Eleven Minutes By Paulo Coelho

I was deeply impressed by "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho and hence I picked up this book from the stands (needless to say a paperback edition). The book eleven minutes is a translation of a book written by Paulo Coelho in Portuguese named "Onze Minutos".
Maria, from the interior of Brazil, goes to seek her fortune in Switzerland, only to find that reality is harsher than she expected and she ends up working in a brothel on Rue de Berne, the heart of Geneva's red-light district.

The book deals with the quest for real love of the central character Maria. She enters a life that leads her down the path of sexual awakenings and almost leads to her self-destruction when she is introduced to all sides of sexual experience. When she has given up hope to find true love she meets a painter with whom she falls in love. And she must now choose where she is to take her life. Either to let it lead her or finally take control of her life and end this subtle self-destructive life she is leading. Just like many of Coelho's books, this book is also about a journey of self-discovery that leads the reader into understanding the issues of sex (in prostitution), sacred sex, and sex in the context of love.

The book is pretty graphic in its descriptions and can be termed as erotic meant for matured audiences. The only thing I liked about is the no nonsense way of putting intricacies of sex for a purpose of self-discovery. Just imagine any Indian author doing it!!! But on the other hand, there is hardly any story telling in the book and makes you feel like you are watching a much chewed script of an old hindi movie. Girl comes out of a small town, falls into prostitution racket and the finally finds a perfect match.

All in all, this book is not in the ranks of other books by Paulo "The Alchemist" or "Winner Stands Alone" because of its dull story telling, which has been a strong point for all Paulo books. But we all know what a wonderful writer he is and he has put such a difficult subject on paper with such ease.