The Witch of Portobello (P.S.)

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Although Coelho, in an interview about the motivation for writing the book, noted he wanted to explore the feminine side of God, for me, its scope was even broader. It is a study into the personal and spiritual meaning of life, happiness and self-fulfillment in a society built on rules and conventions. The work also expounds a selection of philosophies, which bear a certain degree of similarity to Coelho's teachings from previous novels and carry the characteristic imprint of his own ideas, as well as a citation regarding the ephemeral nature of desires, which appears in most of Coelho's novels. The rest of the novel is set as transcripts of interviews with different people in her life leading to her death in an effort to reveal who she really was. This is performed artfully by Paulo Coelho who strings a cohesive, intriguing story of the development of the protagonist and simultaneously presents the complex and differing views of who Athena is through the eyes of all the characters. The novel unravels Athena's mysterious beginnings, via an orphanage in Romania, to a childhood in Beirut. When war breaks out, her adoptive family move with her to London, where a dramatic turn of events occurs... Through a series of interviews, multiple characters explained their experience and connection to her. We uncover pieces of who she was through different perspectives. But did anyone really know her? All her life, she felt a constant void that continuously nagged at her soul. The biggest question she consistently pursued an answer to was this: who am I?

Walk into any bookstore in the world and the odds are good, you'll find a volume by Paulo Coelho. The 60-year-old Brazilian-born author has written eight novels, two memoirs and several other volumes. He has sold nearly a hundred million books, and his works have been translated into 64 languages. Coelho uses a number of narrators to flesh out Athena's story, and these differing perspectives add a real depth to the story line. As a reader, you like some narrators and dislike others, which gives you the ability to take what you like from each and leave the rest, creating your own picture of Athena as you go. Athena’s business/career side as a successful real estate agent in Dubai is only lightly referenced, mainly to explain how she financially supports herself in her multi-year-long journeys to different parts of the world in search of who she is through dance, calligraphy and ceremonies. People learn twenty-five percent from their teacher, twenty-five percent from listening to themselves, twenty-five percent from their friends, and twenty-five percent from time.” The Witch of Portobello, Paulo Coelho I recommend The Witch of Portobello to any reader who seeks in life. For people on a quest for themselves and their spirituality.The book talks about free love, a river which overflows its banks, which is above all the concept we associate with love, like desire, possession or betray. The Saint finds her true reason for living in unconditional love and in her ability to give without asking anything in return. YDSTIE: Author Paulo Coelho joins us from Paris. His latest book is "The Witch of Portobello." Thanks so much. But all I know is this...the protagonist of the book, Athena, follows a winding path to enlightenment in the form of a female deity. And along the way she struggles to transcend society's expectations of her. The book is about the power that everyone has to find their own spirituality and fight against the norm. And in spite of myself, the novel made me feel able to make my own decisions, both practical and spiritual.

Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Old_pallet IA15425 Openlibrary_edition The Saint: The one who finds her true reason for living in unconditional love and in her ability to give without asking anything in return. I think that the fact that it is told from multiple narrators really enhances the story. It is interesting to hear the different opinions on Athena and her teachings. I've encountered multiple narration in other books and hated it, but in this book it works very well. My only criticism is that because the characters are never really explored in depth, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the different narrators, however this is a minimal issue. Few writers are able to accomplish what Coelho can in just two to four weeks—which is how long it takes for him to write an entire novel.She kept constantly destroying and rebuilding herself. Everything in her life had followed the same pattern: from lost to found; from divorce to new love; from working in a bank to selling real estate in the desert. There was only one thing which remained intact, that was her son. He was the only connecting thread.

That said, me as a writer, I also try to understand myself better, and the only way that I have to understand myself better is by sharing myself with myself, meaning, that I have to write and when I write, I understand what is inside of me in an unconscious level, then I think it is also part of the human condition to somehow divide your feelings with other people so you feel that you're not alone. As the book begins, Athena is dead. How she ended up that way creates the intrigue sustaining the book. [2] The child, Sherine Khalil renames herself Athena after her uncle was discussing with her mother on how her real name will betray her origins and something like Athena gave nothing away. As a child, she shows a strong religious vocation and reports seeing angels and saints, which both impresses and worries her parents. If you would like to read more of Paulo Coelho’s books, then here is a review of another book, ‘ The Alchemist.’ Give it a read. I will see you with the next post, till then keep celebrating life! The novel in this novel is the portrayal of the internal conflict of the female and what she suffers in her life from kaleidoscope and pressures and how to face it. True, it is a difficult and profound method, but it is not simple to understand. In this book, Coelho works with the return to the goddess religion, the interpretation of love, and the feminine part of the Divine within the theme of searching for one’s true self and opening to the energies of the world. [1] The question central to the story is "How do we find the courage to be true to ourselves - even if we are unsure of who we are?"The main character, Athena, discovers that there could be more to life after going to her neighbour's flat to complain about the loud music. What she sees when she arrives is a group of people dancing around to music - eyes closed, unaware of anything around them. She questions this with her neighbour who advises that he'd found some writing from his father, that spoke about dancing being a way to connect the participants to their inner self, and in turn to the light and The Mother. Athena then embarks on her own spiritual journey. This book is more of a spiritual life lesson than a real novel. There is no real plotline - Athena travels around and learns lessons, but thats the extent of the storyline. This doesn't matter though, as it's the meaning behind the plot that makes this book so wonderful. I bought this book in Cabo for a few pesos and later found it was being given away FREE, so my expectations were somewhat tempered and let me just say Coelho does not disappoint. Ahem. She grows into a woman in search of answers to many questions that arise within a person. She had a life which many felt was content because she had a child of her own, money, and friends; everything but her mind was at peace, so she searches for the answer to the classical question of "Who am I?" through many experiences. In her quest, she opens her heart to intoxicating powers of mother and becomes a controversial spiritual leader in London.

The Bible, which contains all the stories and all the guidance humankind needs. ( Bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.) A tale spun in a way that gets you thinking and then rejoicing. A necessary "hearing" quite revealing, amazing, thrilling and well done! Paulo writes with a passion to transform. This tale uncovers the feminine side of God. A MYTH = A dance with a thought that never was. THE WITCH OF PORTOBELO = An allegory, or Cohelo's tremendous interpretation of a meaning other than a literal definition. The energy of love can never be lost-it’s more powerful than anything and shows itself in many ways.”Shreine Khalil, known as Athena was born in Romania and her parents, a successful industrialist family of Beirut adopted her, as their much loved, much-wanted daughter, who grew in wisdom and beauty. From an early age she had a strong religious vocation and knew all the gospels by heart, which was a blessing and a curse. She had the secret desire to become a saint someday. She had everything one can ask for, and yet it didn’t satisfy her restless soul. Her adopted mother, who was always ready to take care of her, give her all the love and comfort she could, want to see her win in whatever she does, though didn’t understand her, who felt that “a mother doesn’t have to understand anything, she simply has to love and protect”. A father, who loved her, was ready to be by her side in whatever she does and believed and respected her opinions as most correct even when she was just a child. The best of education that she left before completing; got married and divorced with a son in twenty; left the Church, on which she had deep faith from her childhood, after it forbade her from receiving sacrament, due to her divorce; a good job in a bank what she left when she was being just more than successful; took the job of selling land in dessert and left that too when she was earning more than enough, a successful Journalist, whom she left, who was ready to leave everything to love her. She was a restless soul, whom the success and comfort couldn’t content, who was learning all her life to suffer in silence, abandoned again and again by her birth mother, then by her husband and then by the Church she was so attached to, was trying to understand the meaning of life, through dance reaching Vertex and through calligraphy and passing this energy, the secret of rejuvenation to everyone else. Mr. COELHO: I totally agree. I totally agree. And I think that religion, like the Catholic Church, is a body that it is our life and changes, it does not change fast but it changes. So I would say that at the end of 2,000 years - 200 years, you will not be here, I will not be here. But somehow A, they're going to allow women to celebrate the Mass, which is forbidden today; B, they are going to allow priestess to marry, which is also forbidden, and finally, they were to understand that somehow the Virgin Mary is the manifestation - the way that we you worship the Virgin Mary is the manifestation of the feminine face of God. Vertex is the culminating point of life, the goal of all those who, like everyone else, make mistakes, but who, even in their darkest moments, never lose sight of the light emanating from their hearts. The Vertex is hidden inside us, and we can reach it if we accept it and recognize it. The Virgin (not speaking of sexual virgin): One whose search springs from her complete independence and everything she learns is the fruit of her ability to face challenges alone.