By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho: Book Review

Actually I wasn’t planning to buy another book within a short span but the 15% New year offer in Odyssey was irresistable. Probably a part of destiny’s tricks and magics? You see my third book of Mr.Coelho’s I can’t help writing this way ;) Am already a die-hard fan of his by now.

When two young lovers are reunited, they discover anew the truth of what lies in their hearts.  

This was the description I had read about this book before I had bought it. Well if you are not married yet and in particular still single, no wonder this subject shall allure you. And trust me this is a beautiful love story I’ve ever read!
You like a person. Not sure if you really like him/her. Not sure if it’s love. Not sure if s/he feels the same. Not sure if you both can get closer. Not sure if it’s all going to work out. Above all not sure if you both are meant to be – Yes, uncertainties! This book has a solution.

It’s not fun to sketch the story here or write what the solution is. It’s the reader’s rights. The highlights from my part though:

• The subtle shades of feelings of a girl who falls in love with a guy – to read every thought in her in response to every word and action of his – makes me wonder if the author had lived a life of a girl. Girls, we know we are all these. Guys, understand we are all these.
• Fears, doubts and confusions – a package (or a baggage?) that every woman carries with her. There is an exercise (The exercise of the other) for all girls (guys can relate too) for all of these to be replaced by love and trust.
• Love - the focal point. It’s not an anxious, excited, restless kind of love. It’s I hear what your eyes speak kind of love. The dialogues are not explicitly romantic but bears a profound warmth in between their silences. If you remember O’Henry’s The Gift of the Magi you read in school, you can very much relate the kind of love this book portrays.

The magic moment of a day, Virgin Mary, the courage to stand by the choices we make – are other highlights. As I’d mentioned in my previous post, to appreciate what Mr.Coelho has projected needs a deeper insight. From that point of view, I felt it’s a great read.

Wait. This was the first lesson I had learned about love. The day drags along, you make thousands of plans, you imagine every possible conversation, you promise to change your behaviour in certain ways – and you feel more and more anxious until your loved one arrives. But by then, you don’t know what to say. The hours of waiting have been transformed into tension, the tension has become fear, and the fear makes you embarrased about showing affection.

- From  By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho.

I no longer feel Paulo Coelho is some celebrity living miles away across the oceans. His words have dissolved all the mountainous barriers to reach straight to the reader’s hearts. It’s not a sad tale as how the title sounds. Go get it, get drenched in the magic of love.

Book: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept Author: Paulo Coelho
This review was originally posted at my personal blog Pages from Serendipity on January 15, 2011