by Paulo Coelho
A few months ago I read the cover notes on THE ALCHEMIST. I wondered why I had never heard of the author, Paulo Coelho when he had sold over 100 million books in many translations world-wide. Checked the book out from the library, but lost interest in it after a few chapters. When I found another book by Coelho on the library shelves, THE WINNER STANDS ALONE, I thought I might have given short shrift to my judgement of his writing when the cover blurb announced that THE ALCHEMIST was an international best-seller, soon to be made into a major motion picture.
Reading THE WINNER STANDS ALONE, I soon encountered long passages of philosophical moralizing that made me lose interest in the narrative, but reminded of deserting Coelho's previous book, I pressed on. The plot premise of a wealthy Russian pursuing the woman he loved with a plan to win her back to Cannes during the film festival was intriguing, but the development stalled again and again in the authors assessment of each phase of his story, seeming intent on reminding the reader that he wanted to be sure the morality aspect was understood. There were some intellectual allusions that piqued interest and a quoted line that is worth repeating when the story revealed that The Russian was about to launch a series of killings, one death "is like a tear shed in the rain."
But my impatience with the writers style caused me to skip a passage, then begin skimming. I found it quite easy to keep track of the narrative, as I speedily moved to the conclusion. One chapter began "Cinderella! If people believed more in fairy tales instead of listening to their husbands and parents-who think everything is impossible...." was a nice insight into the mind of a starlet, but not my cup of novelistic tea.
Coelho's use of the aphorism, once again to relate the loss of a single life to the whole of humanity, "the tide washes away a single grain of sand and a part of Europe is lost." was worth reading.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the richly cinematic values of a serial murderer stalking his prey through the venue where the powerful, rich and beautiful gather at the Cannes festival attract a major film production in the future.
Reading THE WINNER STANDS ALONE, I soon encountered long passages of philosophical moralizing that made me lose interest in the narrative, but reminded of deserting Coelho's previous book, I pressed on. The plot premise of a wealthy Russian pursuing the woman he loved with a plan to win her back to Cannes during the film festival was intriguing, but the development stalled again and again in the authors assessment of each phase of his story, seeming intent on reminding the reader that he wanted to be sure the morality aspect was understood. There were some intellectual allusions that piqued interest and a quoted line that is worth repeating when the story revealed that The Russian was about to launch a series of killings, one death "is like a tear shed in the rain."
But my impatience with the writers style caused me to skip a passage, then begin skimming. I found it quite easy to keep track of the narrative, as I speedily moved to the conclusion. One chapter began "Cinderella! If people believed more in fairy tales instead of listening to their husbands and parents-who think everything is impossible...." was a nice insight into the mind of a starlet, but not my cup of novelistic tea.
Coelho's use of the aphorism, once again to relate the loss of a single life to the whole of humanity, "the tide washes away a single grain of sand and a part of Europe is lost." was worth reading.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the richly cinematic values of a serial murderer stalking his prey through the venue where the powerful, rich and beautiful gather at the Cannes festival attract a major film production in the future.
Reviewed by Don Mac Brown
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