Just finished reading the next book by same author, yes Paulo Coelho this morning around 3.30 am. It’s again a superb piece of work. As I read more books my appreciation for the author is increasing. What I like about the books read so far is they prompt me to think, shape up my views on various aspects. I was so involved with the story that I didn’t feel like breaking reading at all.
Eleven minutes happens to be story of a girl from interior of Brazil who goes on to become a prostitute in Switzerland. The book portrays the story of this lady finding true love, understanding various facets of the pleasure and pain. The story happens to be based on a true story. Also one gets insight on why some people find pleasure in pain, and how the same can be achieved by various means. The dialects sometimes seem too philosophical and difficult to understand sometimes and detailed explanation of justifying an act as felt by the character and the very next chapter is complete opposite as why the act is not good and how one can accomplish the same result using other means which seem to be much more correct. So at one moment you are bind to think what the character is thinking as being correct and the very next moment the author presents a completely different view of same through the character again. Paulo does a wonderful job of holding of the interest in the story till the very last moment. The story ends on an open note but only after one reads the Afterwords one can see the ending. Since most of the dialogues are without refereeing to who said it, it is difficult to grasp who said it if one is not into it…even then sometimes there are confusions …but mostly one can make out. I would be wrong to say I understood all what is there to learn in one reading, I guess I need to read it 2-3 times to get all points which the author is trying to make. There is a lot to learn from the book and reflect upon. I never felt fiction books would be like this as I didn’t read any such before.
Some quotes:
* Prostitution isn’t like other businesses: beginners earn more and more experienced earn less
* People talk as if they knew everything, but if you dare to ask a question, they don’t know anything
* If you live your life intensely, you experience pleasure all the time and don’t feel the need for sex
* World go round is not the search for pleasure, but the renunciation of all that is important
* As you go in on the first floor back window. –You need to read the book in order to get this one ;)
* True experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world (love) without owning it
* 11 minutes- the amount of time spent actually having sex
*Some Brazilian superstitions:
-when you visit someone for the first time, you must not be the first to open the door when you leave, because if you do, you will never return to that house
-You should never light more than three things with the same match
*Shu-gen-do
Eleven minutes happens to be story of a girl from interior of Brazil who goes on to become a prostitute in Switzerland. The book portrays the story of this lady finding true love, understanding various facets of the pleasure and pain. The story happens to be based on a true story. Also one gets insight on why some people find pleasure in pain, and how the same can be achieved by various means. The dialects sometimes seem too philosophical and difficult to understand sometimes and detailed explanation of justifying an act as felt by the character and the very next chapter is complete opposite as why the act is not good and how one can accomplish the same result using other means which seem to be much more correct. So at one moment you are bind to think what the character is thinking as being correct and the very next moment the author presents a completely different view of same through the character again. Paulo does a wonderful job of holding of the interest in the story till the very last moment. The story ends on an open note but only after one reads the Afterwords one can see the ending. Since most of the dialogues are without refereeing to who said it, it is difficult to grasp who said it if one is not into it…even then sometimes there are confusions …but mostly one can make out. I would be wrong to say I understood all what is there to learn in one reading, I guess I need to read it 2-3 times to get all points which the author is trying to make. There is a lot to learn from the book and reflect upon. I never felt fiction books would be like this as I didn’t read any such before.
Some quotes:
* Prostitution isn’t like other businesses: beginners earn more and more experienced earn less
* People talk as if they knew everything, but if you dare to ask a question, they don’t know anything
* If you live your life intensely, you experience pleasure all the time and don’t feel the need for sex
* World go round is not the search for pleasure, but the renunciation of all that is important
* As you go in on the first floor back window. –You need to read the book in order to get this one ;)
* True experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world (love) without owning it
* 11 minutes- the amount of time spent actually having sex
*Some Brazilian superstitions:
-when you visit someone for the first time, you must not be the first to open the door when you leave, because if you do, you will never return to that house
-You should never light more than three things with the same match
*Shu-gen-do
More reviews here.
6 comments:
just now I finished reading the same book and I must say that I totally agree with what you have written in your blog. That was exactly what I felt too after reading it. I wished there were more pages to read. As you said, it's not easy to understand everything written there by reading the book once. So I too hope to read it once again :).
Before reading this I've read the books 'The Alchemist' and 'The Zahir' by the same author but this is my favourite.
Hi Mihiri, Thanks for posting the comment:). 11 Minutes is definitely one of the best books I have read till now.I would recommend you to read Veronica Decides to Die by same author. It is also superb reading...initially u may find it boring but hold on and read till the end...its amazing.
Hi again!
Thanks for recommending that book of the same author. I will read that book too for sure.
After going through your blog, I realized that you read a lot and I also saw that you've read some of the books by by the author KHALED HOSSEINI and you know, the next book I'm going to read is 'The kite runner'. A few weeks back I watched the movie 'Kite runner' and after watching it i got the feeling that I should read the book too. But I wish I would have read the book before watching it. However I look forward to read and see whether the film is equally good. I also want to read one of your favourites 'A thousand splendid suns' by the same author.
May be you could recomend me some nice books u've read no matter who the author is. :)
Great :)! You will like Kite Runner too I am sure. Ah you already saw the movie....anyways movies and books can be very different.I have not seen the movie so cannot comment further. A thousand splendid suns is also great work.Its difficult to guage which is better.I enjoyed reading both...Kite runner reading inspired me to read the next book of same author. I next book on my reading list is The White Tiger by Arvind Adaga.
Fine. :) I've also heard about the book and saw it's available in the library as well. An Indian author and the Booker prize winner, right? Do write about it as well in your blog once u read it :).
I also like the books by another great Indian author, R K Narayan. I've got most of his books. The problem with his books is he is so.. good in English that he has used almost all the words in the English language to write his books making us hard to understand the story without the help of a dictionary. :)
Yes very correct:). Surely I will write once I am done with reading.
I Havent read any of RK Narayan's book but like a lot television series based on his stories called Malgudi Days (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malgudi_Days). very simple yet powerful stories. Since the stories were translated into Hindi it was much easier:).
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