December 15, 2009
Its always a bit disconcerting when a biography of a well-known figure appears during his lifetime. It seems to leave so much hanging in the balanceso many blank pages waiting expectantly to be filled. Internationally acclaimed author Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist, 1993) is only 63 years old, yet the incredible story of his life and his incandescent work could already fill several volumes. Committed to a mental institution at the age of 17 by parents who could not grasp the enormity of his talent or understand his unconventional approach to life, he spent decades rushing headlong down many less-traveled roads, zealously steeping himself in a variety of often bizarre lifestyles before experiencing a life-altering reconversion to the Christian faith in his middle years. After reading this biography, it is easy to understand how and why these youthful experiences and his subsequent spiritual reawakening inform his fiction with the mystical depth that is his literary trademark. Readers will definitely want to see how his unfolding story continues to play out.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)