a second chance.

The book is about Maria, a young Brazilian girl who comes from a poor family, dreams of fairy tales and ends up as a prostitute in Geneva. Apparently, this is based on a true story. That's the first mistake. The idea is not unique but I suppose variations can be spun into interesting stories. However, he fails to marry his philosophical style with this true story with a fixed ending, which, to do it successfully, I'm sure must be extremely difficult.

The first few chapters outlining the life of little Maria are engaging enough. I couldn't put the book down at this stage. Once she gets to Switzerland, the lecturing, dreamy, philosophical style that I dislike starts. Maria is no ordinary prostitute. She is beautiful as well as smart (Yawn). She first attempts to justify her reasons or anybody's reasons to be a prostitute. Before that is concluded, she moves on to find a rich and young and handsome painter who worships her (Snore). At the same time, she is tempted into masochism by a rich (again) and famous music producer who is disappointed by his wife's infidelity. She must choose between these two! That is essentially the story. In between the story about Maria, the author inserts graphic descriptions of various sexual acts, sex education, which sometimes read like a newspaper's sex column (ejaculation is not the same as sex, please!), and historical information (the history of prostitution complete with years marking civilization. Pah!).

I also note a few exaggerations in this book. One I cannot stand is this. He describes that the loneliest people are the top executives, commanding lots of money and respect and having great families, when asked to change jobs by head hunters. The reasons? Because this executive cannot talk to his colleagues as they wouldn't let them go (This is misleading. It highly depends on situation) and he can't talk to his family because the wife, who knows nothing about taking risk, wouldn't let him. HELLO?? Despite his attempt to be sophisticated and deep, this is very shallow indeed.

I wrote the review when I was about 3/4 into the story. Toward the end, her struggle between staying in Geneva or going back to Brazil is slow and painfully dotted with unnecessary pretentious and meaningless analysis of love, sex, women, men, the universe, and the rubbish. After reading the ending, I was further disappointed and decided to downgrade the rating by one more star.

The story can be interesting but it has to be done strictly as a biography, as a story-telling.

This book sorts of seals my dislike of his writings. I dislike the content, I dislike the style. I dislike his empty philosophies. I don't know what to learn from his books. Maybe that's because I don't care to interpret. But shouldn't good writings do not require people to interpret their messages but ponder on the contents? Having said that, try and read it especially if you are a fan. You may beg to differ. ...less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Lesley rated it:

09/04/07

bookshelves: love-sex-obsession

Read in August, 2007

I'm giving this book five stars because I definitely thought it was amazing. BUT ... like every other Coelho book I've read, it let me down in the end.

How can he articulate so many nuggets of wisdom, often through characters the writing of which expresses the irony and profundity of their insights, and yet packaged in stories with such cliche outcomes?!?! So many of his books explore the ephermerality of love, the moment, the permanence of change, the fleetingness of forever... and yet, his...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comments

Audri-Dina rated it:

06/24/07

Read in July, 2004

recommends it for: Soul searcing individuals, people who like to question love

Coelho Definately, knows about life!
This book is a story about Maria, a young girl who's really not settle for being just ordinary country girl. Her jouney begins when one day she went for vacation to Rio Da Janero (wow, she live in the same country as Coelho!!)and a stranger offered her fo working abroad as a dancer. Her life changed on the day she accept the offer. And from the very begining until the end of the book readers could see how life can turn out very unexpectedly. You think you ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Amir rated it:

03/16/07

bookshelves: paulo-coelho

تعداد صفحات کتاب در حدود ۷۰ صفحه هست و موضوع کتاب به صورت خاص به روسپیگری پرداخته شده...مثل خیلی از کتابهای کوئلیو متن داستان ساده و قابل فهم نوشته شده...همراه با جمله های قشنگ و اتفاقات کوتاه ولی جالب...
هدف نویسنده از نوشتن داستان کاملا مشخص هست و حرفهایی هم که می خواسته بگه فهم...more

Like this review? yes

1 comments

Elena rated it:

04/25/07

bookshelves: amazing

Eleven Minutes begins, as most children's books do, with "Once Upon a Time,' but by no means is this novel about sex and love a children's fairytale. It is the fairytale of a young woman in search for the answers to her desires.

Why is it that we all long for love, yet it is so elusive to so many? Is sex an expression of love or merely a physical act? What is worse, to keep love at bay in order to avoid pain, or give in to your passions? By virtue of her profession, the protagonist b...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

Mita rated it:

03/02/08

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Mita by: no one...
recommends it for: everone who want to liberate themselves, perempuan2 , para pelacur yg masih malu2...

Gila sekaliii...!!!

Buku ini WOW & FUIHHHH...

Dalam beberapa hal, Paulo ternyata smacam menyampaikan dengan jelas apa yang aku pikirkan , yakini dan khawatirkan... Padahal aku tidak memiliki koneksi apa2 dengan orang ini (hehehehe yeah of course not,how come idiot?!)

Jelas sekali bagiku pesan mengenai seks dan cinta. Keduanya adalah bentuk kebebasan dan kemerdekaan... Semua sudah begitu banyak yang kehilangan makna hingga harus dimaterikan bahkan ditampikkan dengan wajah kemunafikan...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Danielle rated it:

02/12/08

Read in January, 2002

"If I'm looking for true love, I first have to get the mediocre loves out of my system."

"Original sin was not the apple that Eve ate, it was her belief that Adam needed to share precisely the thing she had tasted. Eve was afraid to follow her path without someone to help her, and so she wanted to share what she was feeling.
Certain things cannot be shared. Nor can we be afraid of the oceans into which we plunge of our own free will; fear cramps everyone's style."

...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

lori rated it:

01/29/08

Read in January, 2007

I was told by a passenger on one of my flights that every woman should read this book and I liked it quite a bit, but not as much as the Alchemist. Parts of it reminded me a lot of other things that I have read, in particular, the parts with Maria's journal reminded me so much of some of Anais Nin's journals that I have read. I will tell you this, there hasn't been a book that I've read in a while that turned me on as much as this book did.

Favorite quotes:
I suffer to think of those peo...more

Like this review? yes
1 comments

Tamara rated it:

08/29/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in December, 2006

“And if nothing belongs to me, then there is no point wasting my time looking after things that aren’t mine; it’s best to live as if today were the first (or last) day of my life” - Maria, Eleven Minutes.

What is Love? This is the question that plagues eighteen-year-old Maria. Maria journeys from her hometown in a small poverished Brazilian village, to Rio to Geneva where instead of living out her dreams of fame and modeling she ends up working as a stripper/prostitute.

She becomes...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

Sabrina rated it:

07/29/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 2007

This is a beautifully written book about the intersections between sex and love. It goes into theories of desire, intense introspection, the "eleven minutes" of sex, which the world obssessed about, and the nature of love.

The book begins with: "Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. Wait a minute. 'Once upon a time' is how all the best children's stories begin and 'prostitute' is a word for adults. How can I start a book with this apparent contradiction? But si...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

Kates rated it:

08/12/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in August, 2007

After reading the Alchemist this book was a let down! I could not help feeling like Coelho was trying too hard to be deep. I did however find several quotes that I really liked:

When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole universe is on our side.

...dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice.

...no one can know how to humiliate another person if they themselves have not experienced humiliation.

I am two women...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

Emma rated it:

02/22/08

I can't believe I read this.

It started out really good. It's about a girl who tries a stint as a prostitute. I tend to like stories like this. And he actually started out doing a good job with it. I was hooked.

But then it became this really heavy-handed feel good, self-discovery thing. And of course this random guy comes along and tells her how to find her self. And of course, random guy knows everything about her, even though he doesn't know her and his words are inspiring and magical a...more

Like this review? yes
1 comments

Amir rated it:

02/19/08

Read in February, 2008

I've started reading the Farsi Translation of the book. And to my disappointment, I've not been able to figure out what exactly was going on and who was who(!) at all, until I now that I have found the English version on the Internet. It is now that I clearly see how CENSORSHIP can deform Art and reduce it to a colourless mask. The translation starts itself this way: "Once upon a time, there was a girl called Maria. Like all girls she was born innocent.... " Yet the English version st...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

Felicia rated it:

04/02/07

Read in August, 2006

I didn't find this nearly as good as The Alchemist. I do not know if Coelho was trying to really get in the mindset of a woman by over-analyzing sex, but I felt a real woman would be less philosophical and more emotional about her experiences. It seemed to me that she was detached from herself and no matter what shocking things would come her way, she would still never be phased by it and I just felt it was too dehumanized. Philosophical rampages on love and being the mother and friend to her...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)
add a comment

Lutfi Retno Wahyudyanti rated it:

11/07/07

bookshelves: novelkeren

Paulo Coelho emang penulis keren. Buku ini cerita tentang bagaimana seseorang memaknai kerjaan. Apapun yang terjadi pada hidupmu, kau masih bisa nentuin pilihan mau jadi apa. Aku suka sama kutipan Hymn of Isis yang dia pake sebagai cerita pembuka. Kata-katanya mirip sama lirik lagu “Bitch” nya Meredith Brooke. Kayaknya buku ini nggak ada terjemahan Indonesianya.
Aku baca buku ini versi terjemahannya Harper Collins. Nerjemahinnya bagus. Kata2nya puitis banget.

Kutipan keren:
To whom I ...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

Sonia added it

11/18/07

اصلا خوشم نیومد . من خیلی از کتابهای پائولو را خوندم ولی معتقدم زدن حرفهای تکراری که تو کیمیاگر اومده بود نیازی به این نوشته نداشت . تو کیمیاگر پائولو میگه که دنبال آرزوهات و رویاهات برو و تو این کتاب میگه فکر نکن دنباله روی بی چون و چرا از رویاها تو رو به موفقیت می رسونه . استفاد...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)
1 comments

Heather rated it:

09/19/07

Read in January, 2007
recommends it for: women and anyone in a relationship

Love, desire, sex, and intimacy. All explained by Paolo Coelho's wonderful way with words. He has a way of breaking things down to a level that even a child could understand, while handling subjects that most normal adults are perplexed by. All while telling an engrossing story. He's definitely a master of our time.
Here, on the surface he tells the story of a Brazilian girl-come-woman who moves to Geneva to model but ends up as a prostitute. Through her story he explains to the reader the...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

Swapna rated it:

09/09/07

Read in September, 2007

It's completely goofy garbage.. Comparing sacred sex to sex without love doesn't require such drastic measures, measures that are completely unrealistic at that. All this book is, is a steamy romance novel about sex, pornography in my opinion. There was nothing intellectual about the novel. Not even in the sense of being able to learn random facts. All it will do is leave an imprint on your mind of detailed sex scenes and then a ridiculously flimsy love story to go along with it that is highly...more

Like this review? yes
1 comments

Alison rated it:

02/11/08

bookshelves: read-in-japan

Read in February, 2008
recommended to Alison by: Shimin and Elaine

I liked it, as I've liked all of Paulo Coelho's book, but didn't love it. I was torn between three and four stars. I ended up choosing four stars because I really liked how risque it was and the fact that it took me longer than a day or two to read. But with the protagonist I was constantly wondering where all her insights actually came from, it's like she's naive one minute and then abruptly wise the next. It makes me wonder if I shouldn't become a prostitute in order to gain some insight into ...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

Erica rated it: (review of isbn 0007166044)

06/25/07

Read in June, 2007
recommends it for: Guys, this book tells you where to find the G-spot ;)

I don't like how Paolo Coelho writes about spirituality, God and finding your path in a very patronising way. Eleven minutes was a different from the other books of his I've read. This story is about a Brazilian girl who ends up as a prostitute in Geneva. She endures her work and her loneliness because she wants to make money and go back to her own country wealthy and appearing successful. She thinks a lot about how to be happy, about love and the meaning of sex. It's a romance novel/sex guide/s...more

Like this review? yes
add a comment

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 165 166 next »

book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.64 (2952 ratings)

avg rating (this edition): 3.65 (2477 ratings)
number of reviews: 382

recommend it | blog it

blog this book
[close]

title link

avg rating

small image

med image

large image

popular shelves

to-read (15)
currently-reading (6)
koleksi-rhe (1)
roman---philosophy (1)
own (1)
lifesoothing (1)
summer-holiday-reads (1)
fiction (1)
to-review (1)
sophie’s-world (1)

other editions

[close] Eleven Minutes (Paperback)
isbn: 0007166044

[close] Eleven Monutes
isbn: 0000000000

[close] Once Minutos (Paperback)
isbn: 0060591838

combine editions | view all 45 »

quote

""Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant."" more quotes »