I had been reading Paulo Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello for some time, and finally finished it over the weekend. And, as usual, I am here to rant about it. :)

The synopsis of the book attracted me greatly – mainly the excerpt that said “Athena’s greatest problem was that she was a woman of the twenty-second century living in the twenty-first, and making no secret of the fact either. Did she pay a price? She certainly did.” I read this, and I just knew I was ready to read the book.

I simply loved the concept of the book – as the excerpt makes it clear, it is about this woman called Athena who is ‘different’. She believes in following her heart, thinking out of the box, and her actions are quite often outside the limits of what is considered ‘acceptable’ by the society. She is branded as a ‘witch’, and faces a lot of difficulties in pursuing her chosen path. I could relate to Athena in a lot of ways, as I am sure a lot of modern-day women would.

The issues presented by Coelho left me feeling a lot sad – for the Athenas of this world and for the society which will not accept them. I liked the way Coelho has developed the story of Athena – short descriptions about Athena by the people who knew her.

However, overall, I would say this is not my most favourite of Coelho books. It failed to touch me the way other books of his have so far. The description felt limp at places. I missed the way I enjoyed reading other books of his – deep, requiring me to stop reading and contemplate at places.

Not exactly my cup of Coelho. Would give it 2.5 stars. Maybe you’d like it better than I did?

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OT Update:

Country covered – Brazil

Read-o-meter: 4 down, 6 more to go.