Setting off to Africa, and then to Europe and Asia via the Trans-Siberian Railway, [Paulo  Coelho] initiates a journey to revitalise his energy and passion. Even so, he never expects to meet Hilal. A gifted young violinist, she is the woman Paulo loved five hundred years before - and the woman he betrayed in an act of cowardice so far-reaching that it prevents him from finding real happiness in this life. Together, they will initiate a mystical voyage through time and space, travelling a path that teaches love, forgiveness, and the courage to overcome life's inevitable challenges.

This book was a gift from Ansen some time ago, and it was only recently that I had the time to touch it, and to finish reading it.

I've read another of Mr. Coelho's book, The Alchemist, and I loved it. That book was a fascinating story of discovery, of foreign lands, customs, faith, and of the individual. What made it a beautiful story was the fact that it was within the realm of fantasy - it added a romantic and perhaps even mystical dimension to the novel.

The same cannot be said for Aleph. According to Mr. Coelho, the novel is "one hundred percent" autobiographical. Yes, it deals with the same issues that were brought about in The Alchemist, but it is set within the author's own life. I suppose that is something that I find rather difficult to believe, especially when one reads of notions like fantabulous past-lives, alternate dimensions and experiments such as the "ring of fire" aimed at reaching one's previous reincarnations. Perhaps it was these elements that made me rather uncomfortable reading this book, that it was one that that toggled between the realms of truth and fantasy.

Two elements make me particularly critical of the book: First, would be the highly dramatic past lives of the author (spoiler alert) - a Spanish inquisitor and later on a French mystic writer. Such personas reek of blatant romanticism within Mr. Coelho's writing, which makes the attempt to pass it off as non-fiction rather annoying. The second would be how Mr. Coelho is presented as a rather rude individual within the book, brushing people aside, being rather apathetic towards the many fans who feverishly and religiously read his books. Perhaps it was not how I imagined him to be - I always thought of him as a reclusive mystic, not one who would hold vast press conferences only to brush fans aside.

Yet it would be hard to deny that there are some truly beautiful aspects to the novel - the advice that his Chinese-Russian translator gives would be one of them. The setting of the novel's action is another; the reader is transported from cozy Mediterranean villas to frosty forests, from baroque cathedrals to the frigid streets of a Russian town. Coelho's ability to bring the reader to often unseen settings is something remarkable, something that I loved in The Alchemist, and continue to enjoy in his latest novel.

I forgive the tears I was made to shed,
I forgive the pain and the disappointments,
I forgive the betrayals and the lies,
I forgive the slanders and intrigues,
I forgive the hatred and the persecution,
I forgive the blows that hurt me,
I forgive the wrecked dreams,
I forgive the stillborn hopes,
I forgive the hostility and jealousy,
I forgive the indifference and ill will,
I forgive the injustice carried out in the name of justice,
I forgive the anger and the cruelty,
I forgive the neglect and the contempt,
I forgive the world and all its evils

Hilal's words of forgiveness in the church in Novosibirsk

A moment of low spirits hit me while I was midways through the book (camp life was the reason behind that), and despite my critique of the novel, the above chunk still got to me. Perhaps it was because I had paired it with melancholic music.

My opinion of this book is mixed. But regardless, it was an interesting read.

Thanks for the book.