BOOK: ADULTERY
AUTHOR: PAULO COELHO
#BOOKREVIEW
Prior to reading this book, I had read two wonderful titles; Stay with Me by Ayobami and African Caine Prize list 2012 but I choose to review _Adultery_ because I am fascinated by the emotions it has elicited from my friends, plus it is simple enough for a quick review.
My book club friends, who by way have become an integral part of my friendship circle, _ that is a cue of me stating that they are my only friends, but I will never tell them this, because anyway we have this unspoken thing where the most emotional of us gets to dodge a lot of roast missiles and while it’s possible to put up a reputable defence, a good number of those jokes will throw you off the precipice naked_
Moving on, they have a good taste in what they read, the portfolio is diverse and airtight, it is rich, so obviously these chaps get to devour okay books and amazing books in equal frequency.
Here is an interesting fact, one of them bought the book _Adultery_, but he never managed to finish the read. Three more guys read it and fantastically gave it the all mighty title of “Boring AF”. If you do not know what “AF” means, kindly ask your 7-year-old niece or nephew, or even your local pastor, let me know how that conversation goes, if he doesn’t give you an admonition, he is a slay pastor.
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Anyway, I got to read the book, and I will fill you in on the juice now.
The book is written in first person, the voice belongs to Linda, a beautiful Journalist married to one of the richest men in Switzerland, who she refers in the entire book as ‘My Husband’. He runs an Investment fund big enough to afford his lineage years of comfort. Switzerland is a perfect country, peaceful, rich and everything is organised to perfection right from the moment a child is born and our protagonist Linda, has a perfect husband.
In a world full of wars, hunger, poverty and shit, Linda is overwhelmed with the perfection in her life, she gets scared of her ‘Luckiness’, surely, why does it have to be this way, this ‘happy abode’, happy life, she asks, and just like that, silly as it might seem, Linda slips into depression.
Extract: “The fact is, I’m tired of having such a happy, perfect life. And that can only be a sign of mental illness”
Comfort zone is an enigma, and you never really realise how deep you are in this abyss until one day something drastic happens and you are left in the open, or worse, nothing happens, and you live your whole life in a familiar cycle and at sunset you realise you wasted it all by failing to leave that comfort zone. Linda takes the reader through these reflections and her soul yearns to do something courageous and outrageous, as a matter of fact, she covets something out of the ordinary and unconventional, to push away monotony, boredom and a threatening depressive state. Humans never evolved to settle in a comfort zone after all, never, and Paulo seems to emphasise this point in a blatant manner
Extract: “I know that my only reaction will be to repress my feelings until a cancer starts eating me up inside, because I do actually believe that many illnesses are the result of repressed emotions”
In Linda’s voice, Paulo communicates that; in a state of need of the unknown, that point where the soul needs some fire within and without and we are so clueless on how to light one, some commit suicide and others travel, while others simply make decisions with catastrophic consequences.
Because Linda does not want to visit a psychiatrist nor take drugs, thanks to her belief that no one can understand what she is feeling, she adopts a wait and overcome strategy. “This one shall also pass”, she believes. It doesn’t.
Jacob, is a politician In Switzerland. A popular politician. In high school, Linda was the girlfriend, silly high school love, that came with perks of kisses here and there, but nothing more. Linda is to interview Jacob for a newspaper article, it’s been forever since last, they saw each other in Highschool. Let me mention that Jacob has a wife too.
In an overboard twist, after the interview, they engage in a moment of catching up and exchanging misses, and Linda pulls a surprise by brazenly unzipping Jacob’s fly and taking him in her mouth right there in the office an act that marks the beginning of her healing. And no, this is not how an ordinary person heals depression, I trust you are smart enough to know that a mouth is used for eating food and drinking wine right? Right? Ahem!
Somewhere in the middle of this book, Jacob’s wife infuriates Linda. His wife is beautiful, accomplished and she carries this air of complete ownership over Jacob. In matters marriage, she spectacularly protects Jacob and believes other women to be good for nothings envious of her perfect marriage and she doesn’t hide her dislike of Linda.
Linda makes it her mission to destroy Jacob’s Marriage for three reasons; to hurt his wife, ‘liberate’ Jacob and ‘heal herself’
From here henceforth it is war fought with sex, a romping whose many styles are vividly described by the author. It is also an exciting experience for Linda, who is doing something completely out of her comfort zone and her adrenaline is unmatched. She believes the depression may heal.
This Journey of healing also has more of guilt, because Linda knows she is betraying her perfect family. Jacob loves the sex of course but this risks his political career. In their confessions, both are unfulfilled and they are brought together, rather they commit adultery together to seek a new spark in life.
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This book is not about Linda and her depression, neither the steamy sex. Paulo uses Linda with the sole purpose of encouraging the readers to live a life of love and passion and only then can you claim to be living.
He chooses the ‘perfect’ life of Linda living in a ‘perfect’ country, to prove that despite riches, humanity is still in search of a purpose, and happiness is rarely a result of riches but a journey. So, what is happiness really?
He seems to suggest that happiness is sharing love with another person, and loving the things around us. It is a concept where we are part of everything around us and everything is part of us, as such, we must for the sake of sanity, seek a purpose for living.
The book has deep reflections considering of late I am judging myself as a man on autopilot, which is a recipe for disaster according Paulo.
Extract: “Because living is loving. Even love for a pet _ a dog, for example _ can justify the life of a human being. If he no longer has this bond of love in his life, any reason to keep on living also disappears”
There is an interesting conversation with an eagle, yes, an eagle, please forgive me for not divulging the details on how the eagle came about, Linda engages in a debate-like communication with the bird,
Extract: Nature speaks to me as if I were its beloved daughter. The mountain tells me: “You have my strength.” The lakes tell me: “You have my peace and my calm.” The sun tells me: “Shine like me, go beyond yourself. Listen”.
Now, apart from explaining extensively on the purpose of living, Paulo loads the book with facts about Switzerland which in all fairness is enlightening for people like me who have never travelled to a foreign country. He writes about evolving of man and he sprinkles some bible quotes here and there. He also does not miss the opportunity to inform the reader that the great Mary Shelley conceived her Frankenstein book idea in Switzerland, (Frankenstein-the book, is the stuff of legends) and he juxtaposes Mary’s genius with Linda’s life.
Palpably, Linda’s is a very short story, much of the writing is on meaning of things, why, when, history and that is the reason as aforementioned, the book has been described almost unanimously as boring.
So, to my friends, who I love very much, a complicated love of course, and I am sure sometimes it doesn’t come out as such because I am not a perfect package, I would have wished to settle the debate, whether the book is boring or Interesting, but no I cannot do that. This debate needs to carry on, its interesting you know.
The truth or rather it is arguable, this book is not about Linda and her Carnal adventurers, neither is it about “my husband” or Jacob, or all the other guys in there. Paulo simply chose to communicate on the purpose of living by clothing it with all manner of bits and pieces, such that many a reader may fall asleep while trying to separate wheat from the chaff.
Here goes nothing…
Extract: Learn to love better.
This should be our goal in the world: learn to love.
Life offers us thousands of opportunities for learning. Every man and every woman, in every day of our lives, always has a good opportunity to surrender to love. Life is not a long vacation, but a constant learning process. And the most important lesson is learning to love …
Everything will all disappear … But one thing will be forever marked on the soul of the universe: my love. All in spite of my mistakes, my decisions that caused others to suffer, and the moments when I thought it didn’t exist.
But anyway, Paulo never writes stories for the sake of writing stories, he is always communicating something. Sometimes he may tackle uncomfortable themes in an unconventional manner, all in a quest of message delivery. He goes beyond himself.
Psssst! And No, I repeat, oral sex doesn’t heal depression please. But if you have a feeling it does!!! …. Don’t blame Paulo.
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Battle of the wallet
Is the book worth a buy? No, borrow one from a friend. But in case you decide to buy, it will cost you Ksh. 750.
Can you gift someone this book? Yes, A depressed one but tell them not to … “Medicate literally” … But seriously, it really can help someone who is bored with life.
