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A review by kalebthereader
Hippie by Paulo Coelho
3.0
A story which felt scattered and like a semi-stream of consciousness with a plot line that simply didn't carry the novel. Several times while reading I honestly felt like this book could’ve been condensed into an article online and had a much stronger point. Unlike The Alchemist, where every sentence truly mattered and made you stop and think, this story had several passages that truly could’ve been cut. Neither of the main characters was likable in my opinion - a much more viable choice for a protagonist would’ve been Jacques and Marie or the drivers instead of a privileged male like Paulo basically living off of his parent's money.
In the beginning of the autobiography, the audience is transported to Paulo’s home country where he suffers from his most traumatic incident. While the situation is definitely scarring, the way it’s written feels like a semi-cheesy action film where you expect Paulo to light off a detonator and fly away in his chopper.
With all of that being said, if you love reading about this period of time it’s still a fairly pleasant experience. As someone who hasn’t had the chance to leave America yet, I always love escaping through literature - I just would’ve loved for Paulo either to take more time to actually explain his surroundings areas or again put it into an email lol. For me, this “autobiography” would be around a 2.5-3/5 range! For how incredible this story should’ve been with what the situation was it missed that magic that Paulo is famous for in my opinion.
I will say though, Marie's LSD experience in Istanbul is fucking wonderful.
In the beginning of the autobiography, the audience is transported to Paulo’s home country where he suffers from his most traumatic incident. While the situation is definitely scarring, the way it’s written feels like a semi-cheesy action film where you expect Paulo to light off a detonator and fly away in his chopper.
With all of that being said, if you love reading about this period of time it’s still a fairly pleasant experience. As someone who hasn’t had the chance to leave America yet, I always love escaping through literature - I just would’ve loved for Paulo either to take more time to actually explain his surroundings areas or again put it into an email lol. For me, this “autobiography” would be around a 2.5-3/5 range! For how incredible this story should’ve been with what the situation was it missed that magic that Paulo is famous for in my opinion.
I will say though, Marie's LSD experience in Istanbul is fucking wonderful.