Love is a disease no one wants to get rid of. Those who catch it never try to get better, and those who suffer do not wish to be cured.
I am not a Paulo Coelho fan! But The Alchemist compelled me to read The Zahir . I somewhere realized that the importance of an author’s work can’t be justified by just reading a single book.
The Zahir is yet another intriguing novel by Paulo Coelho. This time the subject is eternally entertaining – the mysterious relationship between a husband and a wife.
The story revolves around three people – Esther, Mikhail and the Narrator. The narrator is a person who is laced with fame and wealth and he is a slave of his celebrity status. He never attempts to care about the aspirations of his wife, Esther, who is a journalist by profession. She desires to be a war correspondent but her Love turns her into a housewife. She suddenly abandons him leaving no note of concern. He couldn’t surmise the plausible reason for her departure. Her absence creates a void in his life, making him realise that he actually was incapable to keep the woman he loved so much. His mind is distracted by various thoughts and worries, whether she abandoned the marriage or eloped with someone. He finds himself in a dilemma about whether to find her and persuade her to come back or to gain liberty to pursue bold new endeavours . He is caught up in maelstrom of mixed emotions to muddle through. He recalls the conversations he had with her in order to determine what had gone wrong in their relation. But, the more he thinks about her, the more he is obsessed to find her. She had already captivated him entirely with his body, mind and soul. In order to escape from the clutches of her thoughts, he tries to find solace in his girlfriend Marie but fails to break free.
Zahir in Arabic means something which cannot go unnoticed & once we come into contact with it, it grows into magnificent proportions in our thoughts. Zahir is an obsession, an obsession of a person, thing or oneself. To free ourselves from that is next to impossible.
Slowly, Esther symbolically becomes the Zahir, she fills him entirely. He starts to love her more than himself. Esther was the woman who helped him accomplish his dream to become an established author of a best-selling novel “a time to rend & a time to sew”. Suddenly, there is a change in his life when he meets a mysterious epileptic person with superficial powers of hearing voices, Mikhail who turns out to be a close friend of Esther too. Mikhail is a war correspondent whose mission is to transform the world by spreading the message of love. He tells him that she was giving french lessons to kids and making carpets while staying in Kazakhstan. The narrator is surprised and his obsession to meet Esther increases. Mikhail suggests him to find her soul in case he sets out to find her.
Later he meets with an accident which destroys his obsession. The incident leaves him with a clear understanding of nature of love and power of destiny. He feels as if he is reborn. He understands that one needs to keep walking without carrying any unnecessary extra baggage, and carry only as much as it is required to live each day and let the energy of love flow freely within and between us. He ventures from South America to Spain, France, Croatia and eventually Central Asia, to find her and bring her back in his life. Mikhail helps him to commence his journey from Kazakhstan. Gradually his journey leads him to a new understanding about love, hatred, forgiveness and life. He finally meets his wife and what happens in the end is a new beginning.
There are also places where the author has tried to create a melodrama and does not seem very realistic. The narrator has left unexplained reason for the way he drops Marie, his girlfriend and pacifier, when he was alone and distressed. The author believes in sign language, magical powers and intuition and given a chance he does not hesitate to hinder into his favourite spaces.
The narrator talks about contributing to favour bank to create a goodwill. The realm of art, culture and literature needs mutual cooperation to show your gratitude or repay wisely when required. He has provided a beautiful count of favour bank in this story. It’s a tale of being free, shed inhibitions, obsessions and explore newer horizons. Searching for a purpose in life and what you value most is the core idea and central theme of this book. The narrator brings into light the day-to-day arguments between husband and wife and with frequent disagreements how they fail to see diminishing love in their lives. It is a common trajectory for married people: fall in love, begin the journey, get comfortable and take for granted. As a reader you delve into a different level of understanding, the true meaning of love and spirituality. As the narrator describes the marriage between two people is similar to a railway track – they accompany each other in every walk of life but never overlap. There is no such adventure or mystery kind of thing. But, this book discusses about many aspects of marriage life and imperative to be read by every married couple.
Overall, Paulo Coelho’s The Zahir gives a fresh perspective towards life philosophy. It talks about a remarkable journey of love, spirituality, freedom to listen to your heart and self-introspection with a strong plot focussing husband-wife relation. This book has the potential to change one’s views on the wonderful relationship between husband and wife.
