Eleven Minutes

ByPaulo Coelho

Release Date: 2009-10-13
Genre: Historical Fiction

Score: 4.5

4.5

From 469 Ratings

Description

“One of Coelho’s strongest.”—Kirkus Reviews

“The book casts a curiously sweet spell.”—Entertainment Weekly

From the author of beloved international bestseller The Alchemist, a daring philosophical novel that explores the sacred nature of sex and love and invites us to confront our own prejudices and demons.

In this poignant coming of age story, Eleven Minutes tells the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer.” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune, yet ends up working as a prostitute.

In Geneva, Maria’s despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this spiritual journey and odyssey of self-discovery, Maria must choose between pursuing a path of darkness—sexual pleasure for its own sake—or risking everything to find her own inner light and the possibility of true love.

“Sensual . . . [An] adults-only fairly tale.”—Washington Post

“[This] Brazilian wizard makes books disappear from stores.”—The New York Times

Reviews

Paulo never fail to amaze me
5
By NiliArnstrong
Loved the story and every metaphor used to help individuals leg go and attract what we want in life. Such a powerful and positive perspective on life in such negative environment. Only Paulo can do that.
I have no words
5
By Jassie.<3
I have no words to describe how good this book is. You will have to read it for yourself 😉
Great Book!
5
By Ailurophile11
I personally loved it, i read some other reviews saying at 22 how could she understand what love was and did what she did. But again, wouldn’t be surprised that for people that take longer to mature and expect everyone to be the same as them. They have a little knowledge of other places around the world and that everything’s different than our own place. Age does not equal maturity. Fairytale? No, that’s life outside our normal life environment. This is a great story, and so far one of the nicest books I’ve read.
A must read.
5
By Simongs4
I loved it.
Coelho is a genius
5
By Serene-serenity
So hard to put it down. This book is the realization that although things are not perfect is never too late to go on and do what your hearts tells you to do. This is book is real. This book is magic. Thank you, Coelho.
Eleven minutes
5
By DereckCamacho
Brutally honest dive into the world of temptation and the battle of separation of body and soul, sex and love, touch and intimacy that will educate all.
Not what I expected
2
By Apcquijote
Fairy tale situations. No girl at twenty two can understand love, behave as she did and capture the admiration from this man.
Paulo, is begining to do so at his age...
Fantastic
5
By Lotuslover8118
I love this book. Paulo is brilliant. A must read. It's such a wonderful story.
Great story
5
By Dgitau
This was one of my favourite book by paulo.
Captivating and Well Written
5
By SamRazzleberry
My first Paulo Coehlo book. Now I'm hooked.