Skip to main content

Book Review: The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho

The basic recurrent theme in the novels of Paulo Coelho is to seek something or somebody (love, destiny, God, inner voice, etc.). The Fifth Mountain is based on the similar lines: it is a story of a prophet, Elijah, who seeks his destiny by challenging God and His wisdom.


Elijah is a carpenter in his own small shop, and thinks that he is as normal as the other men of Israel. However, trouble pours in when he is forced to do the work of God because he is identified as one of the prophets in Israel. On the other hand, the beautiful princess of Israel, Jezebel, is busy spreading the religion of the god Baal, according to which single god doesn’t exist rather many gods. Elijah receives a message from the god’s angel who says that Israel will not receive rainfall until it abandons worshiping Baal, the fictitious god who doesn’t exist.

When Elijah delivers the same message to Ahab, the king of Israel and the husband of Jezebel, he is forced to leave the city at the behest of god because Jezebel has been executing the prophets who profess the concept of one god, which is exactly opposite the concept of gods like Baal.

He goes to Zarephath, also known as Akbar. Here too the system of worshiping many gods is prevalent. He takes refuge in a widow’s home but soon the son of the widow dies and then the people and the high priest (a deadly shrewd personality) blames him for the curse. Moreover, Elijah is known for bringing curse to Israel; hence, the people and the government of Akbar are susceptible to him and consider him that he can be traded off for a good deal with Jezebel when the right time ripens.

It is believed that the fate of Akbar is governed by the gods that live on the Fifth Mountain, and the mountain is forbidden for humans, and whosoever tries to climb it is consumed by the fire. High priest and others send him to that mountain to test his mettle of prophecy. He goes and comes back unscathed and also makes the dead son of the widow alive. Since then he becomes very popular in Akbar. However, he always wished to return to his homeland: Israel. But the angels of god stop him for some or other reasons.

One day the advancing army of Assyrians invades Akbar and finishes its army and killing many people. The widow dies in the destruction caused by the army and the governor flees. Appalled by the loss of that woman, whom he loved, and the massacre, he decides to go against the god and in that challenge he rebuilds Akbar. God likes his courage and contemplation for liberation and soon he begins conversing with the angels of god again. He goes back to Israel and challenges their gods but finally he emerges out as a true prophet.

The novel has been inspired from some chapters of Bible, which is evident by reading the pieces of conversation between Moses and the god. The story fosters the concept of one god and underlines the fight based on religions that never fade out with time, then, and now. Also, the book is little hard to understand but the teachings presented are superb.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should
67 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversation fo
63 comments
Read more

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r
23 comments
Read more