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	<review id="34387279">
    <user id="824191">
    <name><![CDATA[Andrea ]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Provo, UT]]></location>        
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  <id type="integer">816720</id>
  <isbn>0007251866</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780007251865</isbn13>
  <ratings_count type="integer">4474</ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">858</text_reviews_count>
  <title>The Witch of Portobello</title>
  <average_rating></average_rating>
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  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/816720.The_Witch_of_Portobello</link>
<author>
  <id type="integer">566</id>
  <name>Paulo Coelho</name>
  <ratings_count type="integer">179065</ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">17188</text_reviews_count>
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    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Those who are looking for the inner flower]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[No one]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 02 14:42:59 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Oct 13 08:35:29 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count>Once - enough</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book was a little &quot;much.&quot; I was first introduced to Paulo Coelho with his acclaimed novel The Alchemist. I loved The Alchemist. It's clear the author is a &quot;spiritualist&quot; and takes pleasure in teaching lessons through simplicity and beauty. I found the Alchemist inspiring and well-written. The Witch of Portobello I found cultish and flowery. There was nothing natural about it - rather - almost something &quot;forced&quot; in trying to convey the story of a young woman finding her &quot;center&quot; through &quot;the Mother&quot; and essentially becoming a Witch; possessed bodies and cultish meetings included. True - I didn't agree with any sort of life philosophy this novel conveyed - the female face of God being freedom from the bondage of a distant omnicient male God. It promoted chaos vs organization and attacked the idea of organized religion at all its core idealogy. The Catholic religion being particularly referenced. He represented essentially &quot;witchcraft&quot; as the ever repressed female belief held under the &quot;male&quot; religious repression what with it's &quot;laws&quot; and precepts regulating our inner passions and natural desires. Not my kind of book - though there were a few good lessons to learn - overall I wasn't impressed. What kept me going is trying to figure out who murdered Athena. Don't worry - I didn't ruin anything. You know she's been murdered in the first pages and it's merely a &quot;look back&quot; at her life prior to that through the eyes of her closest friends and collegues. The strucutre of the novel was interesting - it was the story and ideas themselves that turned me off and I routinely found myself shaking my head in disbelief and almost laughing out loud at some of the attempts at &quot;spiritual&quot; and finding the &quot;inner flower/witch.&quot; Not his best. And I don't know if I'll venture to read another. I should stick with The Alchemist.]]></body>
    <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34387279]]></url>
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