Book: Hippie
Author: Paulo Coelho
Publisher: Penguin Viking
Pages: 272; Price: Rs 208
Ever experienced a life-defining love story through the means of travel? Hippie is all about rewinding time and redefining future. The book begins with Paolo and Karla who have embarked on a journey of a self-realisation through the median of spirituality, love, travel, companionship and so on.
This book takes us on the journey of a lifetime through the eyes of the protagonists: Paolo and Karla. Coelho has been prominently into philosophical writing with books like “The Alchemist”. Hippie, too, provides a philosophical insight written in the form of a story.
Taking cues from his experiences, Coelho helps us understand a generation that worked towards breaking stereotypes by challenging societal norms and agendas. It is about a protagonist who dreams of becoming an established author and expresses his desire of delving deeper into understanding the meaning of life thereby becoming a better writer.
This book is a compilation of stories within a single story. The protagonist named Paolo while on his journey meets Karla who urges him to join her on another hippie trail to Nepal. The protagonist thoroughly believes that this journey would help him in understanding himself in a better way as well as help him in finding the vision of his life.
It is during this journey that Paolo and Karla meet fellow travellers who share tales of their lives and the enlightening journeys that they have been on. This book stands apart from Coelho’s other books with regards to narration and the flow of the story.
Some parts in the story which could have been crisp have been explained in too much details thereby hitting a bottom at certain chapters. Isolating the concept of fixated genre apart, this book is for every avid reader. As a reader, we can co-relate with the author in one story or the other.
For someone who thoroughly believes in self-realisation through the means of travel, this book is a treasure in disguise for you. However, if you are expecting a structured story line, then this book might disappoint you as it leans heavily towards philosophical writing.
This book also speaks about concepts which are considered a societal taboo and prominently on sexual liberation. Hippie takes us back in time and brings to us the ideologies, ethics and the mentality of people into accepting changes thereby offering a little sneak peek into the future.
It also represents the complexities of the human mind and how we as humans are entangled in situations and how they ultimately affect the decisions that we make. We are responsible for the life we live as we are the artists of our own life. The book ignites our thought processing power where in we question the purpose of our existence as well as the ethics that we follow.
The topics covered in the book are daily life instances and how they impact our next move. A reader can instantly co-relate with Paolo and Karla with regards to understanding love and companionship and finding the content of life through travelling. From meeting the first time to dealing with the ups and down and sailing through the nick of time is what this book has to offer to its readers.
This book might not be everyone’s cup of tea though it assures to keep you intrigued till the end. The society will change only when we work towards self-development is an underlying message in this book.