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Brida is up for the worst book I've ever read, partially because it was so bad it wasn't even funny.
Right! I keep reading his books, but only because I enjoy learning languages and they're always written very simply and are very easy to read for beginners, I recommend him only for that reason! As awful as the books might be they are still better than books that are designed for language learners. Those books go out of their way to include characters booking into hotels, reporting lost luggage, checking in at airports, ordering food in a restaurant etc. etc. And they're always murder mysteries on top of that!
Paulo Coelho is a famous and beloved writer whose ideas influence so many people all over the world. His ideas are very important specially because there are millions of people who believe in them and influence their life. That is why his books are translated and read by people of all nations on earth.
However, those ideas are so selfish and ego-centered that makes a man with similar characteristics, while build walls between people and takes it out of the society. He supports the competition and fighting, instead of cooperation and peace. He is fan of the “warrior of the light” and believes in alchemy and life elixir. All his books are full of miracles and magic and of fantastic symbols.
So, let's have a dialogue with him and his ideas. As he proposed to those who criticize his books, write a book instead, I listen to him and do so. A book opposite to each book of his, are written by me and have begun to be published as e-books and as hard copies.
Now you have a dialog (from the Greek word “διά-λογος”) in front of you, to read, evaluate and implement in your life. This is a dialogue which is present for the first time ever. Take advantage of it, come to your conclusions and stop believe blind what you read every time.
When a person tells me he/she "LOVES" Cohelo, suddenly my esteem for him/her comes to grief...
More pop spirituality. A waste of time, in my view.
I read the book and was bored to death. I think this novel does not deserve all hype it recieved. "By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept"is far much better. It is his fines work no The Alchemist sorry Alchemist fans.
This is a shallow work, front-loaded with platitudes. The pot at the end of the rainbow is a fool's dream.
Reminds me of the deep philosophy found in college sophomore bull sessions at 2:00AM (fueling by beer or pot optional).
This book takes an old yiddish joke, gives it a new geographical setting and pretends it is profound. Nothing original about it all
The plot was very predictable. The story was uninteresting. The prose was very basic, almost insultingly simple. The message was vague.
i find it hard to believe how many people just don't get it. Coelho's books make you think. that's all, that's it, get it, think.
No, they don't. They make you THINK you're thinking, with terrible plots, barely-there characters (I've seen better character development in Tom and Jerry cartoons) and an overall didactic message that doesn't actually analyze anything. Coelho is to spirituality what Dr. Phil is to psychology--pop culture "analysis" that makes people feel better about doing nothing. If it's a gateway to exploration for some people, that's great. But those who stop at the books and think they've come to some sort of grand universal truth are missing the big picture. They've barely grasped a pixel.
think you're thinking?? really, listen to what you just said. it make no sense at all.s
I agree..after all the hype and recommendations , the book simply ddnt touch my heart.. It is such a sad feeling when you read a book with such enthusiasm and end up unsatisfied..
LOL...Well, thank God the man's not still alive or he'd turn over in his grave after hearing your thoughts about his book....Wait a minute...he's not, still alive...is he?
Thank you. Just thank you so much for this! I've been thinking this for years, fucking YEARS, and finally I've seen someone say it straight and true. Thank you.
You are most welcome. For those who were interested, I updated my list with commentary and such on my blog, if anyone wants a way to quickly access it. Living here: http://writingcyborg.blogspot.com/201...
I was in a somewhat snotty mood regarding Coelho at the time. Might revise my intro later on to make it a little less combative. But the information is all there for those who want it.
I really don't think you were too combative. There are too many cop-outs out there today and it's a real travesty when it comes to books and literature, it's as if people are wholly unwilling to challenge themselves.
Thank you, Eoin! I just don't want to turn people off before they get to the actual message, ya know? And by insulting something they may have pulled some value from, that's definitely a quick way to make them click away. So I might tweak.
Yeah, this book did nothing for me. I read it years ago and I can't even remember anything apart from thinking: what's all the hype about. I thought I just didn't get it since so many people gush about it, but I let that thought drop and moved on. Glad I'm not alone in seeing nothing mind catching in the work.
I found that I couldn't really get into the story because the writing was so distracting, but I've always given Coelho the benefit of the doubt and assumed that most of the magic in his writing was lost in translation.
I sorta agree with Kirsten. It done nothing for me spiritually. But I'm glad I read it. there are a lot of people who talk about it and at least I have an opinion now. and you are right. It does show what advertising will do for book sales. Coelho made a truck load of money off of us.
I read this book because one on my relatives recommended me, I didn´t know anything from the author and I though "Ok, I´m going to read a spiritual book, lets try". I hate it. So, I am with you.
I feel the same way- it was a decent read but I didn't find it to be a compelling spiritual journey. His novel Adultery, however, I feel truly shows his skill if you like steamy novels that are written by talented people
I am sad that I wasted money buying this book due to the hype and I was looking for a fun fiction book to read amidst my academic studies. I read the first chapter and started searching for others who also felt his writing is too boring and simplistic. I mean, I can still enjoy a book like The Secret Garden so its really depressing to me to see Paulo's low level of writing ability being regarded so highly
. :( So, even though I wasted my money, I am not going to waste any more of my time on him.
I've Heard a lot about "The Alchemist" and recommended to read this but I must say it was just waste of my time. I couldn't keep my interest and somehow completed in the curiosity that some interest would develop but in vain
Yes, the hype was real. But the book offers so little in terms of what can be considered real or practical. Optimism is good (debateable) but outright delusional is never a good thing and the Alchemist does very little in drawing that line.
I agree. I think this is one of the worst books I've ever read.
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Sara
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Dec 11, 2012 07:48PM
Brida is up for the worst book I've ever read, partially because it was so bad it wasn't even funny.
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Right! I keep reading his books, but only because I enjoy learning languages and they're always written very simply and are very easy to read for beginners, I recommend him only for that reason! As awful as the books might be they are still better than books that are designed for language learners. Those books go out of their way to include characters booking into hotels, reporting lost luggage, checking in at airports, ordering food in a restaurant etc. etc. And they're always murder mysteries on top of that!
Paulo Coelho is a famous and beloved writer whose ideas influence so many people all over the world. His ideas are very important specially because there are millions of people who believe in them and influence their life. That is why his books are translated and read by people of all nations on earth.However, those ideas are so selfish and ego-centered that makes a man with similar characteristics, while build walls between people and takes it out of the society. He supports the competition and fighting, instead of cooperation and peace. He is fan of the “warrior of the light” and believes in alchemy and life elixir. All his books are full of miracles and magic and of fantastic symbols.
So, let's have a dialogue with him and his ideas. As he proposed to those who criticize his books, write a book instead, I listen to him and do so. A book opposite to each book of his, are written by me and have begun to be published as e-books and as hard copies.
Now you have a dialog (from the Greek word “διά-λογος”) in front of you, to read, evaluate and implement in your life. This is a dialogue which is present for the first time ever. Take advantage of it, come to your conclusions and stop believe blind what you read every time.
When a person tells me he/she "LOVES" Cohelo, suddenly my esteem for him/her comes to grief...
More pop spirituality. A waste of time, in my view.
I read the book and was bored to death. I think this novel does not deserve all hype it recieved. "By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept"is far much better. It is his fines work no The Alchemist sorry Alchemist fans.
This is a shallow work, front-loaded with platitudes. The pot at the end of the rainbow is a fool's dream.
Reminds me of the deep philosophy found in college sophomore bull sessions at 2:00AM (fueling by beer or pot optional).
This book takes an old yiddish joke, gives it a new geographical setting and pretends it is profound. Nothing original about it all
The plot was very predictable. The story was uninteresting. The prose was very basic, almost insultingly simple. The message was vague.
i find it hard to believe how many people just don't get it. Coelho's books make you think. that's all, that's it, get it, think.
No, they don't. They make you THINK you're thinking, with terrible plots, barely-there characters (I've seen better character development in Tom and Jerry cartoons) and an overall didactic message that doesn't actually analyze anything. Coelho is to spirituality what Dr. Phil is to psychology--pop culture "analysis" that makes people feel better about doing nothing. If it's a gateway to exploration for some people, that's great. But those who stop at the books and think they've come to some sort of grand universal truth are missing the big picture. They've barely grasped a pixel.
think you're thinking?? really, listen to what you just said. it make no sense at all.s
I agree..after all the hype and recommendations , the book simply ddnt touch my heart.. It is such a sad feeling when you read a book with such enthusiasm and end up unsatisfied..
LOL...Well, thank God the man's not still alive or he'd turn over in his grave after hearing your thoughts about his book....Wait a minute...he's not, still alive...is he?
Thank you. Just thank you so much for this! I've been thinking this for years, fucking YEARS, and finally I've seen someone say it straight and true. Thank you.
You are most welcome. For those who were interested, I updated my list with commentary and such on my blog, if anyone wants a way to quickly access it. Living here: http://writingcyborg.blogspot.com/201...I was in a somewhat snotty mood regarding Coelho at the time. Might revise my intro later on to make it a little less combative. But the information is all there for those who want it.
I really don't think you were too combative. There are too many cop-outs out there today and it's a real travesty when it comes to books and literature, it's as if people are wholly unwilling to challenge themselves.
Thank you, Eoin! I just don't want to turn people off before they get to the actual message, ya know? And by insulting something they may have pulled some value from, that's definitely a quick way to make them click away. So I might tweak.
Yeah, this book did nothing for me. I read it years ago and I can't even remember anything apart from thinking: what's all the hype about. I thought I just didn't get it since so many people gush about it, but I let that thought drop and moved on. Glad I'm not alone in seeing nothing mind catching in the work.
I found that I couldn't really get into the story because the writing was so distracting, but I've always given Coelho the benefit of the doubt and assumed that most of the magic in his writing was lost in translation.
I sorta agree with Kirsten. It done nothing for me spiritually. But I'm glad I read it. there are a lot of people who talk about it and at least I have an opinion now. and you are right. It does show what advertising will do for book sales. Coelho made a truck load of money off of us.
I read this book because one on my relatives recommended me, I didn´t know anything from the author and I though "Ok, I´m going to read a spiritual book, lets try". I hate it. So, I am with you.
I feel the same way- it was a decent read but I didn't find it to be a compelling spiritual journey. His novel Adultery, however, I feel truly shows his skill if you like steamy novels that are written by talented people
I am sad that I wasted money buying this book due to the hype and I was looking for a fun fiction book to read amidst my academic studies. I read the first chapter and started searching for others who also felt his writing is too boring and simplistic. I mean, I can still enjoy a book like The Secret Garden so its really depressing to me to see Paulo's low level of writing ability being regarded so highly. :( So, even though I wasted my money, I am not going to waste any more of my time on him.
I've Heard a lot about "The Alchemist" and recommended to read this but I must say it was just waste of my time. I couldn't keep my interest and somehow completed in the curiosity that some interest would develop but in vain
Yes, the hype was real. But the book offers so little in terms of what can be considered real or practical. Optimism is good (debateable) but outright delusional is never a good thing and the Alchemist does very little in drawing that line.
I agree. I think this is one of the worst books I've ever read.
