Eleven Minutes Review:

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

Eleven Minutes tells the story of young Maria living an innocent life in a Brazilian village and is played out in a measured fashion, but with all the author's brilliant scene-setting (very lush here) fully in place. But then Maria experiences love and suffers great pain. From this point, Coelho has us inexorably in his grip. Maria's disillusionment with love leads her to Geneva where she finally ends up selling her body (Coelho may offer us the beauty of life, but never at the expense of its harshness). Maria's approach to sex is complex--this is no mere revulsion arising from what she is now doing with her life. And then she meets a seductive young painter, who may or may not offer her a new path in life. But does she prefer to continue on the dark sexual odyssey she has embarked on, at the expense of real love?

This novel caught my attention because the novel begins like a fairy tale - "Once upon a time, there was a prostitute named Maria" the story is written with a highly impressive start ,well Maria leaves her home to seek fame and fortune and ends up on the streets. This book talk about how we confuse sex & love.It is sure worth a read.

Read in April 2008

★★★★