A Review on Paulo Coelho's "The Zahir"

The Zahir. A Novel of Obsession.

it seemed more of a novel of learning about love to me. throughout the course of reading, i'd always find myself sighing, "this writer is good." and although all would probably be aware that he is himself a wide reader and that he travels when he writes, i still am amazed by how he comes up with all these ideas and what's more awing is how they turn out when he's put them together. like a story. like the Zahir's author's story.

the Tengri. the Presence and its Appearance and Voice. the Movement. the Lady. the Favor Bank. the Zahir. the Acomodador. the act of oblivion towards one's Personal History. the many Pilgrimages. the power and the sufferings caused by the flowing Energy of Love. the Organized Society of the outside world. the Steppes and its Culture. the Effects of reading this book to Me. what more shall a critic say? Coelho has divulged part of his life however uncertain one may be that the Zahir is actually his real life story--what does it matter? i can feel him in every word. he and his words touch me and whenever i encounter a moving and/or a thought-provoking quote or sentence, i find myself stopping--reflecting, agreeing in his statements, thinking about applying what i've read in my real life.

i rate The Zahir as my second favorite Coelho, tied with Veronika Decides to Die. The Alchemist still is at the top of my list.

for literary genius, for the impact implied on my life, for the caused tendency to change my life, for the brave explanation of love, for giving me a break from my highly-usual timetable, i give the novel El Zahir a five-starred applause and its author a hundredfold more.

A Cup of Japanese Sencha with Ten Spoonfuls of Sugar

i decided i wanted to write at this moment. spontaneously, i think. i haven't as much as reflected over my life as i frequently did in the past (funny how i now call last week "past"). oh--of course, there are the major exams, the assignments from the school paper, the interviews i've got to schedule with the organizations they call big and at the same time of which i haven't even heard of, the org president im supposed to feature whose name i dont quite know..but also, there's the new ritual i have started three days ago (involving weird poses--but not really yoga level, low impact aerobics, walking, running, dancing? technically, yes, dancing) because i felt my body was carrying too much unwanted and unnaturally occurring want-nots that need to be expelled in the most vigorous and painful slash time consuming manner possible. well it actually did me good, i felt lighter, and, well, cleaner, if such a case exists--not that i was a dirty person back then. ah.. yes, partly the reason why, you perhaps noticed, my headshot has been absent in your message board for a while. i don't know what came up to me but i just all-of-a-sudden-ly wanted to take control of my body. Nietzsche (i hate that name. why does it have to be spelled so hostile? ggr.. typing his name took me about 10 seconds on the processing alone) once said that "There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosopies." Uh-huh. i thought it was planned, you know, me being this conscious and all, because it was about a couple of days after the onset of my errm, healthy-body regimen when i read this passage. a shocker: i started eating vegetables. that's a miracle, people, please realize that that is a very big leap for mankind. im serious! having not much to do one day, i was browsing through articles and reads on the internet -- and why do so many people drink green tea? so what if it helps in increasing body heat (which leads to weight loss--aha!!)? so what if it has anti-oxidants, prevents food poisoning, and helps fight early cancer? does that matter? has the internet gone to the pedestal of influence that i myself have asked my mom for some of her green tea teabags at home and decided to replace my coffee with the oh-so-healthy green tea? (yeah, that worse.) i don't care about the health benefits anymore, i mean, it tastes so.......foul. i'm currently apologizing to the 3-in-1 coffee packs on my pantry for the absurd idea of abandoning their faithful service for me, especially on those sleepless nights facing my anatomy book. green tea is like.. eew. i've cleaned my mug after suffering from a single cup, i thought the smell alone would kill me. sigh. so much about my--okay..okay, im saying the magic word--dieting.

im happy because the exams are here and i feel like im the freest man in the world. i'll recount one negative-forced experience during my ethics exam. the papers were passed and the usual post-exam habit of students--asking questions and discussing the exam they've just had, as if talking about it would make any difference--and, since our lessons revolved on sexuality (yeah, the favorite of filipino students), the student on my north-east asked me, "sharee, what's your sexuality?" i was like did i hear it right? and i responded with a "what?", followed by a stupid "why?" and the girl was smiling a tiny smile. this is a worst-case event. i said with a puff, "heterosexual." damn. i hate it when people question my sexual preferences. im not close-minded, neither am i a Conservative, but hell, if there's one thing in the world that i am sure of, it's that i'm straight. people just dont get that, do they? should i blame them for their ignorance? because i do not go to school wearing (piloerection taking place while i am typing this) such thick make-up, a foot-long pair of earrings, why? because i don't like the color pink as much as every girl does? is that even required? why, because i don't go to the CR and brush my hair after every five minutes? people--these people--just don't get it. arrggh. i hate that classmate, i'm telling you. she's out of my "Tolerable People Loitering Around Me" list. i hate her. oh, i've said that already. those kind of people have no idea what being a real female takes. no idea, them.. and i pity them for that. they remind me of those stereotypical girls i knew from high school. and the smile on that girl's face makes me loathe her even more. how obnoxious!! maybe i'll give her some coelho books for christmas. (which reminds me, it's September!! happy ber-months people.)

this is on the spot blogging, so please bear with me if this post is nonsense, or if the statements are sometimes incongruent as a themed unity. what else--? ahh, yes. besides counting calories and getting pissed off by unworthy scumbags, i have been experiencing literary visions. like walking thorough the streets and a nice title of a poem pops in from nowhere, then, upon reaching my destination, memory betrays me and that nice-title-idea is gone forever. im quite pleased that this happens a lot during the subjects i am forced to take up just because they are GE courses. so i am redeemed from listening to the boring ways and turns of the constitution and from the endless storytelling of my cfe "teacher" (honestly, even if i listen to her, all that i would be learning is her family's life story--her son getting married, her co-teacher's sexual confessions, her third year daughter attending the capping ceremony that afternoon--the list is infinite.) and am instead presented with hours of opportunities for my writing deprivations to be quenched. whether im scribbling through my books or on the notebook i always carry with me if ever a nice idea comes up or on whatever writeable surface, it does not really matter.

and i think i forgot to tell the universe that last sunday i have regained my interest in pursuing nursing. i am not that shocked, neither are my friends, because yes, i AM that fickle-minded, more than the average happenings even for regular females.

bye for now, i'm giving in to temptation asking me to get up and turn on my music loudly to disturb the tenants on the other rooms. devilish acts are sometimes just too rewarding.

[apparate-SONORUS!!]