By The River Piedra......

The 4th read, was quicker than I expected. As with the others once I started didn’t felt like leaving it in the middle. This one talks about story of love again, starts with a flashback (past) and ends in the present. This one is the first of the novels of the trilogy "On the seventh day". A woman from a small town who is in touch with his childhood friend meets him again on his request after 12 years. They both have stayed in touch with each other through mails all these years. She has stayed back at the same place where as the man has traveled around the world. The ‘Other’ in the woman is quite dominant in the beginning , she questions every move, though she thinks love is not possible as they had been living too far and for love closeness is a must. But to her surprise the man is in love with her and tells her. She first rejects it but as she spends along more time with the man over a week long trip, by the end of it she is deeply in love with him. The man is headed for a spiritual life, has got healing powers which makes him quite popular among the local population living there. They refer to him as the one who perform “Miracles”. The book also talks of the feminine side of the God in form of Virgin Mary (the mother of Jesus). The man has a big belief in the Goddess and attributes the reason for his special skills to be the mother goddess. He takes the woman to places and performs rituals as per those related to the Goddess. The woman has lost faith in the existence of god as she has suffered some setbacks over these years. But by the end of it she has regained her Faith, and in faith is the God. The end is quite interesting when one as a reader the story is poised towards a sad ending with lovers departing…the story takes a twist and the flashback is now complete and present starts…and the two childhood friends reunite.
The title comes from the woman sitting by the side of river Piedra , weeping and writing the story, detailing all what has passed by in one week she was with her childhood friend and who she loves dearly now.

Some quotes:

* Spiritual life is essential to love. One doesn’t love in order to do well or to help or to protect someone. If we act that way, we are perceiving the other as a simple object, and we are seeing ourselves as wise and generous persons. This has nothing to do with love. To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God.

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