São Paulo

Advantages: São Paulo
Disadvantages: São Paulo

...The city of São Paulo officially became a city in 1711. In the 19th century, it experienced a lot of economic prosperity, brought about by coffee exports, which were shipped abroad from the port of the neighbouring city of Santos. It is one of the big 5 cities that exist in the world. It is the business centre of Brazil and, has many of the down sides of any big city: São Paulo is located on a plateau that is part of the Serra do Mar. Although there are no beaches in Sao Paulo there are places along the coast of Sao Paulo State. Rainfall is abundant, especially in the warmer months. One of the biggest financial centers of Brazil and the world. São Paulo is the most ethnically diverse city of Brazil....

Nazuku 06.07.2006 (26.07.2006) · Read review
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Review of São Paulo

A journey with Paulo Coelho

Advantages: amazing journey, you will learn about yourself and the world, mystic, great narrative
Disadvantages: none

... A journey with Paulo Coelho Today I am reviewing "The Pilgrimage", a book by the well-loved author Paulo Coelho. This book was given to me by a friend who is a massive fan of his works. Who is Pauloe Coelho? Paulo Coelho was born in 1947 in Rio de Janero (Brazil) and has written quite a few bestselling books. His works are partly autobiographic. He has recieved many awards from 1993 up until now and his works are greatly appreciated. Why did I read this book? One of my best friends gave it to me, telling me that it would help me figuring out life and overcoming tragedies and personal experiences. She said it would positively influence me - and it really did. I took my time reading this book as I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. The plot The narrator of this book is a member of a Christian group called RAM...

morticiaaddams 26.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Absolute tripe of the lowest calibre

...The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, is billed as a modern classic, yet I find it difficult to discern why. It has the feel of a fable; from a time as hazy as the desert in which it is set, and carries the lessons on life one would expect from such a parable. The feelings of distant memory that it creates, however, fashion a gap between the book and the reader. It begins with Santiago, a shepherd boy, who gives up his customs to follow a dream he has, a vision of treasure found at the Egyptian pyramids. Along the way he meets a king, a crystal merchant, an Englishman, and an alchemist; all of whom, with their passing involvement, provide him with a piece of the spiritual jigsaw that is his life. Finally, when he arrives at the Egyptian pyramids, he learns a lesson in life that brings him happiness. The novel is short, and, while it gets...

sjmcabney 23.12.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Follow your dreams- Paulo Coelho is a master!

Advantages: Unlike most other philosophy books, very understandable for a layman.
Disadvantages: I felt it was a pretty heavy read took me much longer to read than most other books the same size.

...I am personally not into reading philosophical books and Paulo Coelho's books are as philosophical as they come but his are much more readable and not at all boring. I picked up The Alchemist at the insistence of my friend who said she'd pay me the whole sum back if I didn't like it. I liked it and How! It's about the story of a young shepherd who gets recurrent dreams about a treasure waiting for him in the pyramids of Egypt. Like so many of us who've got dreams but tend to often ignore the signs, that the universe offers to realize them, carrying on with our humdrum life and end up with the feeling at the end of our journey of life that we are missing something. The story will touch a chord with anyone who's had a dream (i hope each one of us has had at least one) and failed or succeeded in realizing it. The shepherd who is young...

urooj0691 08.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho

Advantages: A great book,Author
Disadvantages: Nothing

...Eleven Minutes is yet another great story by Paulo Coelho and one of my favourite books by Paulo Coelho. The story is a about a young girl from Brazil that gets lured to Geneva by false promises by a Swedish stranger that she meets in Brazil. Her life quickly changes and she become a dancer then a prostitute, Maria soon learns about sexual desires and needs that here clients wants from her and she becomes more interested in sex but most importantly finding here sexual desires and what she wants from it. But when meets an artist he and here take a liking for each other and Maria is faced with a dilemma, to carrying on with what she is doing delving deeper and deeper in sexual pleasures or to give here self all to the artist. This is a brilliant story of a journey of where a person would go and to how far that person would seek...

funkysuperstar 08.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho

Paulo's message for us all!

Advantages: Paulo provides a simplistic and unique style of writing, which captures the readers attention so easily, its hard to put the book down!
Disadvantages: If only the book would go on forever!

...Hi peeps! Well i have been heavily engrossed with Paulo Coelho's books for the passed few months, I have written a review on The Valkyries for you people a short while ago and The Alchemist proved to be my second read, so here we go. What can I say, it was certainly a book well written and delivered in a truly simplistic way, for anyone to understand the messages the author is trying to send across. The way in which Paulo addresses certain issues, which each and everyone of us think about at a certain point in our lives, is truly amazing, it certainly makes me stop and think about certain areas in my life. This story basically evolves around a sheperd boy, in search of his dream (a journey across the desert to reach the Egyptian pyramids - to find his treasure), along his journey he stumbles across various people, by luck its...

gummy44 21.07.2004 · Read review
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Review of The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Alchemy and Destiny

Advantages: Inspirational, encouraging, delightful
Disadvantages: Don't expect a novel as such

...is rumoured to be able to turn base metal into gold and to produce the elixir of life, both using the legendary Philosophers Stone (very familiar to those of us who read Harry Potter!) and the Englishman hopes to learn how to do this himself. Santiago, meanwhile, doesn?t know what his destiny is and only has vague notions of treasure. As he follows his dreams, Santiago encounters many setbacks and a lot of wisdom. He is tempted to give up, but perseveres. The book is extremely quotable and even the wisdom that seems almost clichéd is undeniably true; it could be viewed as a self-help book, such is the sheer amount and quality of advice. As enjoyable as the story is, it is this wisdom that propels The Alchemist from a pleasurable read to an indispensable piece of literature. Paulo Coelho?s writing style is blissfully succinct but...

DoubleFantasy11 01.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Discover your Destiny.

Advantages: Short, simple language, easy to read.
Disadvantages: Some may scoff at the ideas and images the book evokes.

...Last week I came across Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' on a friend's bookshelf. Having never read it and given that it is a book of great aclaim I hastily borrrowed it. The Alchemist is Brazilian born Coelho's most famous works although he has written many others including 'The Pilgrimage' and 'The Fifth Mountain'. The book is short, with just 177 pages and I read it quickly in just a few hours. According to the back of the book over 30 million copies have been sold world wide in 56 different languages, since it was first published in 1988. The Alchemist has receieved numerous prestigious awards inlcuding The Crystal Award and France's Legion d'Honneur. The main character is 'Santiago' although he is commonly referred to throughout simply as 'the boy'. The Boy is a shepard in Spain in the Andalusian mountains. He became...

nickyturnill 01.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

A Fatuous Fable of Obsession

Advantages: Some nicely-written sections, promising concept.
Disadvantages: A loosely-connected collection of near-meaningless waffle.

...The Zahir, according to Jorge Luis Borges, has at various times been a tiger, a compass and a vein in the marble pillar of a synagogue. These are only three of its many incarnations, for the Zahir is not something tangible in itself; it can take any form. Rather, it is an object of extreme obsession. The Arabic word "zahir" has a number of direct translations, all connected to but not precisely defining the notion - it has instead become what one makes it. In Paulo Coelho's interpretation, it is a woman. A fusion of autobiography and fiction, but mainly the latter, The Zahir relates the story of a vastly successful novelist living in Paris, who narrates his search for his missing wife. Previously a war correspondent, Esther had no apparent reason to leave, but neither is there any hint of a sinister aspect to her disappearance...

Puggers 25.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Zahir - Paulo Cohelho

Brazilian Balderdash

Advantages: still looking for some
Disadvantages: Haven't found any u to now

...The Brazilian author Paulo Coelho (born in 1947) has been after me for a while, I can?t enter a German bookshop without seeing piles of his books, all in the bestseller section, when browsing on the British or German Amazon, it doesn?t take long until I come across one of his books, and dooyoo has listed 16 of his books for which 40 reviews have been written up to now. At last I?ve surrendered, I didn?t buy his first and most successful novel, The Alchemist, though, but The Witch of Portobello because I?ve been to Portobello Road and I like books set in London. Sherine Khalil, aka Athena, aka The Witch, was born in Transsylvania to a single Gypsy mother who left her in an orphanage from where she?s been adopted by a well-to-do Lebanese couple. When war breaks out in Lebanon, they emigrate to London. Athena (as she?s mostly called...

MALU 17.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho