**WORST_BOOK_EVER** The Valkyries - Paulo Coelho

BossArky

Just finished this book. Its the third Paulo Coelho book I've read (Veronika decides to die = good, Alchemst = good), and the worst... total crap.

This book was really aimed at the religious type. Being the unreligious machine that I am... I could not take it seriously.

Here are a few reviews from Amazon slating the book. Obviously there are good reviews too on Amazon.. but I found the ones below rather funny..especially the first one:

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In this story, which is purported to be "true", the author and his wife journey to the California dessert so that he can see his guardian angel. Toward this end they journey from town to town with a horde of biker chicks, perform various meditations and pagan rituals, and generally work through their own issues.

The story itself is interesting, but as a Christian I found the religious content disturbing. The author seems wrapped up in an occult-like and mystical form of Christianity that ironically seems to have left Christ out of the equation. Whereas Jesus advocated the banishment of the ego to bring our spirits into agreement with God's will, the type of Christianity we see here is all about self - pagan rituals, creating a feeling, and traveling to another continent to "see" an angel. I'm pretty liberal in my Christian theology, but at it's core Christ's message was one of loving God and loving each other. The Bible tells us that the signs of a Christ-based life are "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control". But despite the fact that these characters are supposedly highly "spiritual", their lives, at least as they appear in this story, are instead characterized by anxiety, detachment, and underlying hostility amongst themselves.

Furthermore, the author at one point deigns to cast aspersions about the spiritual slumber that the average person is in. I'm the first to admit that modern-day Christianity needs a good kick in the arse, - but (to use one of the lead characters, Valhalla as an example) I don't think leaving our spouses and children, becoming prostitutes, joining a biker gang, and performing odd pagan rituals is an improvement over the status quo.

At the end of the book, the author tacks on a 2 or 3 page dissertation about Jesus and Love that seems strangely incongruent with the story that was just told.

If you haven't read The Alchemist, read that instead of this book. If you have already read The Alchemist read it again instead of this book.

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Coelho has really gone over the edge with this nonsense. Not one single incident is to be believed and instead of penetrating is funny. He either overdosed on drugs or alcohol or was hallucinating. I couldn't stop laughing at what I know was meant to be a very serious book. If Coelho believes this actually happened to him, he's in bad shape and can't be taken seriously. The promising author of Veronica Decides to Die is quickly deteriorating. How sad!

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This is the worst book by this author that I've ever read. He apparently said everything he had to say in the Alchemist. Rambling and self-absorbed, this tale of meeting a nomadic tribe of women on bikes failed to squeeze out even an ounce of anticipation or dramatic tension. It was like he thought just placing a few strange characters in this story was enough to create a plot.

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There are two reasons why I chose this book to read. Reason number one is because Paulo Coelho wrote it, and I became a fan of his work when I read "The Alchemist." The second reason is because I first heard of the Valkyries on a televison show. I had hoped to sit down to a reading of immense enjoyment. I was disappointed.
I believe in order to fully understand and enjoy "The Valkyries", you must be on a different level of spiritual enlightment and be open to strange expressions of faith and of hope and of love. Paulo writes of his experiences in the Mojave Desert searching for his angel through first a young man and then leather wearing, biker running women. Will you find love, faith, and hope with these types of elements? I have no idea. For each person, I suppose it is different.

For me this novel left unexplainable ideals. I wanted more of a description of the channeling, the rituals. What were they feeling? Describe what the second mind is in more detail. Is it the conscious, is it deeper, did I miss the description all together? I didn't find it fullfilling, and I was extremely disappointed.

I will add this, the "The Valkyries" is a true story according to Paulo Coelho. He admits to adding two fictional details in his accounts, but overall it is a true story. If you like to read about soul searching journies, this will do it.

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I am one of paulo coelho's greatest fans when i saw this book in the bookstore couldnt think of any other thing exept that i wanted to go home and start reading ..after the first twenty pages i discovered that it has nothing similar to the alchamest on the contrary, to me this book appeared to be very boring, a waste of time .it wasnt worth my exitment about it in the first place .i don't advise anyone to read it it is not believable,even the parts where supposedly paulo was conversing with his angel were very shallow .paulo and his wife chris are too boring .i felt very happy that i have finished this stupid book,so that i can start another one to make make me forget my dissappointment about coelho.

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Dades

Those reviews don't surprise me.

But then again I couldn't take to the preachiness of The Alchemist either.

casanova_kid

I read "The Zaphir". What a pile of crap. Him and his "favour bank" can go **** off,

lizgal

Just finished Aleph..Very disappointing and a bit disturbing!I was s o impressed with the Alchemist and Veronika decides to die.Hard to believe it is same writer.

MHalberstram

One look at his twitter page was enough to swear me clear of anything he has ever written.

Pseudo hippie new age Oprah Winfrey's coach bollocks.

wilkie2006

Agreed. I thought "Veronica Decides to Die" - the first Coelho book I read - was/is amazing. "The Third Mountain" was okay but "The Alchemist" and "The Valkyties" were absolute $hite.

Rosy Posy

The only one I liked was 'Eleven Minutes'. The rest are awful dross- and I'd freely admit to being more than a little open to talk of the collective consciousness and a vague sense of new age spirituality. They're just all the same with that irritatingly sanctimonious veneer of profundity. I know loads of people that swear by him tho.

ush

Smug platitudes.

lizgal

ush wrote: »

Smug platitudes.

brilliant!

Giselle

I read the Alchemist and only thought it was passable.

Whatever any of you do, even if you're stuck on a desert island with only the back of a cereal packet to read....don't, for your own sake, read Brida.

Pure and utter tripe.

ush

The Alchemist.....what was that line. Something along the lines of "If you really want something, the whole universe conspires to fulfill your wishes." I'm paraphrasing. What a pile of bollocks.

What if two people what two diametrically opposed things in equal measure. What does the universe do then? Can't believe people get taken in by this ****.

As far as I see it, Coelho is part of an industry that is selling positive thinking. He getting seriously rich of this ****. And if your life sucks, well its because you haven't wished hard enough. There's never any structural social issues. Don't ever question the way things are. Just think positive.

We wouldn't even have democracy if people had thought like that.

Giselle

ush wrote: »

As far as I see it, Coelho is part of an industry that is selling positive thinking. He getting seriously rich of this ****. And if your life sucks, well its because you haven't wished hard enough. There's never any structural social issues. Don't ever question the way things are. Just think positive.

Its the same thought process encouraged by that bestselling tripe 'The Secret'.

Obviously the only problem people who are starving in Africa have, is an inability to ask the universe for food nicely enough.

The only thing more worrying than the abundance of this kind of stuff on the market, is the abundance of people willing to buy it.

I blame Oprah.