Adultery: A novel (Vintage International) by Paulo Coelho (Epub)

Description

Adultery, the provocative new novel by Paulo Coelho, best-selling author of The Alchemist and Eleven Minutes, explores the question of what it means to live life fully and happily, finding the balance between life’s routine and the desire for something new.

User’s Reviews

Review “Propulsive…. A compelling tale of existential angst, marital betrayal and sexual sin.” –The Chicago Tribune –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. “I WAKE up and perform the usual rituals—brushing my teeth, getting dressed for work, going into the children’s bedroom to wake them up, making break- fast for everyone, smiling, and saying how good life is. In every minute and gesture I feel a weight I can’t identify, like an ani- mal who can’t quite understand how it got caught in the trap. My food has no taste. My smile, on the other hand, grows even wider so that no one will suspect, and I swallow my desire to cry. The light outside seems gray. Yesterday’s conversation did no good at all; I’m starting to think that I’m headed out of the indignant phase and straight into apathy. And does no one notice? Of course not. After all, I’m the last person in the world to admit that I need help. This is my problem; the volcano has exploded and there’s no way to put the lava back inside, plant some trees, mow the grass, and let the sheep out to graze. I don’t deserve this. I’ve always tried to meet everyone’s expectations. But now it’s happened and I can’t do anything about it except take medication. Perhaps today I’ll come up with an excuse to write an article about psychiatry and social security (the newspaper loves that kind of thing) and find a good psychiatrist to ask for help. I know that’s not ethical, but then not everything is. I don’t have an obsession to occupy my mind—for exam- ple, dieting or being OCD and finding fault with the clean- ing lady who arrives at eight in the morning and leaves at five in the afternoon, having washed and ironed the clothes, and tidied the house, and, sometimes, having even done the shopping, too. I can’t vent my frustrations by trying to be Super- mom, because my children would resent me for the rest of their lives. I go off to work and again see the neighbor polishing his car. Wasn’t he doing that yesterday? Unable to resist, I go over and ask him why. “It wasn’t quite perfect,” he says, but only after having said “Good morning,” asking about the family, and noticing what a pretty dress I’m wearing. I look at the car. It’s an Audi—one of Geneva’s nicknames is, after all, Audiland. It looks perfect, but he shows me one or two places where it isn’t as shiny as it should be. I draw out the conversation and end up asking what he thinks people are looking for in life. “Oh, that’s easy enough. Being able to pay their bills. Buying a house like yours or mine. Having a garden full of trees. Having your children or grandchildren over for Sunday lunch. Traveling the world once you’ve retired.” Is that what people want from life? Is it really? There’s something very wrong with this world, and it isn’t just the wars going on in Asia or the Middle East. Before I go to the newspaper, I have to interview Jacob, my ex-boyfriend from high school. Not even that cheers me up. I really am losing interest in things. I LISTEN to facts about government policy that I didn’t even want to know. I ask a few awkward questions, which he deftly dodges. He’s a year younger than me, but he looks five years older. I keep this thought to myself. Of course, it’s good to see him again, although he hasn’t yet asked me what’s happened in my life since we each went our own way after graduation. He’s entirely focused on himself, his career, and his future, while I find myself staring foolishly back at the past as if I were still the adolescent who, despite the braces on my teeth, was the envy of all the other girls. After a while, I stop listening and go on autopilot. Always the same script, the same promises- reducing taxes, combating crime, keeping the French (the so-called cross-border workers who are taking jobs that Swiss workers could fill) out. Year after year, the issues are the same and the problems continue unresolved because no one really cares. After twenty minutes of conversation, I start to wonder if my lack of interest is due to my strange state of mind. No. There is nothing more tedious than interviewing politicians. It would have been better if I’d been sent to cover some crime or another. Murderers are much more real. Compared to representatives of the people anywhere else on the planet, ours are the least interesting and the most insipid. No one wants to know about their private lives. Only two things create a scandal here: corruption and drugs. Then it takes on gigantic proportions and gets wall-to-wall cover- age because there’s absolutely nothing else of interest in the newspapers. Does anyone care if they have lovers, go to brothels, or come out as gay? No. They continue doing what they were elected to do, and as long as they don’t blow the national bud- get, we all live in peace. The president of the country changes every year (yes, every year) and is chosen not by the people, but by the Federal Council, a body comprising seven ministers who serve as Switzerland’s collective head of state. Every time I walk past the museum, I see endless posters calling for more plebiscites. The Swiss love to make decisions—the color of our trash bags (black came out on top), the right (or not) to carry arms (Switzerland has one of the highest gun-ownership rates in the world), the number of minarets that can be built in the country (four), and whether or not to provide asylum for expatriates (I haven’t kept pace with this one, but I imagine the law was approved and is already in force). “Excuse me, sir.” We’ve been interrupted once already. He politely asks his assistant to postpone his next appointment. My newspaper is the most important in French-speaking Switzerland and this interview could prove crucial for the upcoming elections. He pretends to convince me and I pretend to believe him. Then I get up, thank him, and say that I have all the mate- rial I need. “You don’t need anything else?” Of course I do, but it’s not up to me to tell him what. “How about getting together after work?” I explain that I have to pick up my children from school, hoping that he sees the large gold wedding ring on my finger declaring: “Look, the past is the past.” “Of course. Well, maybe we can have lunch someday.” I agree. Easily deceived, I think: Who knows, maybe he does have something of importance to tell me, some state secret that will change the politics of the country and make the editor look at me with new eyes. He goes over to the door, locks it, then comes back and kisses me. I return his kiss, because it’s been a long time. Jacob, whom I may have once loved, is now a family man, married to a professor. And I am a family woman, married to a man who, though he inherited his wealth, is extremely hardworking. I consider pushing him away and saying that we’re not kids anymore, but I’m enjoying it. Not only did I discover a new Japanese restaurant, I’m having a bit of illicit fun as well. I’ve managed to break the rules and the world hasn’t caved in on me. I haven’t felt this happy in a long time. I feel better and better, braver, freer. Then I do something I’ve dreamed of doing since I was in school. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Have you ever been in love? You look in her eyes and she becomes incredible beautiful… and here two frustrated and deppressed guys, not able to share love… meet each other for a perverted sex and she is describing this as love… both of them are not able to open up theirs hearts to enjoy their love, but greedy for perverted sex… Worldly love is connected with sex, but you can have intercourse also without love. The whole book is an abusement of love. Love is selfless and doesn’t like to hurt… Sure I can love many women when I open my heart and see the amazing beauty in the other person. If the world transforms to a paradise only then you experience true love and this is beyond of worldly love…. After this book, to cheat on your partner is true love!

⭐ “Adultery” is one of the most incredible and memorable books I’ve ever read. I’d rant about symbolism and marriage, human nature, disappointment and hope, but there’s no need. I would even express the themes which were most prominent to me as a person – but that would distract you from what would move you most. While the book does include a few explicit sex scenes, the work is not about sex or even, in actuality, adultery. Paulo Coelho has reached another height in this book about love, and what it is most valuable to us as humans when we are distracted by the mundane elements of living. A must read!!!

⭐ As a Couples Counselor that specializes in infidelity I find this book to be accurate in describing what a life changing experience adultery can have on a marriage and on a person’s life. I do not condone infidelity but I do feel this book offers hope to those that have made that choice. That there can be great change in the end. The depression described on the pages were another aspect true to form. I feel that many suffer the same as this character and even if they have not taken that extra step and broken the foundation of trust in their marriage they can appreciate what great lengths it took the character to finally be able to wake up and decide to live the life she wanted. As members of any society we have profound expectations placed on us. I felt like this book helps bring those silent standards more out in the light, so that we can comprehend just why so many are suffering.Thank you!

⭐ I read this book in one day, it was good! He is such an amazing author. I could feel “Linda” main character, the way he described and depicted her personality & thoughts almost seemed like he was reading my thoughts, it was exactly how I feel.A must read for anyone feeling stuck or uncertain about their lives! Men and women alike!

⭐ I have greatly enjoyed all of Paulo Coehlo’s books but feel he missed the mark on this one. The protagonist couldn’t have been a more annoying, whiny and self-centered character. Her ongoing self-absorbed banter was tiresome to read. His descriptions through this character of how psychiatrists treat patients was uninformed at best. The supporting characters lacked depth and dimension though that may have been in part the fault of the narcissistic protagonist’s inability to see them as anything but extensions of herself. Her spiritual revelation was trite and empty. The only person that displayed anything close to love in the book was her overly generous husband but his character was so poorly developed that it was difficult to understand where his extraordinary level of forgiveness came from.

⭐ Linda is a woman on a mission to discover herself or rather to run away from a destructive apathy that is threatening to consume her. Rich and successful, with a loving family she seems to have it all and yet she feels these are the very things that make her question her life and mire her down. She is restless and full of turmoil as she looks for answers to this feeling of darkness and desolation and it takes her down a path of risk and adultery. A path she treads, to look for alleviation from her current mind set by having an affair with an old friend. At the side there is the on-going tableau of her relationship with her husband, the relationship of Jacob with his wife, and her own private angst which is her driving force behind the whole book as well as a peek at what life in Geneva and upper class Swiss society is about. For me the saving grace of the book was the little quotes that peppered the story.Some were questioning, some ironical, some matter of fact but most were just pure homespun philosophy and very private and personal thoughts Regarding the story itself: what an amazing story this could have been. However when I read this book my first thought was; did Paulo Coelho write this? It is so different from all his other works, not only in style but also in approach and content: which can be good but unfortunately wasn’t so in this case. This was a man writing about a personal journey a woman takes and it came across as precisely that. He failed to get into her head and understand her. I felt it lacked emotion, lacked a buildup, lacked a good plot and was all over the place. The characters were shallow and some of the outcomes were so trite I felt it was downright patronizing to the reader. At the end, I just had one thought …”really?”

⭐ Honestly, I was dissapointed with this author. It’s not that I expected a steamy novel to develop here. I thought it was going to be a meaningful story. In a way, it was, because the character is always talking stuff in a “meaningful” way. But as a reader, I couldn’t relate to her complains. She just met her ex from i-dont-remember when and suddenly, she wanted to have a thing with him. She was bored and wanted adventure, that’s reasonable. But the writing didn’t make me sympathize with her. I just didn’t like her at all. And this novel is not like other Coelho’s novels. It was a low point.I didn’t get even halfway in the novel and I wanted to finish it already, I practically forced myself to read the whole thing, ’cause I spent money on it.In conclusion, it was a really boring read.

⭐ At the beginning I didn’t like the main character. I thought she was a spoiled brat. I even put the book down and decided to stop reading it completely. But 5 days later I took it back and read the whole book. It is a very good story, very deep into human inner struggle for happiness and contentment. I recommend it strongly.

⭐ At first I was surprised by the detour from Paulo Coehlo’s normal novel topic. I wasn’t even sure I liked the story but something inside of me kept making me read on. By the end of the novel, I was glad I stayed. The transformation of the main character is one we all hopefully go through at one point or another. Love is our purpose here on earth and whatever journey gets us to that understanding is ultimately worth it.

⭐ Coelho’s last several books have been marginal, and this one is no exception. The further he moves away from the spiritual journey, the less the books seem to resonate with me. I found the book to be a quick read, but the characters were not well developed, the plot was almost non-existent and the life challenges were not well formed. There were several points in the book where the lessons and insights that we have come to expect from Coelho come through – but for the most part, it wasn’t thought provoking or touched my (admittedly masculine) soul.

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