The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in Paris and enjoys all the privileges money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who has disappeared along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover.
Was Esther kidnapped, murdered, or did she simply escape a marriage that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn’t have any answers, but he has plenty of questions of his own. Then one day Mikhail finds the narrator and promises to reunite him with his wife. In his attempt to recapture a lost love, the narrator discovers something unexpected about himself.
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"The pace was too slow, but I loved Coelho's obsession with details, and knack to portray characters multi dimensionally with their past, sins, love etc. I certainly find his books amazing, they open multiple windows of thought for me. Zahir is certainly one such book. "
— Ravi (4 out of 5 stars)
" It was a long, yet a satisfying read, and I guess that was also the downside of it. It was very long, considering the fact that it looked like the story has just been stretched. During the course of my reading, I often wonder when will the narrator find his wife. And as I was approaching to the end of the story, I felt excited for anticipation. And yes, it was a tear-jerking ending specially for the narrator. "
— Alden, 2/2/2014" Meh, I think both the main character and his wife were pretty selfish middle class hippies and I didn't really have much sympathy for the characters. "
— Kate, 1/26/2014" can't imagine love could be transformed to the endless suffering but also deep meaning... "
— Devy, 1/18/2014" Ya al final como que me impuse a la tortura. El contenido esta interesante para alguien que no se detiene a pensar del todo. "
— Athanark, 1/18/2014" pretty good book, left me thinking "
— Sybill, 1/8/2014" Really enjoyed the journey with this book, but didn't like the ending though! "
— Ayat, 1/7/2014" After reading alchemist I had a very good opinion about Paulo's works and then this book completely disappointed me. i felt like throwing the book into fire after I finished reading it. "
— Raviteja, 12/14/2013" Men is always in persiut of habppiness. Hard thing is, that doesn't know how to find it. So "may try something different". That is why people go to land far away. And as the says goes, no one knows what he/she has until it is lost. "
— Luis, 12/13/2013" It had some interesting thoughts here and there. It was a different kind of book for me. In some places, what the character(s) were talking about would be interesting and would make sense. In other places it made me think, what is this hippy crap? Overall, it was just ok. "
— Desi, 12/6/2013" Too idealistic for my taste. However, I do agree with the main idea of the book: finding oneself is the foundation for the quality of one`s life. "
— Miruna, 11/13/2013" One of the more confusing books of Paulo Coelho. By the end of the story, I cannot help but wonder what the protagonist had actually learned from his mistakes. "
— Thomas, 11/11/2013Paulo Coelho is a New York Times bestselling author. His books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 68 languages and published in 150 countries. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious international awards and was inducted at the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 2002. In 2007 he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace by the UN Secretary-General.
Jamie Glover was trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He has appeared on stage in productions of The Cherry Orchard and Mother Tongue. His many radio credits include Ben Hur and Sherlock Holmes, and on television he has had roles in Brother Cadfael, The Broker’s Man, and Breaking Up. His film work includes Age of Treason, which was directed by Kevin Connor.