Aleph Kindle Edition

The author in his recent novel"Aleph" has raised many questions relating to love,,conflict.faith,karma,mockery of ideas and lack of courage.The novel revolves around the author,his past love Hilal and his Chinese guide,the author himself is facing an inner crisis and he seeks advice from his spiritual guru who tells him to concentrate on the present moment termed as (Now),and the same is a mystic space known as Aleph.The theme of the novel dwells on mysticism,spirituality and life journeys.The author is influenced by the thoughts of Rumi and Budhism,and a sub-theme of the novel is "Love"and its nature-love overcomes the hate and reduces conflicts.It is his belief that the force of love is the ultimate healer .The author ponders over the nature of conflict and explains its anatomy.he asserts that for growth process conflicts are necessary,and he reminds us that over a period of time conflicts will decrease and that moment will usher a new era for the human beings.He explains that Now is mindfulness,that is,the state of being aware of what is happening in the present moment.It helps one to know what he should not do to avoid difficulties and mistakes,and the mindfulness protects him from evil forces.The author also draws reader"s attention towards the philosophy of begging which according to him is a necessary tool for bringing change,in fact it makes one more innocent and more open.He laments his past when due to his lack of courage,he failed to save her love from prosecution.The author believes that the birth of love created a need to find an answer to the mystery of existence.According to the author,one can change his future by bringing the past into present.He is of the view that past and future only exist in our minds,whereas the, present moment exists outside the time zone and is known as eternity.Karma according to him is not one did in the past and affecting one"s present life,it is rather what is one does in the present to redeem the past in order to change the future.He laments over one"s inaction and proposes to opt for experiments to experience reality.The author talks of magic and spiritual world,which according to him is a parallel universe,where time and space are eternal and one always remains there in the present moment.The author is successful in evoking our ideals and feelings by triggering emotional responses and mental pictures.The characters communicate through images and symbols.Aleph is a metaphor for comprehending reality,Now refers to mindfulness and love refers to the power of faith,freedom and liberation.The strength of construction is the presence of author everywhere and knowing the details like the way the light slants through a church window at noon,the smell of cooking fat in a dinner,the dialogues of cops in the precinct house,these observations have made this work invaluable in creating a love able fiction.The theme of the novel is self elevation,to obtain happiness and to seize the moment.He insists on being compassionate without which one can not gain happiness.By following mindfulness, one is able to see deeply and can observe the sufferings of people ,and by recognizing all this one can be more happy and satisfying.

Was recommended by a friend

Tuesday, December 27, 2011, from my blogspot.. Aleph, by Paulo CoelhoWhen you read Coehlo, you go on a soul journey. This is not one of his best books, in my estimation, but I stuck with it, and came away with the best way to describe life to young people who are still learning.the hard way. His analogy of a train is a wonderful way to describe to young people the way life is. Imagine life as a train and a train car you are riding in, any time you want to change that car, it is within you to be able to get up and walk into the next car, and the next car and so on. What a good way to say it! You can choose your car, your travel mates, etc. Books like this , which cause us to examine our lives are a wonderful way to relax and try to understand the why and what of life. They often help you to analyze what is happening and why you are bringing sad events into your life, that you can control by your choices.Can we all go on a long journey in real life and discover the answers to our questions, I think not. The train trip is also an analogy of life itself, as a long journey, that leads us to meet people, and someone in that crowd of people, if we give him or her time to know us , has answers for our soul, if we want to stop and try to discover , try to understand, etc. How often will any of us ever get this opportunity? Maybe never in this life time, and then maybe through introspection you realize that someone was a motivator in your life, sacrificing his or her own life to give you a lesson that awakens your soul. Maybe this is hard to understand, but I tried in my book to say this, under cover of stories from different people, about events that happened in their lives.So, if you want to spend some time with your soul try a little Coelho.Madlyn Fafardauthor, "Secrets of the Heart"

I choose a four star rating because I enjoyed reading it. In the end, I felt myself become a little closer to God or what the book repeatedly phrases "universal soul".Here are the positive notes:- Mr.Coelho really had a knack for describing the atmosphere of each social setting, emotion, and people in it. It must be hard to conjure up words to talk about the aleph.- I could really felt the disgust the others had for Hilal. I could imagine Yao eyeing down that dangerous threatening down that stranger.- You don't necessarily have to be spiritual/enlightened to get it, if the reader kept a suspension of disbelief, it was easy to get immersed into Coelho's world.-There weren't too many loose ends left untied.Why I didn't give it five stars...- I didn't understand if this was based of actual experience, and I kind of what a deeper explanation because this whole visiting past lives thing is just an interesting topic.- It does somewhat involve old man having sexual feelings...for a twenty year old girl. On top of the fact that Hilal sounded pushy as hell annoyed me.- I wanted a epilogue just explaining how the author was going to tell his wife about this twenty year old annoying trick. ☺☻- Of course, some people may get lost in the transitions to the aleph to past lives to reality. I understand how other readers can get lost.I want to tell other readers to not take this book too seriously as to get stuck in its details.I recommend you read it.....just for the experience of it. I think people should observe the childlike curiosity, innocence, and faithfulness acquired only through age that the author had to his friends, family, and his coworkers. He let spirituality mold him to that being. I think we should be open to that process.

Aleph was recommended to me by a dear friend, and I was excited to finally get to it. I have to say, I'm disappointed. It started of well enough, but I started to grow bored even before the halfway mark. While there are some lovely, lovely quotes in there, I found the story lacking. At times it felt like it was just a load of words that were made to sound spiritual but had no hint of meaning to it. I found it hard to believe that the dialogue would really have been how it was written. The 'story' sounded self-indulgent and with more than a hint of mid-life crisis about it. I found Paolo's character to be quite rude and arrogant at times and the relationship with Hilal made me feel very uncomfortable - simply because she was vulnerable. I couldn't understand why someone would feel the need to confuse an already confused person by pulling and pushing her away like he did.I really hate to leave bad reviews because I know how much they can shine, but basically, I got to the end and had no idea why I'd just read what I read. There was no satisfying conclusion at all, and I probably wouldn't recommend this because it just left me feeling bland and bored.

Aleph was the first ever book I’ve read by Coelho. I was intrigued from the start. I was aware initially of the vast success Coelho has had and is notably deemed a spiritual master so it came as a surprise to read of the frustration and longing he still feels in his life in the very first chapter. It starts out very mysteriously as J. advises him to reclaim his kingdom. And so he sets off on his latest book tour and decides to merge his tour with his wish to travel the trans-siberian railway. He meets Hilal and the two have a unique connection. Hilal is tempestuous and a gifted Violinist. She is half his age and the dynamics of their relationship deepens from stranger to ambiguous love. I liked Coelho’s way with words near the end on how he feels for Hilal. It is perfection. This book is ideal for readers who are open or merely curious to the many beliefs and practices within the vast spectrum of spirituality. Here the plot dips into past life flashbacks as well as how Coelho falls into his past life via the enigmatic ring of light exercise. The characters meet a Shaman and for someone as spiritually open like myself reading his story satisfied my curiosity for things outside of the physical realm. Coelho definitely leaves the reader wanting to discover more about the story and their own life.

After reading The Alchemist which was superb... brilliant in fact ....and then reading a paragraph to this one that was included in The Alchemist... I felt complled to read Aleph it was great at the beginning but then it tends to drift off for me maybe I'm not quite ready for this story who knows...I will keep reading but I feel I must go back to get the 'Just' of it...it seems as though I have missed something in it....anyone else with this... or is it just me?...I love his style of writing ....

The book talks about Paulo's trip in the train across Russia in which he was accompanied by a 21 year old girl 'Hilal' who is Turkish. Paulo believes that the two of them had lived past lives in which they knew each others and had different roles than what they are now.I did not find any point to which the author wants us to reach except the belief of progress of lives/no one dies- all souls go on through incarnation.The language of the book is beautiful in many parts of it, and many of the sentences can be used as quotes.

Only other book of Coelho's I've read is the Alchemist which is better. The pleasant, uncomplicated prose is still consistent here. While he tries not to make this an ego-trip though, it is essentially an older man's account of an attractive younger women's obsession with him. She has significant emotional issues, and while he is quite often (but not always) kind to her, his own fantasies encroach too much, and from a female perspective, were not remotely interesting.