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A review by mvlibrary
The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
3.0
I fully thought this was a true story until I reached the LITERAL end like where the author talks about the book and there's a little interview included with how he came up with the differently elements etc.
Weirdly enough, even though I now know it is completely fictional, I still kind of feel like it was a true story? Regardless, the main character was gripping, Athena is plugged into the beating heart of the universe and Paulo Coelho is such a spectacular writer I honestly believed everything Athena said in this book??? Like, I thought it was a true story, and there was a few times where I looked away from the page and honestly asked myself if this is what it felt like right before you join a cult.
The structure of the book was also unique and it made the flow of reading faster in my opinion.
Overall, I enjoyed this read, it definitely lit a fire under my ass and got me thinking about some 'big picture' stuff, which is always something I look for in my reading. I wrote a few passages down and used them as reflection prompts, which honestly I find works with all of Paulo Coelho's writing that I've encountered so far.
3/5 because I read it right after Sally Rooney and this book was focused on exploring an idea (the female face of God), and although I like idea-driven books, I definitely am more delighted by character/emotion/human-relationship centered writing.
Weirdly enough, even though I now know it is completely fictional, I still kind of feel like it was a true story? Regardless, the main character was gripping, Athena is plugged into the beating heart of the universe and Paulo Coelho is such a spectacular writer I honestly believed everything Athena said in this book??? Like, I thought it was a true story, and there was a few times where I looked away from the page and honestly asked myself if this is what it felt like right before you join a cult.
The structure of the book was also unique and it made the flow of reading faster in my opinion.
Overall, I enjoyed this read, it definitely lit a fire under my ass and got me thinking about some 'big picture' stuff, which is always something I look for in my reading. I wrote a few passages down and used them as reflection prompts, which honestly I find works with all of Paulo Coelho's writing that I've encountered so far.
3/5 because I read it right after Sally Rooney and this book was focused on exploring an idea (the female face of God), and although I like idea-driven books, I definitely am more delighted by character/emotion/human-relationship centered writing.