Coelho, author of the best-selling The Alchemist
(1993), opens this compelling tale with the classic phrase, "Once upon
a time," then halts and ironically addresses the reader regarding the
appropriateness of using these words in connection with a prostitute.
But the narrator proceeds nonetheless, alternating between third-person
narration about the heroine and first-person excerpts from her
diaries. Maria has been refused many things while growing up in a
Brazilian village, so she readily agrees to travel to Geneva, where
promised stardom as a South American dancer awaits. Once there,
however, she is duped into a year's work to repay her passage. She
manages to wrangle free, and chooses prostitution as a "temporary"
solution, all the while equating love with suffering, and using the
local library for self-education and her journal for self-expression.
As she records her thoughts, she ponders the meaning of 11 minutes: the
time it takes to have sex. Coelho tells us sex is civilization's core
problem, and that it's far more serious and worrisome than waning rain
forests or the hole in the ozone layer. A gripping exploration of the
potentially sacred nature of sex within the context of love, this may well become Coelho's next international best-seller. Whitney Scott. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedPaulo Coelho - Eleven MInutes (Engllish Version pdf)
Coelho, author of the best-selling The Alchemist
(1993), opens this compelling tale with the classic phrase, "Once upon
a time," then halts and ironically addresses the reader regarding the
appropriateness of using these words in connection with a prostitute.
But the narrator proceeds nonetheless, alternating between third-person
narration about the heroine and first-person excerpts from her
diaries. Maria has been refused many things while growing up in a
Brazilian village, so she readily agrees to travel to Geneva, where
promised stardom as a South American dancer awaits. Once there,
however, she is duped into a year's work to repay her passage. She
manages to wrangle free, and chooses prostitution as a "temporary"
solution, all the while equating love with suffering, and using the
local library for self-education and her journal for self-expression.
As she records her thoughts, she ponders the meaning of 11 minutes: the
time it takes to have sex. Coelho tells us sex is civilization's core
problem, and that it's far more serious and worrisome than waning rain
forests or the hole in the ozone layer. A gripping exploration of the
potentially sacred nature of sex within the context of love, this may well become Coelho's next international best-seller. Whitney Scott. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
