Book review: Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho

Last year I read Aleph by Paulo Coelho the day I finished my exams, this year he published yet another book, the Manuscript Found in Accra. Being a big fan of his books, surely I did not want to miss this chance of having finished my exams so early in May to read this new book of his. Unfortunately to my surprise, this new book of his is way shorter than his previous books for some strange reason; it was only 111 pages when I read it on my iPad. But I reckon it was meant to be as short as it is not much a novel given its narrative style.

 
There was not much story woven into it, the book in its entirety is about the words of a Greek guy, known as the Copt to the people of Jerusalem during their last days before the holy city was invaded by the French army in the name of the Pope in the month of July in 1099. He told the people of Jerusalem who began to crowd him where he stood,

“I am a learned man, and yet, despite having spent all these years restoring antiquities, classifying objects, recording dates, and discussing politics, I still don’t know quite what to say to you. But I will ask the Divine Energy to purify my heart. You will ask me questions, and I will answer them. That is what the teachers of Ancient Greece did; their disciples would ask them questions about problems they had not yet considered, and the teachers would answer them.”

…..“None of us can know what tomorrow will hold, because each day has its good and its bad moments. So, when you ask your questions, forget about the troops outside and the fear inside. Our task is not to leave a record of what happened on this date for those who will inherit the Earth; history will take care of that. Therefore, we will speak about our daily lives, about the difficulties we have had to face. That is all the future will be interested in, because I do not believe very much will change in the next thousand years.”

And from there henceforth, the rest of the book is about the discussion between the Copt and the the crowd. They talked about defeat, loyalty, courage, sex and many more.

In short, it was not much of a novel as it was more of a compilation of motivational words delivered by the Copt. He was trying to make calm the people down by painting them a much bigger picture of what life is supposed to mean. He wished to share his knowledge with them all, in the hope that some of them would someday prove to be of a reminder to the future generations, because ‘I do not believe that very much will change in the in the next thousand year.’ The book was fun, but in the absence of the usual narration that we have in novels, the messages became much more straight-forward but lacks the thrill.

I leave the rest to you…….