Once Minutos / Eleven Minutes [Paperback]

Paulo Coelho (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Harpercollins (September 1, 2003)
• ASIN: B001JFHCR4
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

More About the Author

The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist.

In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage.

In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time.

Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S'o Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005)

During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions.

Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in Wordpress (http://paulocoelhoblog.com), Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/paulocoelho) & Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paulo-Coelho/11777366210). He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=paulabraconnot) and Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulo_coelho/sets) , offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers.

From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch http://paulocoelhoblog.com/experimental-witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. You can still subscribe in this experiment!

Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution http://piratecoelho.wordpress.com of his work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Erase una prostituta llamada María..., November 26, 2003

By 

Manny Hernandez "@askmanny" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Once Minutos (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

Coelho es un autor que he tenido la fortuna de haber leido desde sus primeros libros, cuando escribia desde un mundo de sueños, casi "new age". Pero en sus más recientes tres libros (este incluído) su estilo se ha vuelto más realista... sin dejar de ser soñador y seguirnos invitando a soñar, su prosa ha dejado de ser menos acerca de relatos un tanto distantes con los cuales uno puede soñar, pero cuesta un tanto más relacionarse de forma personal, para pasar a escribir de forma más arraigada en la realidad, usando semejanzas con nuestra cotidianidad, que hacen de sus personajes un fiel reflejo de muchas de nuestras vivencias diarias.

"Once Minutos" sigue ese mismo patrón, ahondando en un tema (el amor) de la forma más cruda que podía hacerlo (quizás): a través de los ojos de una prostituta. No en vano, comenta en sus primeras líneas (casi a manera de excusa) que éste es un libro más fuerte, más realista... "Erase una prostituta llamada María..." es la frase que abre el libro, para chocar al lector casi, y entrar en pocas páginas en el mundo de una muchacha pueblerina que se niega a quedarse estancada en el mundo en miniatura que se desarrolla en su pequeño pueblo del interior de Brasil. Las vueltas del destino y las decepciones amorosas conducen sus pasos a la gran ciudad y en última instancia a Geneve (Suiza), donde le toca enfrentar durezas insospechadas que la fortalecen (sin endurecerla demasiado) a lo largo de un año que se da a sí misma para vivir lo que la vida le ha puesto delante.

La novela, como los libros de Coelho en general, lo deja a uno sediento de más Coelho cuando llega a su fin, y la producción del autor en sí parece ser como los buenos vinos: conforme pasa el tiempo, mejoran. Si bien no es el más apto para niños, sin duda colocaría a "Once Minutos" junto a "Verónica Decide Morir" entre sus dos mejores libros.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A potential best seller!, January 31, 2004

By 

Marianopolita2005 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once Minutos (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

Paulo Coehlo has moved himself up to the forefront of Latin-American literature once again with this his most recent novel Once Minutos. I have not read much of his works but this novel caught my attention after reading the summary at the back of the book. I was immediately intrigued by the real life aspect of the themes and decided to purchase this potential bestseller. The book lived up to its expectations. It's full of intrigue and the life the protagonist María is an interesting one from start to finish. We meet her first in her homeland Brazil and then later she moves to Switzerland and becomes a prostitute with the hopes of turning her life around for the better with the money that she earns. We learn of the emotional roller coaster that Maria experiences from being with many men and indeed she does meet some out of the ordinary clients who my opinion in some way cause her internal conflicts but out from those experiences Maria learns interesting life lessons. I also think the title of the book is so appropriate which is explained about a quarter of the way through which is a reflection of creative thinking by Paulo Coehlo. In a nutshell, this is beautiful literature not so much for the writing style but because the themes allow one to relate closely to the protagonist. A truly emotional book as it allows the reader to feel so many emotions: sadness, pain, grief and hope. No question about it Once Minutos is a potential best-seller by far my favorite by this author.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simplemente Excelente !!!!, October 4, 2003

By 

"agente2092" (Weston, Fl United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once Minutos (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

Uno de sus mejores libros sin duda alguna . Nos hace reflexionar sobre el poder que tenemos cada uno de nosotros sobre nuestros destinos .Te reconecta de un solo golpe con lo bello del acto amoroso gracias a una narrativa sensual , pura y hasta veces erotica . Lo lei en solo 4 horas , una vez que tomas el libro es dificil de soltarlo . Lo recomiendo ampliamente .