By the River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept A Novel Of Forgiveness

Paulo Coelho has written a beautiful story about love and forgiveness. It a a perfect demonstration of how true love will transcend time and cirucmstance and will remain with us. The novel, true to Coelho's style is laced with spirituality, which Coelho does brilliantly. The search for true love and the search for truth in religion is closely interwoven and a integral part of the plot. The...more

Paulo Coelho has written a beautiful story about love and forgiveness. It a a perfect demonstration of how true love will transcend time and cirucmstance and will remain with us. The novel, true to Coelho's style is laced with spirituality, which Coelho does brilliantly. The search for true love and the search for truth in religion is closely interwoven and a integral part of the plot. The novel clearly demonstrates how when we are touched in our youth by love and religion if it is lost we will be compelled to seek it out even when our youth has faded into memories.   hide

I despised this book. I loved 'The Alchemist' and felt neutrally about 'Veronika Decides to Die', yet this book turned me off Paolo Coelho forever. Honestly, I can't even remember why I hated the book so much since I read it so long ago, but I remember putting it down and thinking, "What a waste of time and money". I recently gave it away, and am relishing the extra room on my bookshelf.

So how I ended up reading a book with this kind of title? I wanted to do Coelho and the Alchemist wasn't in the library. Surprisingly I liked it - there were some philosophical thoughts I am going to love to quote in the coming years about humans and humanity.

I say the title of this book out loud and I weep. As a self-professed healer, I feel this book describes better than any I've read the torments, responsibilities, and blessings of a person with a foot in each of two worlds. The first two pages are all it takes to be hooked.