The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

  REDISCOVER LOVE !!!

My rating- 3.5/5

1. Why the width between railway tracks is similar all over the world and what is the relationship of this width with a successful marriage?  
2. What is Favor Bank?

3. Why sex is forbidden in all religion & culture? (Amazingly it has just one-word answer)
4. Have you ever thought about your funeral?

There are many more questions that you have never thought of in your life and I promise you an answer in the reviewed novel- The Zahir. I rarely get time to read these days but since am a fan of Paulo Coelho since I read The Alchemist, I gave a try to this novel.

The Paulo Coelho

He is a writer of Brazilian origin who writes in Portuguese language. In total, Coelho has published 29 books. Two of them – The Pilgrimage and The Valkyries – are autobiographical, while the majority of the rest are fictional, although rooted in his life experiences. Coelho has sold more than 100 million books in over 150 countries worldwide, and his works have been translated into 67 languages. He is the all-time bestselling author of Portuguese language. One of his novels, The Alchemist, holds Guinness World Record for most translated book (in 71 languages) by a living author.

He is a strong advocate of spreading his books through peer-to-peer file sharing networks. He was even caught by publishers for pirating his own books on torrent site- The Pirate Bay.

The Zahir

It was written in Coelho’s native language Portuguese and has been translated in 44 languages. It was first published in 2005 in Persian language in Iran. The reason was to fight against piracy as Iran has never signed any international copyright agreements. It was rare situation when a book was published in a language other than the author’s native language.

This is similar to Coelho’s earlier work ‘The Alchemist’ which also describes a pilgrimage. The Zahir describes the journey (physical as well as spiritual) of a person to find his missing wife and in the process discovers his own self and reborn as new person with new understanding of the nature of love and power of destiny.

The story is semi autobiographical of Coelho but is intended as a work of fiction. There are many small incidents woven into one to convey the message to readers.

The Plot

There are three main characters in the novel-
1. Narrator- Coelho uses self-narrative style for describing the main character, who is a well-known author (similar to Paulo Coelho).
2. Esther- The wife of narrator who is war correspondent, who had gone away from her husband in search of peace and with a mission of spreading the true energy of love throughout the world.
3. Mikhail- One of Esther’s friend who is from Kazakhstan and had superficial powers of hearing voices. He was the person who changes the life of narrator.

The Story

The Zahir means ’the obvious’ or ’conspicuous’ in Arabic. The author emphasize that one should forget his Zahir (also mentioned as obsession) to live a happy life. The novel is divided into four parts. The author has beautifully named all the parts.

Part 1: I Am A Free Man- The novel starts with the release of narrator from the prison after he was accused and later acquitted for being responsible in his missing wife. This part described the personal & married life of Esther and her husband and how she left out of marriage without any specific reason. It describes how the narrator feels the freedom after his wife left him. Read out the novel to know that whether that freedom was permanent or temporary?

Part 2: Han’s Question- This part deals with an important question- Are we Happy? In this part the narrator met his new girlfriend and a mysterious person, Mikhail whom he thought was responsible for his wife’s missing. Narrator also feels that his has an affair with Mikhail. Mikhail made him understand that his wife had not left him but waiting somewhere patiently for him to discover what had gone wrong in their marriage, ask forgiveness from her so as to resume their life together. Read out the novel to know the relation between Esther and Mikhail. Are they only friend or much more than that?

Part 3: Ariadne’s Thread- The narrator starts discovering his inner self with the help of Mikhail. Narrator got the thread to rewind his life so as to get Esther. Author described a new phenomenon of forgetting past/ personal history and emptying your life from unhappiness so as to allow joy to flow in. Read out to know the process of rediscovering your body and soul. Does Mikhail really had any superficial powers or it was a way to befool the world?

Part 4: The Return to Ithaca- The final part describes the journey of narrator to find his wife in the steppes of Kazakhstan. The narrator has finally found a new person in himself who has been reborn and from now on he will be reborn every day. He was able to forget his past and capable to bless others. Narrator was able to find the man who has lost along his way. He was also able to find his wife. But had she accept him? Is she satisfied with the new-born husband? Read out the novel to know the climax.

The Best

The novel is altogether a masterpiece but I loved the examples cited in it. Mentioning the favorites among them-
1. Grape story- It describes the circle of happiness, love and joy which wraps around those who are in contact with the energy of love.
2. Apple story- To describe that everything is possible and everything is relative.
3. Firemen’s example- This is the best example of the novel and the best way to explain the happy married life.
4. Story of Ulysses- It was mentioned to justify the name of the fourth part- The Return to Ithaca.

It would be better to go through the novel to read the full story. And I am sure that you will not regret.

What I gained

The book is a masterpiece and taught me ways of living a happier life and how to maintain the happiness in a relation. There are many things that I learned from this.
1. Expressing love is very important.
2. Most important thing in all human relationships is conversation.
3. People are unhappy because they want to imprison that energy of love, which is impossible.
4. Tell your past to people as many times that you feel it unimportant.
5. Life is process of emptying yourself of unhappiness and allowing joy to flow in.
6. We need to forget who we think we are in order to become who we really are.
7. Forget your personal history so as to be more open to love as pure and divine energy.
8. There is always an event in our lives that is responsible for us failing to progress. We need to forget and overcome that event to succeed.

What I lost

Only Rs.250 and few hours of my (almost useless) life. I think it is worth the wisdom I have gained after reading it. The novel is available on flipkart.com for Rs.227 with free home delivery.

The Recommendation

The novel is highly recommended for people in search of peace, love and happiness. It is must for married couples so as to add more happiness in their relationship.


(Source of information used in the review is Wikipedia)