Novel Notions: Eleven Minutes (Paulo Coelho)

I recently finished Eleven Minutes, a novel I borrowed from my officemate, Ate Krizza. The book, written by Paulo Coelho, is about a Brazilian Prostitute named Maria. It narrated her past, the turn-of-events that led her to prostitution, the adventures she had as a prostitute, and finally, meeting Ralf, the story then centers on their journey as they helped each other grow and find love. The novel also contains excerpts from Maria's diary, profound realizations in her day-to-day encounters. Weird for a prostitute, I must say. Could she really be that smart and deep? I mean, we all expect prostitues to be dumb (and poor) that they got into that "profession" in the first place.

Anyway, I agree with a college friend who once told me, "kapag nabasa mo yung Eleven Minutes parang ma-eengganyo ka narin maging pokpok." *laughs* I'm not saying I want to be a prostitute, though. I'm merely saying it kinda makes a person consider getting into that lucrative job. You just have to know when to stop. Which is actually difficult because some get addicted to the easy way they earn money just by spreading their legs while some even develop a fascination with sex.

It's interesting to read, but not like the suspense or thriller books I normally read, this didn't have me hooked. It took me a long time (a couple of weeks, I think) to finish as compared to my average of 2-3 days for thriller novels.

Valuable lessons can be learned from this daring novel, one of the best Coelho has written. Sadly, the story ends with a cliche outcome, ending like a children's fairytale where the prince and princess lived happily ever after.