Sorry, that's only my opinion (By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept - Paulo Coelho)

Member Name: dragon2323

Product:	By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept - Paulo Coelho
Date:	09/12/03 (1106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: can't think of any - other Coelho's books, maybe

Disadvantages: mediocre language, banal ideas, lack of realism

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 heroine of ...Rio Piedra... wears the same T-shirt all the time and it does not make her less attractive in the eyes of her companion. Imagine this! The characters don't bother about their jobs, friends or moral obligations... Their life is imaginary.
Also, I am assured, that the literature's main goal is not to teach us something or to bring new ideas or to provide insights. Literature piece, like any other art (painting, film, dance) must be professionally done and be a masterpiece. I could not get any aesthetic pleasure from this book. It tries to teach things, yes, but what about the reader being not a school pupil, but instead a person with good artistic taste who wants to enjoy a well-written and masterfully composed book...
I am absolutely sure I will not reread this book. There are many things that can make you want to read something again: author's style, ideas of the book, atmosphere, the plot. None of these that were present in this book satisfied me. I likes Alchemist when I first read it but I expected the author to change, to grow, to develop. Instead, I have a feeling that he tries to fool me.

Summary: