"The Zahir" review

This is my third book by Paulo Coelho. My first two were "The Alchemist" and "Eleven Minutes"

His writing is fluid, every line adds a new meaning to the way we depict life. The more you read, the more you begin to think that the book was just written for you and about you. His latest novel "The Zahir" is an amazing read about a writer whose wife has walked out on him in search of life's meaning. As the story unfolds, the writer becomes obsessed with understanding the reason of her desertion. His search for her and for the truth of his own life is what the entire book is about. The tale is set in Paris though the writer's quest takes him through the enchanting landscape of Central Asia.

The meaning of Zahir, in this book, is an object of obsession. This obsession causes the affected person to see less of reality and obsess about the object itself. In this case, it is his wife, Esther. There are only two states with Paulo Coelho's books : You either love them or you dont. There is no third state.

Below are some quotable quotes and excerpts.

I start with this excerpt :
---" I have everything a woman could want." "What's wrong with your life then?" "Precisely that. I have everything, but I am not happy. And I'm not the only one either; over the years I've met and interviewed all kinds of people: the rich, the poor, the powerful and those who just make do. I've seen the same infinite bitterness in everyone's eyes, a sadness which people werent always prepared to acknowledge but which, regardlesss of what they were telling me, was nevertheless there. Some people appear to be happy, but they simply dont give the matter much thought, Others make plans: I'm going to have a husband, a home, two children, a house in the country. As long as they're busy doing that, they're like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they react instinctively, they blunder on, with no idea where the target is They get their car, sometimes even a Ferrari, and they think that's the meaning of life, and they never question it. Yet their eyes betray the sadness that even they dont know they carry in their soul. I dont know if everyone is unhappy. I know they're all busy: working overtime, worrying about their children, their husband, their career, their degree, what they're going to do tomorrow, what they need to buy, what they need to have in order not to feel inferior, etc.
When asked if they are happy, their answer is "I've got everything a person could possibly want, a family, a home, work, good health". Even if I meet someone who was doing what he had chosen to do, that person's soul was still in torment, he hadnt found peace yet either."

Another excerpt :
--- I'm free, independent.
But what is freedom? I heard other people speaking in the name of freedom, and the more they defended this unique right, the more enslaved they seemed to their parents' wishes, to a marriage in which they had promised to stay with the other person 'for the rest of their lives', to their bathroom scales, to their diet, to their half-finished projects, to weekends they were obliged to have lunch with people they didnt even like, Slaves to luxury, to the appearance of luxury, to the appearance of the appearance of luxury. Slaves to a life they had not chosen, but which they had decided to live because someone had managed to convince them that it was all for the best."

Yet another :
"Suffering occurs when we want other people to love us in the way we imagine we want to be loved, and not in the way that love should manifest itself-free and untrammelled, guiding us with its force and driving us on"