By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept - Paulo Coelho

I have browsed Russian internet in search of criticism for Paolo Coelho's ...Rio Piedra... All in vain. Russian readers praise him and his books ferociously. Instead, in the English-speaking part of internet I've found several reviews expressing opinions very close to mine. So this is what I think: Coelho's literature language in most of his books (except for the Alchemist, maybe) is shallow and mediocre, his ideas naive; The writer puts across the universally acknowledged truths as something new and insightful; The characters and the plot of the book lack realism and it makes it hard to accept the book's main ideas and summary. The ...

I do not doubt that Paulo Coelho has talent; after reading “The Alchemist” I realised some his literary skills and thought-provoking ideas are worthy of praise. So I picked up another of his novels, “By The River Piedra I Sat Down & Wept” (1994), and eventually put it down sourly disappointed! Coelho markets this one as an arduous yet inspiring journey which revolves around love. However, merely to finish reading the novel potential readers might find themselves on a voyage as laborious and gruelling as climbing a mountain, only to find the view from the summit far from inspirational. The story centres on the relationship ...