A book on Mata Hari, by Paulo Coelho? I double-checked the back cover and the name of the author to make sure I had read both right. I had. Intrigued, I checked the book out.
For starters, I always thought that Mata Hari was a spy but didn't know that she was falsely accused as one. Even after reading the whole book I couldn't figure out if the letter that the novel claims to be based on was a genuine one or a figment of the author's imagination. As a Hindu, I was amused that Lord Shiva was described as the Hindu God of creation and destruction - Hindus consider Brahma as the creator, Vishnu as the one who sustains and Shiva is the destroyer. As a Hindu, I was also appalled when Margaretha Zelle is described to have simulated an orgasm near the Shiva statue during her first dance performance at a private museum in Paris. I am not sure if this really happened during her first dance. But if it didn't then I am disappointed that Coelho had to resort to such cheap tactics just to bring a bit of eroticism in the novel.
I turned the last page feeling somewhat cheated. The novel didn't bring out life of Mata Hari in a complete sense. There were no insights or thoughts about life as can be found from other Coelho books. In a sense, the novel felt incomplete.
The following two sentences, however, will remain forever etched in my memory:
Love kills suddenly, leaving no evidence of the crime.
When we don't know where life is taking us, we are never lost
For starters, I always thought that Mata Hari was a spy but didn't know that she was falsely accused as one. Even after reading the whole book I couldn't figure out if the letter that the novel claims to be based on was a genuine one or a figment of the author's imagination. As a Hindu, I was amused that Lord Shiva was described as the Hindu God of creation and destruction - Hindus consider Brahma as the creator, Vishnu as the one who sustains and Shiva is the destroyer. As a Hindu, I was also appalled when Margaretha Zelle is described to have simulated an orgasm near the Shiva statue during her first dance performance at a private museum in Paris. I am not sure if this really happened during her first dance. But if it didn't then I am disappointed that Coelho had to resort to such cheap tactics just to bring a bit of eroticism in the novel.
I turned the last page feeling somewhat cheated. The novel didn't bring out life of Mata Hari in a complete sense. There were no insights or thoughts about life as can be found from other Coelho books. In a sense, the novel felt incomplete.
The following two sentences, however, will remain forever etched in my memory:
Love kills suddenly, leaving no evidence of the crime.
When we don't know where life is taking us, we are never lost
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