At the beginning or the end of a book there's usually a blurb, penned by the author, about what he or she did before taking up writing as a career. It's usually a number of things indicating to this reviewer that he couldn't hold down a job. Not surprising, as it was run-of-the-mill work.
Adultery By Paulo Coelho Hutchinson 289pp Available at Asia Books and Leading bookshops 595 baht
But the blurb in Brazilian author Paulo Coelho's Adultery intrigued me so much that I was impelled to pass it along.
Paulo Coelho's life is the primary source of inspiration for his books. He has flirted with death, escaped madness, dallied with drugs, escaped torture, experimented with musk and alchemy, studied philosophy and religion, read ferociously, lost and recovered his faith and experienced the pain of love.
In searching for his own place in the world, he has discovered answers for challenges that everyone faces. He believes that within ourselves we have the necessary strength to find our own destiny.
Paulo Coelho's books have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide and he is the most translated author living in the world. He has won 115 international prizes and awards.
So, does he live up to his hype?
Set in Geneva, Switzerland, the title is an indication of what this novel is about. The husband runs an investment bank, the wife is a journalist. In their 30s, they have three children. A loving family, respected in the community, they literally have the best of everything.
The problem is that she's bored. The routine of daily life has gotten her down. Why can't she have adventures like the people she interviews? Trips to mountain and lake resorts arranged by her husband are unsatisfying. Even the sex is predictable. Though not a virgin when she married, the thought of taking a lover frightens her.
Until she interviews a former classmate. Jacob is an up-and-coming politician married to a Nigerian philosophy professor. It's lust at first sight. He's told his wife about the affair, who takes it in her stride. Our heroine beats around the bush, but hubby doesn't get it.
Will she return to the fold?
Coelho devotes the later chapters (none numbered) to the importance in life of true or absolute love. Indeed, the sermon is inspirational. Be that as it may, I agree with Nelson Algren: Don't marry a woman who has more problems than you.
Personal By Lee Child Bantam 390pp Available at Asia Books and leading bookstores 595 baht
First-rate thriller
I find it curious that more than a few women of all sizes have a preference for tall men, at least 180cm. As a male under that, I personally don't see the attraction. Yet I allow that it makes sense when the female is stratospheric herself.
It's a fact that men feel embarrassed to be seen with a girlfriend or wife who is taller. Aware of this, women the same size refrain from wearing heels however much they'd like to, while short females walk around on stilts. Nevertheless, the world is filled with Mutt and Jeffs.
What brought the thought to mind is Personal, the most recent thriller of Yank/Brit author Lee Child. Jack Reacher, his literary creation carried over in two dozen novels, is almost 2m tall and weighing in at 110kg, which, for your information, is 1cm taller than the real life John Wayne.
A former major in the US army's Military Police, retired 16 years ago, he's been wandering around the US with no fixed abode. He keeps finding crimes, rather crimes keep finding him along the way. After solving them and breaking the bones of the nasties, he hitchhikes or takes the bus to his next adventure.
This time around he's in Washington state when he happens to thumb through a copy of the Army Times. It contains a personal ad to him to contact a general he hasn't seen in ages. After a quick phone-call, the next thing he knows he's on a military flight to an obscure air field on the East Coast.
The president of France has been assassinated by a high-power rifle, through bulletproof glass, from nearly a mile away — the bullet American-made. Does Reacher know an ace sniper that good? He did, having sent John Kott to prison way back when. And Kott is out now, more mean than before.
The nearly 400-page story has Reacher tracking Kott down, mainly in the UK where his quarry has gone to ground. The hunter falls afoul of Britain's underworld, with fights galore, the author's trademark.
He finds time to have a fling with a State Department lovely, each saving the other's life.
It turns out that while Kott pulled the trigger, a one-star is behind it. The finis, too complex to my liking, has Reacher spelling out to the culprit general how he figured out he's Mr Big.
Tom Cruise was miscast in the film Jack Reacher, about 30cm shorter than the imaginary character.
