Eleven Minutes

Yeah precisely, its the novel by Paulo Coelho I'm talking about. I just finished reading it yesterday (I actually have been budgeting reading it, to have something to do for solitary days). Its a story of a girl from Brazil, named Maria, who comes to Europe chasing her dreams. Though she ends up being a prostitute, she leads life the way she loves it. Its a tale of her self-discovery.

Although the book makes a nice story, its the way Paulo Coelho writes that leaves me mesmerised. Simple, subtle, yet beautiful lines. And the most beautiful part of them have been Maria's diaries. Here's a collection of excerpts from the book, that I loved the most:

- "Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realise that nothing really belongs to them. And if nothing belongs to me, then there's no point wasting time looking after things that aren't mine; its best to live as if today was the first (or last) day of my life."

- "I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It's all a question of how I view my life."

- "Some people were born to face life alone, and this is neither good or bad, its simply life."

- "But life was teaching her - very fast - that only the strong survive. To be strong, she must be the best, there's no alternative".

- "I'm not a body with a soul, I'm a soul that has a visible part called body."

- "A man doesn't prove he's a man by getting an erection. He's only a real man if he can pleasure a woman. And if he can pleasure a prostitue, he'll think he's the best lover on the block."

- "... but there's always one woman who frightens them (men) and forces them to submit to her caprices." (Maria, wondering how all her clients seem to be 'afraid')

- "Eleven minutes. The world revolved around something that only took eleven minutes." (The accompanying para is amazing, its too long to type though)

- "Human beings can withstand a week without water, two weeks without food, many years of homelessness, but not loneliness. Its the worst of all tortures, the worst of all sufferings."

- "That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it."

- "Love is not to be found in someone else, but in ourselves; we simply awaken it. But in order to do that, we need the other person. The universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with."

- "Passion makes a person stop eating, sleeping, working, feeling at peace. A lot of people are frightened because, when it appears, it demolishes all the old things it finds in its path."

- "Each day I choose the truth which I try to live. I try to be practical, efficient, professional. But I would like to be able always to choose desire as my companion. Not out of obligation, not to lessen my loneliness, but because its good. Very good."

- "If you want to achieve your objectives, you have to be prepared for a daily dose of pain or discomfort. At first, its unpleasant and demotivating, but in time you come to realise that it's a part of the process of feeling good, and the moment arrives when, if you don't feel pain, you have a sense that exercises aren't having the desired effect." (As true as it can be, this is the hardest thing!)

- "Oh, so you want to think that, do you? All right then, do what you like, while I get on with more important things." (Maria, to herself, when her heart complained about the absence of her love)

- "The art of sex is the art of controlled abandon."

- "..., it's (pain) a very powerful drug. Its in our daily lives, in our hidden suffering, in the sacrifices we make, blaming love for the destruction of our dreams. Pain is frightening when it shows its real face, but its seductive when it comes disguised as sacrifice or self denial. Or cowardice. However much we may reject it , we human beings always find a way of being with pain, or flirting with it and making it a part of our lives." (These lines are POWERFUL, and makes me rethink of certain decisions I took in life ;-) )

- "Pain and suffering are used to justify the one thing that brings only joy: love."

- "No one around me is happy; the clients know that they are paying for something that should be free, and thats depressing. The women know that they have to sell something which they would like to give out of pleasure and affection, and that is destructive." (Maria, in a diary entry).

- "Life is too short, or too long, to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly." (The same diary entry)

- "In all languages in the world, there's the same proverb: "What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve over". Well, I say there isn't an ounce of truth in it. The further off they are, the closer to the heart are all those feelings we try to repress and forget. If we are in exile, we want to store away every tiny memory of our roots. If we're far from the person we love, everyone we pass in the street reminds us of them." (Maria, quoting a priest in her diary).

- "Its odd how, when you live in a city, you always postpone getting to know it and usually end up never knowing it at all."


Very well written, and grasping. Must read!