Notes on Hippie by Paulo Coelho

*spoiler alert*

Just to warn those who are interested in reading this book: the main character’s name is Paulo just like the author; do what you please with that information.

Some overall statements about this piece:

• Beautiful language. At one point, I thought to myself that I would like to write like this someday.

• Annoying portrayal of hippies (or maybe hippies really were that annoying).

• Extremely (like extremely) slow moving plotline

What I did appreciate the most about this story is how Coelho introduced the idea of hippies as spiritual -- almost religious -- beings. Most were striving to connect with a higher power, not simply to become one with the Earth and all things natural as we have come to assume today.

Apart from this, I found the plot redundant throughout. Nearly the entire book takes place on a bus which was disappointing after the shocking and attention-grabbing introduction. It’s a shame that the rest of the tale did not follow this level of excitement.

I don’t think I’ll be reading another novel by Coelho, but who knows. I didn’t NOT like it, I simply did not particularly enjoy it -- my subway trips still felt long with this book.

Now, does it pass the Bechdel test? Yes. Bravo, Coelho.

I give this book a 2.5, but I’m going to round it down to 2 because of how slow my trip to work had become while reading this.