ضميري يمنعني غالبا من أن أبدأ كتابا ولا أنهيه !
كويلو حبيب الجماهير .. :/
الرواية فقيرة ،
من زاوية الحب فالقصة بسيطة ولا تصلح قصة غرام .
أما من زاوية الإيمان ومعرفة الله فالرواية أتت بتساؤلات قد يطرحها الملحد أو ضعيف الإيمان، ثم ماذا بعد أين الأجوبة ؟؟!
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ربما هي آخر رواية أقرأها لباولو ... فالحياة أقصر من أن نقرأ كتبا لا تضيف إلى إيماننا وعواطفنا وحبنا شيئا يذكر.

By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho offers an exploration of love, spirituality, and personal transformation, but ultimately falls short in delivering a meaningful or engaging narrative. The prose feels overly simplistic, and the philosophical musings often come across as repetitive or forced rather than thought-provoking. Coelho's attempt to explore the deep connection between the protagonists and their journey towards self-actualization feels superficial, lacking the emotional depth or complexity needed to make their journey resonate.

The pacing is slow, with long stretches of introspection that detract from any potential momentum. The romance, which is central to the story, feels clichéd and contrived, making it difficult to connect with the characters or their emotions. Rather than offering insight, the book seems more like a collection of vague aphorisms, which may appeal to readers seeking spiritual guidance but will likely frustrate those hoping for a more substantial or nuanced story. Overall, it’s a disappointing read that fails to live up to the promise of its premise.

Ήταν το πρώτο βιβλίο του Κοέλο που διάβασα και δεν είμαι σίγουρη ότι ήμουν έτοιμη για το στυλ γραφής του συγγραφέα. Μάλλον θα ξεκινούσα με τον Αλχημιστή. Ωστόσο με παρακίνησε να διαβάσω και άλλα βιβλία του.

لم ترق لي هذه الرواية...صفحة تلو الاخرى حتى ايقنت بأن وقتي ضاع بلا فائدة ترجى
وقت المرء أثمن من أن يهدره فيما لا ينفع ولا متعة في هذه الرواية ولا شيء فيها مشوق.

That was actually a very good read. :) I think I'm starting to like Coelho. Hahaha. Sincerely, a Sparks enthusiast. It was a very light-read, and I just felt so at ease while reading it. The beginning parts of the book already caught my interest a lot, and often I was at the edge of my seat waiting for what's gonna happen next in the little love story between the main characters.

I would like to share this very tiny part in the book, that really amused me.

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"Tell me what you know about the religious life, my child."

"Very Little. Only that the priests take a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience."...."That they threaten us with the fires of hell for mistakes that they themselves make. And they present God to us as a vengeful being who blames man for the death of His only Son."

The padre laughed. "You've had an excellent Catholic education." he said. "but I'm not asking you about Catholicism. I'm asking about the spiritual life."
~~~~
:))

I've only had Nicholas Sparks books before in getting my own fix of love/romance novels, so it's kinda nice and refreshing to see how Coelho does it. This is definitely a book I would love to re-read every now and then. :)

I opened this book with NO expectation's. Many people take Paulo Coelho's books with this expectations that it will be as good as The Alchemist is. But no book will ever be good as Alchemist is. So, for me this book was quite unexpected but in a good way. I have read many books of Paulo but this book was quite exception of Paulo's writing. It was desperate, Spiritual and so knowledgeable. I quite learned about Christianity, Spirituality. Love and Decisions.

n  n    “If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him.” n  n

And so the novel starts out. The most beautiful opening paragraph I’ve ever read in my life. And unless you are heartless or have never been in love, I don’t know how this wouldn’t at least rank somewhere on your list of most beautiful passages.

n  n    “By the River Piedra I sat down and wept. There is a legend that everything falls into the waters of this river – leaves, insects, the feathers of bird – is transformed into the rocks that make the riverbed. If only I could tear out my heart and hurl it into the current, then my pain and longing would be over, and I could finally forget.” n  n

n  n    n  n

This book was told by the protagonist Pilar's POV, she took us from the streets of Zargoza to the mountains of France to the river of Piadera. For not believing in Love to falling in love. This book showed us different phases of a human's life to her journey to the life of spirituality. This book's main focus was on the female face of GOD. That women's have been degraded from the early era to now, that Male God's have been more in light then women's. This book told us so many tales and knowledge about Virgin Mary. Which for me was quite interesting. As a Muslim, after Islam the most interesting is Christianity. and this book provide alot of it.

n  n    “In real life, love has to be possible. Even if it is not returned right away, love can only survive when the hope exists that you will be able to win over the person you desire.” n  n

By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept carries a spiritual theme, as he touches quite a bit on the mystical nature of God. In this particular piece, he focuses on the young man’s belief in a feminine God that grants him the power to heal. and then their is Pilar, Pilar struggles to accept and embrace her feelings for him. He struggles to reconcile his love for the seminary, the gifts he has been given and the love he has held onto for so many years. While the beauty of their love story as it unfolds kept me wanting more, I found myself disappointed, especially toward the end when I didn’t feel the same intensity of emotions as I did with the opening paragraphs.

n  n    “But love is much like a dam; if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current.” n  n

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book. I have two more books by Coelho that I want to read. And if you know me, you’ll know that there are VERY few authors from whom I’ve read more than one book. I must really like this guy.

n  n    “That is why I write - to try to turn sadness into longing, solitude into remembrance.” n  n

Buvo ir gerų minčių, bet buvo daug ir painių. Sakyčiau iš visų trijų dalių šita labiausiai man pačiai neįtikusi.

مثل همه ی کتاب های پائولو کویلو خیلی تاثیر گذار بود
یک بار دیگر میخوانم تا آخر همین هفته
یک چیزی در من باید بیدار شود

"El amor puede llevarnos al infierno o al paraíso, pero siempre nos lleva a algún sitio. Es necesario aceptarlo, pues es el alimento de nuestra existencia"

Este libro trata sobre Pilar, una mujer racional que le cuesta mucho enfrentarse a las cosas que no se ajustan a su visión limitada del mundo. Hasta que un día es invitada a un seminario por un amigo de la infancia que era un fuerte líder espiritual, pronto listo para tomar votos como sacerdote. A medida que viajan y pasan por el río piedra deben tomar una gran decisión. Ella debe escoger entre sus miedos de entregarse al amor no controlado, y él entre su misión espiritual o el amor por Pilar.

Lo que más me gustó de este libro fueron todas las frases reflexivas a lo largo de toda la historia. Y también que hablan de creencias muy controversiales como la existencia de una Diosa en lugar de un Dios, resaltando que lo sagrado siempre tiene un lado femenino.

ЗА БОГА, БРАТЯ, НЕ ЧЕТЕТЕ.

2.5 stars *

The novel is about the struggle between who we are and who we want to be , surrendering and making concessions to ourselves and the people we love .

I'm a Muslim and we believe that God has no son wife or feminine face, though i enjoy roaming in the thoughts of other people religions, thus this novel has much much details :D
any way i liked the second idea of the novel of crossing the boundaries that we put to ourselves and let the "other" voice inside as control our lives and decisions life is too short , opportunity is given only once .
But i get bored at some points , the idea of novel is really nice but it needed some-things more .

parts i liked most :


We do not recognize that God is wherever we allow Him/Her to enter*


True love is an act of total surrender.*

The wise are wise only because they love. And the foolish are foolish only
because they think they can understand love,"*

Anyone who can conquer her heart can conquer the world.*

Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows*


The universe always helps us fight for our dreams, no matter how foolish they may be *

If you're expecting another The Alchemist, just stop right there, turn around, and never look back. Seriously. Trust me and do yourself a favor.

After the success of The Alchemist, I feel like Coelho just threw a bunch of ideas together and called it a new story. Sure, it has the themes of faith, love, and following your dreams, but in my opinion, the story just wasn't concrete enough to really... I don't know, actually teach you anything - if that's what Coelho sought to do. The events just felt disconnected.

It took me a few months to finish this book because I kept getting bored of it. I finally finished it for the sake of finishing it.

The author tried to throw in a few themes from The Alchemist, and there are maybe a few good ideas in here, but nothing good enough to waste your time reading an entire book to glean some tidbits.

Note: A lot of reviewers on Amazon said they didn't like the fact that the book delved so much into religion, but I didn't mind that.