The Zahir

I finished reading The Zahir a few days ago. As usual for a Coelho book, the story has me thinking about me, what it means to be me and how being me affects the people I love. Like many other people, I go through my own troubles. That's maybe why i named this blog as it is titled. Thoughts sometimes go through my head, each opposing side talking whiel the core self listens to both arguments. Often, it's a stalemate. No one side wins over the over. At times one side presents a convincing argument, but the heart of the core self belongs to the other side.

The Zahir is a story about a writer. His wife suddenly disappeared. He couldn't figure out why she chose to do so. After getting over being angery, bitter and sullen, he began taking an honest look at himself and his marriage. In his pusuit to purge himself of all doubt and his desire to see his wife again, he mets a man, another woman and himself.

The man, he suspected of being his wife's lover. That turns out to be untrue. But the man touches him with his gift, a unique connection to the universe that conspires to make dreams come true. This man helps him find what he truly seeks. The other woman, girlfriend who loved him so, stayed with him as long as he would have her. She knew he still yearned to see his wife, but she stuck on anyway. Because that was how love was like, it cared not what it received in exchange of what it gave. All along the story he recounts how he hesitated before he started writing. He recounted how he poured his soul into each succeeding book without even knowing it. He pictured how he would write, possessed with a torturous need to finish each book, only finding solace once the book has written itself. He believed a writer was just that, a typist for the book. The book finishes itself. The book always had a life of it's own, revealing itself so the writer could share it's essence in a language men would understand.

In the end, he finds peace. He makes peace with who he is. Only then does he find himself worthy to seek out his Zahir, the one thing he count not live without.


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Disclaimer: This is far from a review. I write about how I feel and how the book 'talked' to me. I am no critic by any chance, just another dude with a blog.