The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

The most popular book by Paulo Coelho in my knowledge should be “The Alchemist”. I haven’t gone through it but the one I found myself indulging is called “The Zahir”. The book is all about love and the ups and downs in a relationship. In between the ups and downs of one’s personal life, there are many other petty incidences which eventually happen to be very much responsible or the key to the destiny in precise.

The story takes off in Paris and later lands on the steppes of Kazakhstan in the final stage. The wife of the narrator in the story, the author of “A time to rend and a time to sew” leaves home without any information and vanishes leaving no traces behind.

The renowned author of the book “A time to rend and a time to sew” gets his wife Esther missing mysteriously leaving no traces behind. His wife a war correspondent is feared to have been captivated by terrorists or she might have been bored with their marriage or she might have been possibly blackmailed, all these fears, anxiety, curiosity have been beautifully laid in words. When his wife disappears, the author then tags her as “The Zahir” of his life. The only way to get to his wife is through Mikhail who happens to be a very close associate of Esther. In the beginning, Mikhail is a total detest but in due course of time, the hatred then slowly turns into respect and eventually into love. The author then is forced to travel to Kazakhstan in search of his wife whom he loves very much and the fact which he realizes after her disappearance.

From “The Zahir” this particular paragraph or the message is the “No one should ever ask themselves that :why am I unhappy? The question carries within it the virus that will destroy everything. If we ask that question it means we want to find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is different from what we have now, then we must either change once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy” and it is the real message to the people who have all the privileges one could get but are unhappy with their life.