The witch of portobello

Finished reading it long back, felt like writing about it today. I’m afraid this will be another post about feminism, but I don’t want to spark off more debates, and so I’ll not be expressing any views of my own, but just telling what the book is about.

This is the story of Athena(as she named herself) or Sherine(as her adoptive parents named her) or Hagia Sophia(as she found her true self). As all Paulo Coelho books, this one too immerses you in spiritual discussions and one feels like reading it only when one has the time and mood to get absorbed into that world. For me, this is not a book to be read  at the end of a busy day..it is to be read on a Sunday afternoon with juice and sandwiches. Instead of concentrating on the details of the story and the plot, the reader gets to decide which part of the story he/she can associate with and learn from. The story is told in a very different fashion, one that I have not seen yet. It has been told in the form of interviews…all the people who came close to knowing Athena in her lifetime have recounted what they saw her going through and what hey felt about it. The accounts given by different people, take the reader through her life and the various events that took place in it.

How many people are successful in finding out who they really are? How many are certain of what their purpose is? When is one happy? This is basically the story of a woman who is different, who discovers that she is years ahead of society with respect to her way of thinking, her knowledge of her own self, and her will to be free of all norms. It is about her self-discovery, the questions she asks herself and the answers that she finds.  It ends with a series of events that lead to a brutal murder. As always, I found the quotes, the musings and the thought provoking statements (especially those about relationships) more interesting that the spirituality and the actual plot of the story. Here are a few:

“NO one can manipulate anyone else. In any relationship, both parties know what they are doing, even if one of them complains later on that they were used.”

“Women always identify with one of the four classic archetypes:
The Virgin, whose search springs from her complete independence, and everything she learns is a fruit of her ability to face challenges alone.
The martyr finds her way to self-knowledge through pain, surrender and suffering.
The Saint, find her true reason for living in unconditional love and her ability to give without her asking anything in return.
The witch justifies her existence by going in search of complete and limitless pleasure.”

“People who return from battle are either dead or stronger in spite of or because of their scars.It’s better that way; I’ve lived on a battlefield since I was born, but I’m still alive and I don’t need anyone to protect me.”