Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Tackle It Tuesday Preview, "Aleph"


Dear Haijin,

As promised a new Tackle It Tuesday Preview to inform you all about next week's theme "Aleph". "Aleph" is the latest novel by Paulo Coelho a Brazilian author. I am a big fan of his writings. He writes with a kind of spirituality and enthusiasm. Last year, when I was on holiday in Turkey, I have read "Aleph" and a week ago I started reading it again. It's a very personal story and again full of spirituality and philosophy.


Credits: Paulo Coelho

In his most personal novel to date, internationally bestselling author Paulo Coelho returns with a remarkable journey of self-discovery. Like the main character in his much-beloved The Alchemist, Paulo is facing a grave crisis of faith. As he seeks a path of spiritual renewal and growth, his only real option is to begin again—to travel, to experiment, to reconnect with people and the landscapes around him.Setting off to Africa, and then to Europe and Asia via the Trans-Siberian railroad, he initiates a journey to revitalize his energy and passion. Even so, he never expects to meet Hilal. A gifted young violinist, she is the woman Paulo loved five hundred years before—and the woman he betrayed in an act of cowardice so far-reaching that it prevents him from finding real happiness in this life. Together they will initiate a mystical voyage through time and space, traveling a path that teaches love, forgiveness, and the courage to overcome life’s inevitable challenges. Beautiful and inspiring, Aleph invites us to consider the meaning of our own personal journeys.

Synopsis of Paulo Coelho's "Aleph":

In Aleph, Coelho writes in the first person, as a character and a man wrestling with his own spiritual stagnation. He's 59 years old, a successful but discontented writer, a man who has traveled all over the world and become widely acclaimed for his work. However, he can't shake the sense that he's lost-and deeply dissatisfied. Through the leadership of his mentor "J.," Coelho comes to the conclusion that he must "change everything and move forward," but he doesn't quite know what that means until he reads an article about Chinese bamboo.
Coelho becomes inspired by the thought of how bamboo exists only as a tiny green shoot for five years while its root system grows underground, invisible to the naked eye. Then, after five years of apparent inactivity, it shoots up and grows to a height of twenty-five meters. Taking what sounds like advice he's written in his previous books, Coelho begins to "trust and follow the signs and live [his] Personal Legend," an act that takes him from a simple book signing in London to a whirlwind tour of six countries in five weeks.
Filled with the euphoria of once again being in motion, he commits to a journey through Russia to meet with his readers and to realize his lifelong dream of traveling the entire length of the Trans-Siberian railroad. He arrives in Moscow to begin the journey and meets more than what he's expecting in a young woman and violin virtuoso named Hilal, who shows up at his hotel and announces that she's there to accompany him for the duration of the trip.
When Hilal won't take no for an answer, Coelho lets her tag along, and together the two embark on a journey of much greater significance. By sharing deeply profound moments lost in "the Aleph," Coelho begins to realize that Hilal can unlock the secrets of a parallel spiritual universe in which he had betrayed her five hundred years earlier. In the language of technical mathematics, Aleph means "the number that contains all numbers," but in this story it represents a mystical voyage wherein two people experience a spiritual unleashing that has a profound impact on their present lives.


"Aleph" reads as a movie. The reader is part of the journey and learns to look at his (or her) own journey,  called life. "Aleph" ... well I can only say: this novel is worth reading.


Credits: Cover Aleph
"Aleph" is the theme for next week's "Tackle It Tuesday". I hope that with this information given in this "Tackle It Tuesday, preview" you, my dear Haijin and visitors, can write a haiku. It can be a classical or a non-classical haiku that's all up to you. I think ... this upcoming theme isn't easy, but ... please try to write a haiku on this theme "Aleph".

This new theme for Tackle It Tuesday starts on Monday August 13th. Come and enjoy the fun. Be part of this new Tackle It Tuesday.

See you all next week

Warm Greetings,



No comments: