I think the author meant for this novel to be one of those big, important, spiritual books that changes the lives of the readers. Sadly, it doesn’t.
It had the potential; a young woman gets in touch with her
spiritual self and starts channeling the goddess Hagia Sophia. The back of the
book says, in part, that the story will “transform the way readers think about
love, passion, joy and sacrifice”. But it misses the mark.
The Witch, Sherine Khalil (who takes the name Athena), is
born to and abandoned by a Gypsy woman. She is then adopted by Christian
parents in the Middle East, and eventually brought up partly in England. She
gets jobs easily in spite of not being trained for them (including one that
makes her very well off). She marries and has a child, then divorces the man.
The church won’t allow her to take Holy Communion after her divorce, so she
takes up her own spirituality. She stumbles into a group that seeks
enlightenment through unrhythmic dance. She develops followers, everyone loves
her, even a woman whose lover falls in love with Athena… and she values none of
it except the child. She gives up pretty much everything, but it’s not
sacrifice if she doesn’t value what she gives up- and it turns out in the end
that she doesn’t give up as much as we think. I never get the feeling that she
feels passion about much of anything. She just sort of wanders through life.
She’s not afraid to try new things, and I admired that, but for the most part I
just couldn’t understand her.
The story is told through “interviews” with the various
people in her life- her birth mother, her adoptive parents, her ex-husband, the
journalist who falls in love with her, everyone who has been around at the
important events of her life. This may be part of the problem with the book; we
never get to know
Athena’s thoughts and feelings directly. In a way, it made me think of the structure of the New Testament- we read a lot about Jesus but we never hear from him directly. Perhaps the author intended to make Athena the daughter of the great Goddess. But if she is, she’s a very stand off-ish deity.
Athena’s thoughts and feelings directly. In a way, it made me think of the structure of the New Testament- we read a lot about Jesus but we never hear from him directly. Perhaps the author intended to make Athena the daughter of the great Goddess. But if she is, she’s a very stand off-ish deity.
Coelho is one of those authors that I had heard great things
about and so I was quite disappointed. I may still try reading ‘The Alchemist”
since that’s supposed to be his best work, but can only give this book three stars.
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