This is an authorized biography of one of the world's most popular authors, which involves the story of Paulo Coelho's childhood time, his life before became as an international bestselling author, and the success of his several novels all these time.
Before I started to read this book, I got the feeling that he probably has an uncommon life or extraordinary experiences in the past. Despite of that feeling, I never expect that it was more than that after reading the book. I do believe that uncommon life experience is one of the reasons that leads him to become a well-known bestselling author. The entire biography wasn't that bad as what others had reviewed on Goodreads. I checked some of those reviews before I started to read the book and I have doubts whether I should proceed reading it.
However, when it comes to the middle part of the biography, I started to believe some of the negative reviews about this book. I felt bored and wished to skip the part about black magic. It was written in a dull and confused way but I was able to finished the book without skipping any of the chapters. Despite my dislike about the story of black magic in the book, I feel the entire biography is interesting and I enjoyed reading it. Maybe I just like the beginning and the ending of the book especially the letter to the author of this biography. Although Paulo had experienced many different lives and probably some of the things that he did in the past may be unethical or immoral for me, this doesn't stop me to continue reading his novels. Everyone has a past. It doesn't bother me at all. His novels should not be judged by his past.
I feel the biography can inspire us to become someone that will never give up in chasing our dreams despite the difficulties that we will face during the process. Although his success was not fully recognised in his own country but his novels usually appear in the bestselling list around the world. It's heartache when being likened almost everywhere in the world except your own country and the reason is always something indescribable.
Rating: ★★★
More reviews can be found on Goodreads: Paulo Coelho.