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Eleven Minutes: A Novel
 
 
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Eleven Minutes: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Paulo Coelho (Author) "Once upon a time, there was prostitute called Maria ..." (more)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 32.99
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Product Description

From Amazon.co.uk

Paulo Coelho's astonishingly beautiful writing in Eleven Minutes virtually guarantees it the cult status that The Alchemist already enjoys. But what is the Paulo Coelho phenomenon? How can an author who (only a short time ago) was virtually unknown to most readers have taken the world of books by storm--and without the benefit of glitzy advertising? The answer is simple: quality. Such books as The Fifth Mountain andThe Devil and Miss Prym are enough to explain a considerable following for the author, with their atmospheric prose and involving characters.

Eleven Minutes tells the story of young Maria living an innocent life in a Brazilian village and is played out in a measured fashion, but with all the author's brilliant scene-setting (very lush here) fully in place. But then Maria experiences love and suffers great pain. From this point, Coelho has us inexorably in his grip. Maria's disillusionment with love leads her to Geneva where she finally ends up selling her body (Coelho may offer us the beauty of life, but never at the expense of its harshness). Maria's approach to sex is complex--this is no mere revulsion arising from what she is now doing with her life. And then she meets a seductive young painter, who may or may not offer her a new path in life. But does she prefer to continue on the dark sexual odyssey she has embarked on, at the expense of real love?

There are echoes of DH Lawrence in Coelho's exploration of the sacred and spiritual aspects of sex and it's a brave author who tackles a subject that can so easily slip into strained seriousness. That never happens here, and Maria's journey is one that the reader willingly undertakes; the lesson she learns are lessons for the reader. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.



From Publishers Weekly

"Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria"-thus begins Coelho's latest novel, a book that cannot decide whether it wants to be fairy tale or saga of sexual discovery, so ends up satisfying the demands of neither. In his dedication, bestselling Brazilian novelist Coelho (The Alchemist) tells readers that his book will deal with issues that are "harsh, difficult, shocking," but neither his tame forays into S&M nor his rather technical observations about female anatomy and the sad but hardly new fact that many women are dissatisfied with their sex lives will do much to shock American readers. In Maria, however, the author has created a strong, sensual young woman who grabs our sympathy from the first, as she suffers unrequited love as a child, learns a bit about sex as a teenager and, at 19, makes the ill-advised decision to leave Rio on a Swedish stranger's promise of fame and fortune. Maria's trials and triumphs-she goes from restaurant dancer to high-class prostitute-would make for an entertaining if rather prosaic novel, but Coelho, unfortunately, does not leave it there. Instead, he embarks on a philosophical exploration of sexual love, using Maria's increasingly ponderous and pseudo-philosophical diary entries as a means for expounding on the nature of sexual desire, passion and love. At the end, the story boils down to a rather predictable romance tarted up with a few sexy trappings.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
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3 star:    (0)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
4.0 out of 5 stars I love 11 minutes!, Oct 10 2009
By Sandra Pavlovic (Toronto, ON) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This book is awesome, I really enjoyed it because it has interesting concepts about what love means. I bought it because I had read it in a library before but I want to have it handy at home. Enjoy!
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4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting In A Somewhat Morose Way, Dec 10 2008
This review is from: Eleven Minutes: A Novel (Paperback)
As a pretty, young teenager in Brasil, Maria, partly by accident and perhaps partly by design, gets recruited for a prostitution ring in Europe. She works in a restaurant/bar with other prostitutes, earns some money, gains some independence but feels yearnings toward greater things. She becomes torn between someone she loves and someone who offers a strange,fascinating but dangerous area of sexuality and sensation. Ultimately she must choose. The book is based on conversations Coelho had with a woman who led such a life and the book reflects this authenticity and avoids the sensationalism of the subject for more thought-provoking ideas.
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2.0 out of 5 stars A rather dull read, Jun 15 2007
By Jason "jTc" (Victoria, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eleven Minutes: A Novel (Paperback)
I don't think this book was a study of prostitution as other reviewers have said but rather, a study of sexuality. That being said, the revelations that the main character, Maria, makes are hardly eye opening. I felt the first half of the book was better than the second at which point it really started getting dull. In fact, I think the revelations the novel makes would be much better as a short story than a full length novel.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment
When I began reading this novel, I had high hopes. There isn't a whole lot of literature out there shedding some positive light on the profession of prostitution. Read more
Published on Jun 7 2006 by D. Pearson

5.0 out of 5 stars You can either hate it or love it.
The book was very easy to read, each sentence kept my attention. Simple, intense, insightful, and erotic. I would definitely say I LOVE it!
Published on Jul 14 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars horrible
I hated this book. I thought it seemed like it was poorly translated and seemed like a man's ATTEMPT to understand what a woman might feel.
Published on Jul 13 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected from Coelho
This novel is different from the former works of Coelho. His books so far have been easily read, tale like self-help books. Read more
Published on Jul 7 2004 by P. KALAY

1.0 out of 5 stars Dull, boring, predictable
Another book of Paulo Coelho that wants to be deep and original but is nothing more than dull and ridiculous. This is the last book I'm ever going to read by this author. Read more
Published on Jun 28 2004 by Simone

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of "Eleven Minutes"
A truely deep book about love, sex and life and its crossroads. It explores various aspects of the inner self through the life of a 22 year old prostitute (not an 11 year old as... Read more
Published on Jun 25 2004 by alexia

5.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly impressed and invigorated...
A friend of mine loaned me this book, and I started to read it with no preconceived notion that I would like or hate it. Read more
Published on Jun 24 2004 by J. Ancheta

2.0 out of 5 stars Eleven minutes
"Eleven minutes" for people who read "The Alchemist, is almost the same thing except Maria (the prostitute) is not Santiago (the shepherd) from "The Alchemist". Read more
Published on Jun 19 2004 by Kosovar

4.0 out of 5 stars Reading Old Friends
I admit it - I don't like surprises. When I go to a restaurant, I always order the same thing. After all, if I know one thing is good, why try something else? Surprise parties? Read more
Published on Jun 16 2004 by Kate Westrich

5.0 out of 5 stars Revolutionary
It is not about prostitute name Maria it is not another love story it is beyond words. Who can't read between the lines may think it is something fun to read about sex. Read more
Published on Jun 10 2004

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