Skip to main content

Book Review: The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho

This is very simple story of the pilgrimage that Paulo took in 1986. It is his own story, but it sounds like a fictional tale because of the way he wrote it. Paulo is a spiritual person. He follows some tradition in his religion and faith. With his master, when he tried to obtain a sword (it's something to do with spirituality), during the ordination he failed. So, he cannot be a master according to RAM (presumably his religious faith). Only the people who have procured the sword can be masters. Why did he fail? Because he didn’t know what to do with that sword, his focus was on the reward, not on its usage. Thus, his master says him to take the pilgrimage, where he is required to travel 700 kilometer through The Pyrenees Mountains. The journey starts from a small city in France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Other than Rome and Jerusalem, this is the third and famous place for pilgrims.


He starts journey with a mysterious guide named Petrus. The purpose of the journey is to find the sword that will make him simple and effective in life, all the more. The journey is tough: physically, mentally, and spiritually. As they advance, various factors come into their lives, they pass through hamlets, towns, and each of the place has a story to tell to pilgrims. This route is taken by pilgrims for over a thousand years. Petrus, from time to time, teaches him various exercises in order to bring out the extraordinary from the ordinary ones. Evil and angelic both kind of forces they encounter en route, through animals like dog and lamb, and persons like saint, waiter, gypsy and a gang of boys and women.

Initially Paulo thinks that the journey is futile and why the road to leading simple life is made so tough. He thinks of quitting, but every time some or other message that he gets, keeps him going. The most terrible incident is the fight with a dog called Legion. That event marks the consequences of fear in human lives. Though he manages to win the fight, he gets wounded badly. Another obsessive aspect is Paulo’s greed for getting that sword soon. There are short cuts to reach their destination but they cannot take that – it isn’t allowed in the pilgrimage. Also, the sword is a reward, but what is to do with that reward, is the main message of the pilgrimage. 

The book is more suitable to spiritual readers and of course a treat for those who have taken pilgrimage at some point of life. The exercises, like The Seed Exercise, The Speed Exercise, The Cruelty Exercise, The Messenger Ritual, and so on are worth implementing in life.

Other than Paulo as a pilgrim, the characterization of Petrus is not only strengthening but also intriguing to the readers. A very less has been talked about his past and just before the end of the pilgrimage, the guide bids farewell to Paulo and after that Paulo himself continues the journey and succeeds in finding the sword. The main objective is to keep the good fight in life. 

People often search what is the name of the video game based on the novels of Paulo Coelho? The novel 'The Pilgrimage' by Paulo Coelho was such a massive hit book that based on it a adventure video game was built and released in the market in 1997. The name of the game was Pilgrim: Faith as a Weapon.
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 25, 2018 at 1:00 PM

    The modus operandi of writing this book review is amazing which augments the interest of readers to read the entire novel. ...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 conversatio...
65 comments
Read more

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 ...
68 comments
Read more

Character Sketch of Binya from ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond

The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond is a popular children’s story. It features Binya as the main character, though there are other important characters as well, but the story revolves around Binya and her little beautiful umbrella. The story is widely popular among children, thus it has also been included in the schools’ syllabus all across the country. Since it is often taught in the school, thus the character sketch of Binya is often demanded by students from year to year. Character Sketch of Binya from The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond Binya is the main character of the novel ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond. Her full name is Binyadevi. As in the hills or anywhere in India it is a kind of trend to call children with their short nicknames. Binya’s elder brother’s name is Bijju, whereas his real name is Vijay. Binya aged eleven is a hilly girl. She lives with her small family in the hills of Garhwal. Her father died when she was two years of age. For sustenance, the...
41 comments
Read more