| Having loved The Alchemist, I was excited to read The Zahir. However, after 100 pages more or less, I found the writing to be repetitive, the main character a self-absorbed, whining boor (If I were Esther, I'd leave him, too) and the whole venture with Mikhail, the supposed lover of Esther, meaningless. I did not finish the book because I felt it was going nowhere. Having spent the whole summer reading Bleak House (and loving it because there was a story there), I just couldn't waste any more time trying to finish The Zahir. I won't give up on Coelho, though. The Valkyries is of interest to me basically for its regional appeal (the Mojave desert) so I will try again to see if there is a story there. |