296 pages Trade Paperback (Fiction)
My wife and I occasionally get two copies of the same book and then have a mini reading group together. She bought copies of this book for Christmas and we both have been reading it. She isn't quite done yet
Aleph has an interesting presentation. It is presented as autobiographical, but labeled as fiction. Fantastic things happen, but in the author's note at the end it is implied that they are real. The book is also translated from Portuguese which may have been to its detriment.
In order to talk about the book it will be necessary to reveal things so....
Warning: spoilers ahead.
The book follows the author on a trip to many countries around the world. At the beginning the author talks with a friend that suggests he must say yes to life more often. At the next press conference he agrees to go to all the countries that he is requested to visit. The final one involves a train ride on the Trans-Siberian rail road. There is little time spent on the rest of the trip and most of it focuses on the train ride. Before boarding the train the author meets a young violinist named Hilal. She tells him that she is supposed to join him on this journey. The others along for the trip are opposed, but in the end she is allowed to go. The book follows the author as he has a spiritual journey.
The main point of the book is what is known as the Aleph. Hilal and the author have some type of time meld. Together they experience a vision/time travel where the author attempts to reconcile a failure from his past life. This Aleph seems to be a fixed point within the hallway of the train.
I can't say I really enjoyed this book. I found the writing to be very bland. Since it was translated from Portuguese I can forgive this as I wouldn't have been able to read it otherwise, but either the translator simplified the writing or the original wasn't that great to start with.
I want to discuss the time traveling experiences that the author has. He presents these experiences as truth. Since it is a work of fiction I was able to accept this, at first, but as things goes on it is implied it is real. At the end of the book the author's note discusses the people in the book and warns people from attempting the time traveling rituals described in the book. Yet, the book is labeled as fiction. Did he have these experiences? He implies that he has. Why is the book fiction? Did the publisher do that? This really bothered me. It seems like this should have been explained much better than it was. It is possible that Coelho intended the book to be labeled as non-fiction, but because of the fantastic nature of the trip the publisher labeled it otherwise. I feel if that was the case then he should have addressed this in some way.
The biggest issue I had was the number of assumptions made in the book. Throughout the book the author makes statements. He then uses a statement for a basis for converging lines of thought. The assumption is that you accept the first statement which then encourages you to agree with the whole. Numerous times I found myself questioning the validity of the original statement which then invalidated everything that was discussed. I have to admit that this lies mostly on me. I am skeptical of any otherworldly experience that anyone claims to have. I am looking for evidence what a person claims is more than just a story and this book doesn't provide anything more than that, just a story. Since I doubt the truth of the story, and view as such, I wasn't impressed by the book.
2 Intellectual/Emotional - I wasn't drawn to the characters and in most cases was annoyed by them. The spiritual content of the book could be inspiring if it were true, but I wasn't convinced that it was, most significantly because it was labeled as fiction.
2 Style/Readability - As noted it was very bland. Everything was very uninspired considering the book was supposed to be inspiring. It felt almost like the author was bored with the tale he was telling. This comes through in the writing.
1 Long Term Impact - Unless the ideas presented take hold and influence a lot of people I see this book fading into obscurity sooner rather than later.
5 out of 13. This is one of the worst scores I have ever given a book. Read something else.
Keep Turning Pages.
