First contact with Coelho

Paulo Coelho seems to be quite a prominent writer, but I've been in the dark in regards to his work. A person recently suggested that I might want to look into Coelho's By the River Piedra I Sat and Wept and that it might give me some insight on the things that I've been experiencing and been a part of for the past half a year. Yesterday I went and got the book and I more or less read it in one sitting.

While reading the book, it felt very much like it had intelligent things to say. There was substance, it explained things that I hadn't known how to phrase properly. It was written in a manner which allowed it to be read very quickly. But when it ended, I guess the top most feeling that was left was bewilderment. In a way it felt like the book had spoken to me. And even now I will admit that it was decently well written. But in a strange way I felt sort of similar as when I finished the notorious Da Vinci Code years ago. It was entertainment, it made you feel fluffy. But in fact I'm still questioning the actual substance in both. I've heard Coelho being praised for giving insights, but I felt that he had chewed everything for the reader and didn't really leave that much to think for the reader. Everything was handed on a silver platter, and this was a bad thing as in fact I don't think there was that much new or interesting that he contributed. The book was entertaining, but ultimately I have to classify him and his book into the same category is shallow consultants and fortune tellers.

If you read the previous entry, I guess this was one of the things that gave me the motivation to type it up. Don't get me wrong, though. Coelho might be a brilliant writer and a brilliant thinker and according to some quick research with Google, he even seems to be quite a nice chap and engages in many types of charity work. But personally I was left feeling a bit empty. But in a way he rises above so many other authors, since I did get provoked enough to actually brush on him and these subjects in two blog posts. Not that many authors have recently done that to me.