The Valkyries - Paulo Coehlo

[KatFrass]

Well, after reading the Alchemist, I fell in love with the author Paulo Coehlo. I immediately went out and bought another of his books. The Alchemist just spoke to me so clearly.

The Valkyries was the next book I purchased, and I must admit... I hated it. The ultimate message was fabulous.. but I absolutly hated how Paulo portrayed himself. It is the true story of he and his wife for 40 days in the desert in America searching for how to see his Angel. I felt that he came off callous and "bitchy", and found myself rooting for his wife to just up and leave him (even though that wasn't where the book was heading).

And... at the very end of the book... I got a message LOUD AND CLEAR from one of the pages. And by the next moring.. I understood what had happened.. and why I had hated the book so much.

Here is the passage (well.. most of it):
That's what infatuation is: the creation of an image of someone, without advising that someone as to what the image is. But someday, when familiarity revealed the true identity of both, they would discover that behind the Magus and the Valkyrie there was a man and a woman. .....[section not included]........... And when either of them demonstrated how they really were, the other would want to flee -- because it would mean the end of the world they had created.

So... this is why I laughed. See... I read the Alchemist.. and fell in love with all of the things that I thought Paulo Coehlo must have been. I was "infatuated" with him, and had built him up to great heights. For someone to write a book that spoke to me the way the Alchemist did, he must have been truly amazing, and insightful, and filled with the glory of the Angels. Well, guess what... in the Valkyries, he pealed off those layers. He showed that he was indeed a man.. with faults and that he was not the "image" that I had created in my mind. And, true to the text.. when he demonstrated how he really was, I wanted to flee, because he did indeed end the image of him that I had created.

So... long story short... I really didn't care for the book.. BUT... I believe that I learned a valuable lesson from this book, and my soul expanded.... I'm glad I read it...

Anyone else have an opinion on this book?

[Geoff]

Dear Kat,

It was one of my favourites. Like you I read the Alchemist first, but I only got to this one about four or five on, and I thought it revealed a lot more about him, and how he got some of his understandings.

I posted on it some years back here : http://board.1111angels.com/viewtopic.php?t=691 I have reviewed many of his books.

love,
Geoff.