Book review: Aleph


I am a big fan of Paulo Coelho’s writing, so when I heard that his new book was going to be published last year, I got very excited to leave for London because back at home, it sure takes a while for new titles to reach the stores. Ironically enough, by the time I actually got here, I decided not to buy the book and went for the digital version of it instead. I was done with the book a couple of weeks ago, and all in all, it was an impressive piece indeed.



If you’ve read Coelho’s pieces, such as the Alchemist for example, you’d know that his genre is more towards the spiritual journey to find your own self kind of thing. This book pretty much follows through the same theme, but what makes it different is the fact that this time, the adventure gets even more exciting. It tells a story about a man who has knowledge on magic, who one day found himself to be lost. He questioned himself of his purpose in this life, all of a sudden, his faith began to crumble. Hence, his teacher told him that he needs to go on a journey to rediscover himself all over again.

So he went.

Being a famous author, he went on a tour in Russia. He agreed to go for a book tour across Russia, riding the Trans-Siberian railway from end to end. This is where most of the story lies. Throughout his journey he met a girl named Hilal, who followed him all the way to Moscow. He then discovered that Hilal and him have shared the same life in previous incarnations. Yes, this novel talks about some serious incarnations stuff.
It is indeed a fun book to read, plus it is not that heavy at all. The language used is pretty much straight forward, none too fancy of a literature. For me, I personally like it as it somehow relates to me being sent to study here in London. It reminded me of how I see myself being here to be granted a second chance to start over with my life. To live in a foreign place, I believe there has got to be some sort of a lesson I needed to learn here. I know I sound a bit superstitious, but nothing in life is actually nothing, you get me? For example, let us take the number zero. When you read it on its own, then sure, it means nothing. But put in a string of number; say a million, then only it’ll have a significant value. Add another zero to the million, you get 10 million, and so on.

All in all, this book is worth your time reading. It is exciting, the plot is brilliantly developed, nothing in the book is predictable, trust me.

I leave the rest to you…….

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