May 2008 A report on "Eleven Minutes"

Paulo Coelho's book "Eleven Minutes", "HarperCollins Publishers", first published in English 2003, the edition is published 2004, is one of his greatest novels he wrote through his years. It is considered one of the best sellers around the world.

The novel talks about Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. Her ambition and curiosity distinguish her from not only her colleagues but from everyone else in Geneva. She is the archetypal woman who has gone through the trysts of love, betrayal and confusion in her relationships. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer . . ." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Instead, she ends up working as a prostitute. In Geneva, Maria drifts further and further away from love as she develops a fascination with sex. Throughout her career as a prostitute, she gets the chance to experience with a vast variety of men – clients. Those experiences confirm her early convention of the non-existence of true love, and push her more and more towards sole physical pleasure. Eventually, Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets Ralf, a handsome young painter. She falls in love with him and he loves her for her soul and heart and not for her body… Finally, she finds someone who is interested in her as a person and not as a body. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria began to feel what love is, her ideas changed, her feelings changes; she finds true love, after thinking that love is only found for hurt… Now, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness, sexual pleasure for its own sake, or risking everything to find her own "inner light" and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love.

One of my reactions to the book was that Coelho is trying, through Maria's character, to present the other, human face of prostitutes. He tried to prove that choosing such a career is a fate, not a choice. Yet, Maria had all the freedom not to go this way but she simply chose it the old way – by inventing poverty then taking it as an excuse.

I think that Paulo's message (central to any Coelho novel) is slightly darker this time. All his books before this are very optimistic, almost overly so. His idea is to show that we find the light in our inner selves deep inside our hearts and our souls and not through our sensations and body pleasure…

I have also found while reading the novel that Paulo Coelho could transfer the real image of many young ladies in many societies… He could give us the real descriptions of the emotional and psychological state of Maria. This is what is found a lot in most societies. Thus, his book is

I would strongly advise people to read this novel, because this book has had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people including myself. People should know that love is not to be found in someone else, but in ourselves; we simply awaken it.

In conclusion, in this gripping and daring new novel, Paulo Coelho sensitively explores the sacred nature of sex and love and invites us to confront our own prejudices and demons and embrace our own "inner light."