By The River Piedra...

Reading Paulo Coelho's works has always been like embarking on a mental and spiritual journey for me. Although I have only read 2 of his works so far, and having another tucked safely in a box somewhere, it is all the same an enlightening journey of discovery and self-assessment paging through his prose. I first landed on his most renowned title, The Alchemist, months after I heard how great it was - even Madonna was mesmerized by his novel. Although I didn't have such dramatic response after finishing the book, it was nonetheless one of the most touching story I have ever read. Touching in the sense that it moved me to the deepest core and got me thinking about what I really wanted out of my life, and much more...

Not surprisingly, reading By the River Piedra... was no exception. Although the story revolved on a different background and culture, it was all the same a great story about the same things Coelho emphasized in The Alchemist - the courage to realize one's dreams, not being afraid of desiring happiness, and having it.

The major difference in this book is religion: how Mr. Coelho conveyed the image of - as well as the concept of embracing - God, His/Her mighty presence in such beautiful ways (and no, there is not typo in this sentence). I am not trying to endorse his views on the subject, nor am I judging his interpretations to be right/wrong, but I find them peculiarly... truthful, in many ways.

And it was told a story towards the end of the book, a tale that touched the very endings of my nerves - I was reminded of how noodle and I sometimes bickered over petty things where the cause of it all was ironically nothing but one's thoughtfulness for the other, and vice versa:

"A boy and a girl were insanely in love with each other," my mother's voice wa saying. "They decided to become engaged. And that's when presents are always exchanged.

"The boy was poor - his only worthwhile possession was a watch he had inherited from his grandfather. Thinking about his sweetheart's lovely hair, he decided to sell the watch in order to buy her a silver barrette.

"The girl had no money herself to buy him a present. She went to the shop of the most successful merchant in town and sold him her hair. With the money, she bought a gold watch-band of her lover.

"When they met on the day of the engagement party, she gave him the wristband for a watch he had sold, and he gave her the barrette for the hair she no longer had."

I am sure that this little tale brings different meanings for different people who reads it. Won't hurt to ponder what it means to you...

---

Italized scripts are excerpts from BY THE RIVER PIEDRA I SAY DOWN AND WEPT by the great Paulo Coelho.