Witch of Portabello

I was ecstatic seeing a new while browsing the bookstore one day. I was book-famished since it had been a long time since I bought one. The indigo color shouts "enchanting" enough to catch my attention. It is Paulo Coelho's new book and in my mind, I was deliberating if I should buy or wait till Powerbook's sale. And I let it pass but wa-la! My friend H's friend let her borrow her copy of the book. To cut the long story short, I got to read it few days back.


New books give me new insights and it's quite addicting to learn from another perspective. I love Paulo Coelho's books, my favorite is still Eleven Minutes. So it was must for me to read Witch of Portobello.

In this book, the main character is Athena who is an gypsy orphan adopted by rich parents. She seemed to have a good childhood, she grew up smart but she was overly passionate about things. She was a rebel of reality. An unusual woman who made a difference to the lives of people around her.

The book's perspective is interesting seeing other characters' perspective on her and their feeling as well. It showed how she made an impact in their lives, good or bad. Here are some of the excerpt:

"People create a reality and then become the victims of that reality. Athena rebelled against that—and paid a high price."
Heron Ryan, journalist

"I was used and manipulated by Athena, with no consideration for my feelings. She was my teacher, charged with passing on the sacred mysteries, with awakening the unknown energy we all possess. When we venture into that unfamiliar sea, we trust blindly in those who guide us, believing that they know more than we do."
Andrea McCain, actress

"Athena's great problem was that she was a woman of the twenty-second century living in the twenty-first, and making no secret of the fact, either. Did she pay a price? She certainly did. But she would have paid a still higher price if she had repressed her natural exuberance. She would have been bitter, frustrated, always concerned about 'what other people might think,' always saying, 'I'll just sort these things out, then I'll devote myself to my dream,' always complaining 'that the conditions are never quite right.'"
Deidre O'Neill, known as Edda

I personally like it but surely I need to reread to absorb the lessons of the book: love, sacrifice, passion, joy. There's something mystical about this book and I'm sure that those practical readers would likely diss this book for its vague description of situations. Some things were unclear but I didn't try to over-analyze the situations presented. This is fiction after all.

Amazingly, Paulo Coelho have more interesting description of love. One line that struck me was its last line when asked what is the meaning of love? Well...:

"Love simply is."