Book Review: Aleph by Paulo Coelho

Aleph is a spiritual book that focuses on finding your inner self and being content with everything and everyone around you — your surroundings. The writer finds himself lost, and asks for help from J., his master and only source of guidance. J. tells the writer that, he too, had gone through similar emptiness. It is one of Paulo’s personal novels in which he talks about this journey, touring around Russia for book signings, meet ups, and other book promotions.

Coelho is inspired by the thought of bamboo, and how it exists as a tiny shoot above ground, and after five years of growing its root system underground, it shoots up to a height of 25 meters. He uses this to explain the progress of his own growth. From start to finish, I was engrossed in the writer’s way of finding his place in this world. The first half of the book explains everything the writer knows about time, and more specifically, the passing of time, and how it is normally perceived by people. What I loved and stood out for me — the highlight of the book — was J. trying to become the “King of his Kingdom”, and passing on his knowledge to the writer after successfully achieving this. What made me give this book 4.5 stars instead of the 5 stars I was certain I was going to give it, was the second half of the book. The story took a dive into the “Aleph”, known as the point where everything in the universe is contained. But after that, the writer was going into other dimensions of the story that left me confused, having to go back and read over a few paragraphs. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable read. Other than being confused, the story still held meaning, and I wanted to know more.

The book circles around self-discovery, but mainly with people who bump into our lives unexpectedly. That being said, a character in the writer’s story makes an appearance and everything takes a turn, and all for the better. Although not many would agree with me, I find this to be the most inspirational novel put together by Paulo Coelho.