Paulo
Coelho’s atrocious mess of a pseudo-novel is making the rounds and
wrongheadedly mislabeled as a “deep examination of the self” yet again. Just
hearing this assertion makes me bristle. His poor substitute for a
self-examination is not only trite; I would go so far as to consider Coelho’s
book misleading and somewhat dangerous, since its materialistic ending could
lead one to entirely the wrong conclusion about the point he was supposedly
trying to make in the first place. But I don’t expect much more from a writer
who can’t write a realistic dialogue, let alone characters, to save his life.
In short,
it’s candy for people who come to the book looking for a hearty meal. It may be
fun (for...someone, I suppose?), but it’s not going to give you any sustenance (and may give you diabetes).
Mmmm…candy.
Wait, what
was I saying? Oh, yeah. Substance.
Save
yourself some time and a dented wall. Because, trust me, if you have any
self-awareness at all, the end of this book will make you throw it across the
room (if you make it that far). If you want to read his book to become more
self-aware (and more universally aware, for that matter), you might consider
giving some other books a try.
Which books?
Well, I’m glad you asked. I’ve assembled a “scratch the surface” sort of list
to get you started. There are benchmark books, such as Plato’s Republic and other religious and
philosophical source material that are also valuable, but I’ve left those more
hefty books off the list in favor of books that might serve as a launching
point in more accessible language and with an approach that could hopefully be
an easier way to start. Once you get compelled by one or two of these, continue
digging! Suspect anyone who claims to have all the answers, but keep searching
anyway. The scenery on the journey is totally worth it.
