LIKE THE FLOWING RIVER – Thoughts and Reflections
By Paulo Coelho
-A book review
On hearing the word Paulo
Coelho, the one thing that will come to your mind will be the book ‘The
Alchemist’. Even though that book remains his most famous one, his other books
are not less in any way. Here, I am going to tell about a book called ‘Like the
Flowing River’.
From the back cover:
These are thoughts and reflections – both funny and
poignant, personal and universal, sorrowful and life-affirming – from the master
of insight and inspiration, Paulo Coelho.
Paulo finds transcendence in everyday occurrences. Like the
toast that fell the right side up; or the man who was discovered in his
pyjamas, a skeleton twenty years dead and missed by no one; or an ordinary
pencil, symbolic of life’s trials and triumphs; or the necessity of remaining
open to love, even if others try to hurt you.
Paulo Coelho is an enchanting storyteller, inspiring people
all over the world to see beyond the ordinary into the remarkable.
About the book:
Book Title: Like the flowing river
Author: Paulo Coelho
Publisher: Harper Collins
Cost: 325 INR
Pages: 232
This book is a collection of short stories and there are
around one hundred of them, each ranging from a page to three pages. Some seem
to be written from the personal experiences of the author and others are
written from the third person point of view. You don’t have to sit at a stretch
to complete it. You can read it very comfortably as a casual read, though you
might feel not so casual after reading it.
My review:
Whenever I see this book, I remember the story of how I acquired
it. Yes. Acquiring would be the correct word! It was a day of outing years
before and that day coincided with the last day of a sale at a bookstore and I ended
up buying it along with two more books. It was a sweet memory, worthy to be
written as a separate post.
In the book, the short stories are easily readable and you don’t
have to strain your mind to understand what the author has wanted the reader to
know. For example in a story titled ‘How one thing can contain everything’, the
author has told the readers about his meeting with a painter. But the actual
philosophy comes from the painter himself and not the author. And the painter
says ‘Each of us contain in our souls the same universe’. Eventhough we are
different in many aspects, all of us are related by the soul and no one could
have said that more beautifully.
There is another short story called ‘The missing brick’. In this
the author has given his own experience and though it was just two paragraphs,
here he explains how for the lack of one small thing, we ditch the whole plan
or prospect. It would have been easier to gain the small thing than starting a
new one altogether.
His stories make you think. It doesn’t guide you or give you
secret passwords to happiness.
It is just a book full of stories, telling its own stories
and doesn’t expect you to follow it. it just wants you to learn from its life
experiences and after having read the book, you will realise the impact it had on you.
My rating : 8/10
#impact
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