Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Magic and sacrifice? Or, a self-opionated heroine, 25 April 2007
I have long been a fan of Coelho, and so was eager to read his new release. Having now finished it, I disagree slightly with the blurb on the back cover which describes it as a novel which will "transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy and sacrifice".
The story is about Sherine, or Athena as she prefers to be called. At the starte of the book, we now that Athena is dead. The novel is set out as a collection of stories about her by people that knew her well, or who had come into contact with her during their life. These different perspectives help the reader to form an idea of who Athena is and, more importantly, why she became known as the 'Witch of Portobello'.
It becomes clear that Athena was a fiercely independent person; someone who could go from being on the brink of striking someone to being placated and seemingly portraying an air of serenity and peace. I suppose it was this juxtaposition in her as a character that made me struggle with the idea that she sacrificed anything in her life. I cannot say much without giving the ending of the book away, but once you read the novel, you should understand what I mean.
Looking at this novel compared to his other works, there are obviously many similarities. Spirituality is present in all of his works, and I do not see this as a bad thing. In fact, this is part of the reason why I like Coelho so much. Having said that, I do think there are times that the story gets a little lost because of Coelho trying to put more into the spiritual side of this particular story.
Personally, this was only a small gripe whilst I was reading. What remains is that his writing is simple yet beautiful. Some of the phrases he uses continue to stop me in my reading tracks, so that I can think about what he has just said, and how this applies to me. Coelho is a writer that certainly touches my soul, like no other.
I would recommend this book - although it is one I feel I need to re-read before I am able to get the most from it. If you are new to Coelho, I would suggest you try his classic, THE ALCHEMIST, first.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witch captivates, 21 Mar 2008
Paulo Coelho of international fame for his book The Alchemist has here in The Witch of Portobello has woven a very unique and compelling tale. Part of what draws the reader in is the story itself and part is the very unique way it is written. Rather than a straight forward narrative, or a dialogue or even a series of letters this is a unique narrative technique. It is written as a series of first person accounts of individuals interactions with our unusual heroine Athena aka the Witch of Portobello.
These stories, taped interviews and letters have been compiled by a narrator we do not know until the end of the story. He has decided to let Athena's story be told as other's tell it, through their own words, and with all of their emotions, anger, support, respect or disgust. What we learn from these accounts is not only is Athena a bit of an enigma, from these accounts we could almost assume that almost every person encountered a different Athena, an Athena of the making in their own mind. The way the 'biography' is written it allows us to draw our own conclusions, rather than a traditionally researched biography that is colored by the lenses that cloud the vision of the biographer. Much as each of us look at the world through a series of lenses of our experiences, and cultural biases.
Athena is a young woman who tries to fill the spaces, the silences in her life. The more she tries to fill them the more dissatisfied she becomes. Until she learns that it is the silences between the notes that make the music so powerful. When she learns to embrace the silence, the spaces, she finds a power an energy. She becomes a spiritual leader, some see her as a saint and some see her as a sinner. She is both revered and feared. A saint and a demon. The compiled documents help us to see Athena for who she was.
So join our unknown biographer as we trace the life of a murdered young woman and journey around the world and into an unseen spiritual world. This book is better than some of Coelho's more recent offerings, and the narrative tool will draw you in and keep you turning the pages.
A warning though the book deals with earth religions and has some new age ceremonies in it, therefore it will not be for all readers.
(First Published in Imprint 2007-05-18 in the 'Book Review Column.)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witch captivates, 21 Mar 2008
Paulo Coelho of international fame for his book The Alchemist has here in The Witch of Portobello has woven a very unique and compelling tale. Part of what draws the reader in is the story itself and part is the very unique way it is written. Rather than a straight forward narrative, or a dialogue or even a series of letters this is a unique narrative technique. It is written as a series of first person accounts of individuals interactions with our unusual heroine Athena aka the Witch of Portobello.
These stories, taped interviews and letters have been compiled by a narrator we do not know until the end of the story. He has decided to let Athena's story be told as other's tell it, through their own words, and with all of their emotions, anger, support, respect or disgust. What we learn from these accounts is not only is Athena a bit of an enigma, from these accounts we could almost assume that almost every person encountered a different Athena, an Athena of the making in their own mind. The way the 'biography' is written it allows us to draw our own conclusions, rather than a traditionally researched biography that is colored by the lenses that cloud the vision of the biographer. Much as each of us look at the world through a series of lenses of our experiences, and cultural biases.
Athena is a young woman who tries to fill the spaces, the silences in her life. The more she tries to fill them the more dissatisfied she becomes. Until she learns that it is the silences between the notes that make the music so powerful. When she learns to embrace the silence, the spaces, she finds a power an energy. She becomes a spiritual leader, some see her as a saint and some see her as a sinner. She is both revered and feared. A saint and a demon. The compiled documents help us to see Athena for who she was.
So join our unknown biographer as we trace the life of a murdered young woman and journey around the world and into an unseen spiritual world. This book is better than some of Coelho's more recent offerings, and the narrative tool will draw you in and keep you turning the pages.
A warning though the book deals with earth religions and has some new age ceremonies in it, therefore it will not be for all readers.
(First Published in Imprint 2007-05-18 in the 'Book Review Column.)
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