The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

 

“Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused. This force is on earth to make us happy, to bring us closer to God and to our neighbour, and yet, given the way we love now, we enjoy one hour of anxiety for every minute of peace."

The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in Paris and enjoys all the privileges money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who has disappeared along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover.

Was Esther kidnapped, murdered, or did she simply escape a marriage that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn't have any answers, but he has plenty of questions of his own. Then one day Mikhail finds the narrator and promises to reunite him with his wife. In his attempt to recapture a lost love, the narrator discovers something unexpected about himself.

I should have known better than to expect a standard storyline, don't be fooled by the blurb on the back cover - this book is not a conventional love story.

At first I struggled with the plot - if someone went missing without a trace and the police were called in to take away the husband as a suspect, then surely that would not be the end of the discussion. Wouldn't an investigation have to go on? And wouldn't there be a way to find her - credit cards, passports tracing etc. And I found it hard that it took 2 years for the narrator to get motivated to find where she went - surely he couldn't be that shallow??

You never find out the name of the narrator and I wonder how much of the story and characters are based around Paulo Coelho's life.

For me personally, I found the conversations about love and life happiness between the characters interesting and thought provoking, and while some struck a cord with me, others did not as much.

I really found the metaphor for the writing process interesting on page 69, and also the railway tracks defining a marriage on page 136.

If you a fan of other Paulo Coelho novels then you will also enjoy this one - but if you haven't read any of his other books, then relax, don't fight it, and let the story take you on a journey.