Book Review : Eleven Minutes By Paulo Coelho
Book Review: Eleven Minutes
By Paulo Coelho
Eleven
Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose
first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she
becomes convinced that she will never friend true love, instead believing that
“love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer….” A chance meeting in Rio
takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune.
Maria’s
despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young
painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between
pursuing a path of darkness- sexual pleasure for its own sake-or risking
everything to find her own “inner light” and the possibility of sacred sex, sex
in the context of love.
“Life
always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most
brilliant.”-Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes.
Eleven Minutes - Plot
We meet with Maria, a young Brazilian
woman. She is the protagonist of the story. She is a young sensual and strong
woman. She falls in love when she was small, which tampers the very concept of
love for her. When she turns 19, on a Swedish stranger’s promise she leaves
Rio, for fame and money.
Maria meets with the reality of world.
Her failure and triumphs get her from a restaurant dancer to high-class
prostitute. Love, some thing she wished for as a kid has now become an
impossibility. Maria reckons that “Eleven Minute” is the average time it takes
in paid up-sex. She discovers her “inner light” when she meets a supposedly
special client, a handsome painter. She must choose between her dark past or
the scared sex(love) she finds after all the hardships.
Paulo Coelho, portrays love, sex, and
life in a beautiful and subtle way. The book talks a lot about female orgasm
and discovery of self through it.
My views on “Eleven Minutes”
I got to read this book back in
2018. Its easily one of the first books I read when I started my reading
journey. Paulo Coelho is world renowned author, with some of the best books out
there under his name and this one is yet another one of his hits.
I loved it. The story speaks of
Maria and how she discovers her true self in this world. It talks a lot about
sex. One might just confuse this with an
erotic genre but its way deeper than that. Maria’s journal reflects on the life
lessons and her experiences. The book is philosophical in a different way. It
is made for a mature audience.
Now coming to the story. Maria’s
struggles with finding love are what we all can relate to. It is difficult to
find “inner light” in difficult circumstances, for Maria it doesn’t happen
until she meet this handsome painter who reminds her of her true value.
Throughout the book you see how
she tries to make enough money to go back to her country. She is in this
strange land trying to survive.
I love the portrayal of sex and
how it is supposed to be scared. It glorifies love and pain. Honestly, I was
routing for Maria to have that ending.
I recommended this book to my best
friend and then my mates. It is a really good read, just approach it with an
open mind.
READ MORE- The Love Hypothesis
READ MORE- Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
READ MORE- The alchemist
Quotes from “Eleven Minutes” that will make you read the whole thing:
“When I had nothing to lose, I had everything.
When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.”
“When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a
sense that the whole universe is on our side. And yet if something goes wrong,
there is nothing left! How is it possible for the beauty that was there only
minutes before to vanish so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from
heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.”
“No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone.
That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the
world without owning it.”
“Anyone who is in love is making love the whole
time, even when they’re not. When two bodies meet, it is just the cup
overflowing. They can stay together for hours, even days. They begin the dance
one day and finish it the next, or—such is the pleasure they experience—they
may never finish it. No eleven minutes for them.”
“I’ve learned that waiting is the most difficult
bit, and I want to get used to the feeling, knowing that you’re with me, even
when you’re not by my side.”
“All my life, I thought of love as some kind of
voluntary enslavement. Well, that’s a lie: freedom only exists when love is
present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels
freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly.”
“Profound desire, true desire is the desire to be
close to someone.”
“Human beings can withstand a week without water,
two weeks without food, many years of homelessness, but not loneliness. It is
the worst of all tortures, the worst of all sufferings.”
What can you take away from “Eleven
Minutes”?
I will write from my personal
learnings. Eleven Minutes talks about love. How it is supposed to be
unconditional, sacred, and free. It gives life lessons if observed in one’s own
life can be fulfilling.
Love is a complex word in itself. Paulo simplifies it a bit for us in this book. He shows what you search outside might just be in you. We see Maris grow as character, she comes from resenting her life to meeting someone who truly values her. It is a beautiful story.
Overall rating- 4.1
Plot- 4
Characters- 4
Plot-twist- 4.5
Ending- 4
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