Teilweise ein wenig zu langgezogen, aber gut

This mainly tackles the long-debated and at times become boring question of whether human beings are basically good or bad. However, the parable-like storytelling approach still brings out distinctive familiar Paulo Coelho's trademark that we all fell in love with in his The Alchemist.

Had Mr. Coelho opted to have evil triumph in the end, I would have given this a higher rating. I definitely believe that all of us are basically good and I know that to counter that would not make this novelette hit the bestsellers' list. However, what is the point of reading a novel if it does not present a different side of what we know? What is the point of reading a novel if not to either entertain us or make our view on life richer - broader or sharper? Yes, reading this novel felt dragging especially in the middle part and for a 205-page sparsely-typed novelette, taking more than 2 days to finish clearly tells me that it is not interesting at all.

Another factor that worked against this novel for me was the fact that I read this right after I enjoyed two works of art: Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami and The Double by Jose Saramago. After those bigshots, reading Paulo Coelho is like stepping backwards twice in terms of your literary preference. It is like you have already graduated with your B.S. Literature degree, successfully defending your thesis on why James Joyce should be the considered as the greatest novelist of all times and suddenly asked by a friend to read the Harry Potter series.

انتشارات مجید/ترجمه بهناز سلطانیه‌
کوتاهی و بلندی زندگی ما به شیوه ی زندگیمان بستگی دارد.
نبرد خیر و شر، به راستی کدام یک پیروز می شود؟

Paulo writing has a unique air to it. He picks up a perfect situation like we do in physics or maths and define a phenomenon over it. Like a proof under perfect conditions. Even if the conditions are perfect that proof hold under all conditions.
This book was 201 pages of philosophical proof that "it is all matter of control and choice. Nothing more. Nothing less" horrible, unkind and unfathomable things happen they happen to many but it is what we do in their response is what that defines us people and humans.
What i like about this book most that it asks all the right questions. Questions that we do not really always have a good answer too. The questions which are not asked frequently as they should but everyone thinks about them or should once in a while. like Why people do terrible things to others what exactly motivates one person to execute another for their cause, how does people justify their evil doings in their head and how they end up blaming God or making it so that they are doing God's biding.
People in this book are not so important as the message that the writer tried to deliver.
The book would have more fun to read if i knew Portuguese, because Paulo has a unique writing style like Mohsin Hamid, the translation feels like it has lacks something. But either way it became one of my favorites.

Life can seem either very long or very short , according to how you live it .





Paulo

I loved each and every page.

دوستانِ گرانقدر، فکر میکنم این داستان بهترین اثر از بین آثارِ «کوئلیو » باشه... کتابی شاملِ 233 صفحه که حرف هایِ زیادی برایِ گفتن داره، ولی به شرطِ آنکه به آن بیاندیشید
مردمِ ساده لوح و زودباور و البته طمع کارِ « ویسکوز» ، تا آخرین لحظه ممکن بود فریبِ کشیشِ ابله و شهردارِ بیرحم رو بخورن
حتی وقتی مردم تفنگ هایشان را پایین آوردن، هنوز کشیش و شهردار با اسلحه آمادۀ شلیک بودند، همیشه در تاریخ همین بوده و هست... و تنها باید سعی کنید اسیرِ دروغ ها و وعده هایِ کثیفِ سیاستمداران و به خصوص دینکاران و مذهبیون، نشوید و وای به حالِ آنروزی که یک دینکار و مذهبیِ نادان واردِ سیاست شود
دوستانِ خوبم، بین آن کشیش و شهردار تفاوت هایی هم بود... عزیزان، همیشه بدانید که سیاست، انسانها را کنار میزند تا راه خود را بازکند. اما دین، انسانها را خیش می زند، تا جای آنها را بگیرد... و مطمئن باشید که خطرِ این دومی بیشتر از اولی است
عزیزانم، اگر لبخند بر رویِ لبانِ یک سیاستمدار دیدید، بدانید که عده ای قبولِ بردگی و بندگی کرده اند و یا انسانِ بیچاره ای، دردِ مصلوب شدنِ خود را مزه مزه کرده است
و اگر دیدید که سیاستمداری لبخند به رویِ لبانش نیست، بدانید که انسان یا یک قوم و توده ای از مردم، زیر بارِ حرفِ زور نرفته و قبولِ بردگی و بندگی را به گردن نپذیرفته اند... دقیقاً مانندِ شهردار که با قبول نکردن و زیربار نرفتنِ حرفش توسطِ اهالی «ویسکوز» خشم وجودش رو در برگرفته بود
تصورِ این که یک سیاستمدار و یک دیکتاتور و یک متولیِ دین، منافعِ عموم
را بر منافعِ فردیِ خود ترجیح دهد، توهمی بیش نیست... تاریخ به یاد ندارد که
تمساحی شکارِخود را به موشی هدیه کرده باشد

در پایان به جمله ای از «برتا» در این داستان اشاره میکنم که بسیار پرمحتوا بود و مخاطبش «شانتال» بود
برتا گفت: زندگی میتواند، بسته به روشِ زندگیِ ما، کوتاه یا بلند باشد

پیروز باشید و ایرانی

Very interesting and educating but hard to follow story.
It was suspenseful, fast paced. Takes you in a world of small celt valley of Viscos, normal people living normal life, i envy them lol.
Paulo coelho’s books always sooth me, whenever i read them, that’s why I read them slowly, takes every word and sentence in my sub conscious and conscious being, and one big reason is that I don’t want to run out of Paulo Coelho’s books.

This is one of those books where “this book was about ___,” is not nearly as important as “this book made me think about ___.” And because of the book’s popularity, you probably already know what it’s about anyway. If not, here’s a refresher: it’s about the battle between good and evil. There are angels and devils, a rogue wolf, an arms dealer, a bar wench and it all takes place in a rural community, purportedly in Brazil.

I’ve read some critiques of this book and one of the complaints I keep seeing over and over again are people complaining about how cliché it is to write a book about good and evil. “Give me a break, it’s all been done before, gag me with a spoon, Christian guilt…, boring, stupid, bla-bla-bla…”

My reaction to those responses is difficult to put into words. Because on one hand, I agree. I’m sick of hearing about it and feeling like it’s being jammed down my throat in ways that are insulting, naïve, dull, etc. But on the other hand, I feel like I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that the concept of an otherworldly battle between good and evil really rings my bell.

I’ve been thinking about this book almost non-stop for the past couple days (hence the five star review). Yesterday afternoon in the food court—I was thinking about angels and devils. Last night when we took a tour through a house that’s for sale—I was thinking about good vs. evil. This morning on the bus—are humans inherently good or inherently evil? Or are we simply tempted by one or the other? Do we have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other whispering into our ears? Where did evil come from? How did it get here? It’s all very interesting and it will make your head spin if you let it. I did.

The book is also relatively short so even though I’m back to work after a Christmas break that was jam-packed with reading, so don’t have nearly as much time to read for pleasure, I still read this book in about two days. Not bad.

قرأت قديما لشخص ما يقول ان الكاتب الجيد ليس ذلك الذي يقنعك بافكاره وارائه بل الذي يحثك حثا من خلال كتابته لتكون انت مفهومك ورأيك الذاتي ..
هذا هو باولو كويلو دائما وابدا .. الرجل الذي لا يقدم اجابات بل فقط يطرح الاسئلة .. يأخذ بيدك كطفل صغير لاه لا يفكر الا بما بين يديه ليضعك امام حقائق كبرى عن الروح والنفس والعالم خيره وشره !

الانسة بريم هي نموذج ذلك الطفل المنشغل بتفاصيل يومه وحياته التي حققها والتي لم يحققها .. ثم يظهر لها الغريب المصحوب بشيطانه .. لكي يضعها امام اختيار حياتها ويضع قريتها باكلمها امام الاختيار .. انها رمزية للعدل الالهي في الارض .. فكلنا سنمر او مررنا او نمر يوميا بمئات الاختبارات التي نكتشف من خلالها من نحن حقا؟! وغالبا ما تكون الاجابات صادمة !

حكمة ان الشر لا يجلب الخير وان الشر اصله الشر وجالب للشر هي التي ينتهي بها باولو من روايته التي تدور احداثها خلال سبعة ايام فقط .. سبعة ايام من الصراع النفسي بين الشيطان والانسة بريم

الرواية لن تستغرق في قرائتها الكثير من الوقت .. ايقاع احداثها السريع يجبرك على ان تنهيها في جلسة واحدة .. اعجبتني بشدة وللمرة الثانية بعد الخيميائي اغرق في تآملات لا حصر لها .. تأملات جاءت في موعدها المقدور تماماً ! :)

انصحكم بقرائتها

The small village of Viscos is dying. All the young have moved to the city, leaving middle-aged shepherds and farmers with a hotel dependent on seasonal tourists. Then a stranger comes to town with the devil who old Berta can only see.

The stranger invites Chantal Prym a waitress at the tavern for a walk in the woods. He shows her two burial spots—one contains a single bar of gold, the other ten bars. It is a test for the town, and Chantal is the one he has chosen to offer the town the gold. The catch is to get the gold then the village a week to commit a murder. The stranger whose family was murdered wants an an answer to the question of evil and whether humanity is immoral everywhere even in the quaint village of Viscos a as death it’s 281 inhabitants.

Initially, Chantal refuses to speak. However, eventually she does and Tiger surprise and horror the town accepts his offer. The rest of the story is about the struggle of whether the town follows through with the murder. It touches on the greed, fear and cowardice of the village community and their justification to commit evil.

The good versus evil and angels and devils is perhaps for me to well defined with no grey areas. The ending was a bit of a letdown with not really morality driving the decision to murder but rather fear of the consequences.

چیز خاصی نداشت و نتیجه می‌گیریم خیر و شر همیشه در حال جدال هستن و این تصمیمات و خویشتن‌داری انسان‌هاست که تعیین می‌کنه کدوم نیرو پیروز بشه.
(حتی خود من هم قانع نشدم.)