A famous writer Coelho Paulo is my favorite writer. A few months ago, I read his novel called “The Zahir”. This novel also left a significant impact o...moreA famous writer Coelho Paulo is my favorite writer. A few months ago, I read his novel called “The Zahir”. This novel also left a significant impact on me. The novel is about finding true yourself in deep inside you. The author himself calls it a novel of obsession. He himself says that he should not be opening up himself so much to public in the novel. However, that uncovering makes the novel interesting and unique. Coelho is a good spiritual writer. In all his novels, he skillfully paves the way to climax through problems and gives solutions as elixir. However, in this novel, I do not agree with him partly in his solutions, but he brings up many good points or problems in a marriage. Another aspect makes Coelho’s books bestseller is that his novels are full of new information, mostly unknown to common reader before. In “The Zahir”, epilepsy caught my interest. Even though I had information about epilepsy from my “Medical expertise in court cases” class in law school, I learned more interesting information through this novel. He made me watch “The Alice in Wonderland” over again. I also went through biographies of famous people in the history who had epilepsy. Overall, the novel is written well. A reader gets satisfaction through the author’s persuasion. I would recommend it to people who love reading. (less)
The Novel gave a taste of what is being victim and being treated as an enemy at the same time. Romance written very well. It is about grief and patien...moreThe Novel gave a taste of what is being victim and being treated as an enemy at the same time. Romance written very well. It is about grief and patience, I would say. But I have a few notes regarding religious aspects of heroine Arissa or the author who decorated Arissa with. Sometimes she claims to be a decent Muslim. But everything she got as religious are from cultural background for her. She does not have a spiritual closeness with God. If yes, it would have been different. She would not have been nude before Faizan, who was not even her husband by then. She would not have adopted hijab or veil forcefully, because it was tradition in her husband's family. She would not have been in an intimate relationship with another stranger (non-mahram) Zaki. These are sins, which make a Muslim very bad fellow. Furthermore, she questions God several times, very badly, being angry what misfortune God sent her. These actions are so bad so that it expels one from Islam (also kufr). These might feel alright with a reader, but I would say no, because they ruin a Muslim identity. The veil seems has been put to the novel forcefully, being only associate with Islam. There is a chronic misunderstanding or an error about Abu's new family and his son. I fear, non-Muslims get a wrong idea of Muslims by reading this novel. Keep in mind that all characters in this book are "culturally" Muslims. Don't get the idea of all Muslims like them. Maybe some Pakistani's are like them and some "secular" Muslims from other nations too. If she would have close to her religion, i.e. to her God, she would had immediately known that she was chosen among others to be tested, which she recognizes later on. I hope, people like Arissa understand the lesson from a tragedy in their life someday and get close to the One who has written the fortune long before. (less)
Loading...
