The Spy – By Paulo Coelho

Rating: 3/5

Short Review: Not the best by Paulo, but quite informative

Detailed Review:
From the very first chapter, when it all ended, the mystery behind an innocent death or a scandalous termination begins. This is a story about freedom and captivity, about love and war, about innocence and treachery and about, probably, one of the most famous infamies in France and Germany.

Based on real events, Paulo Coelho has scripted an open book on the life of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, famously known as Mata Hari, an exotic dancer, lustfully desired by the high men of many countries and envied by any woman who ever saw her. A free soul, betrayed and belittled by the same men who desired her the most, ruthlessly disowned when she needed them the most, court-martialled by France, a country she loved the most, for a pro-German espionage, a country she entered only on request, and which was never her intent, during the World War 1.

In this book, spending the final few days of her life in prison, Mata Hari surmises her life in the form of ‘a last letter’ to her defense lawyer, where she tries to elucidate her intense feelings towards the world and the various people in her life. Paulo Coelho fills in apt conversations and the philosophy of love, hate, war and lust as she might have believed in.

As one sits to read through the leafs of her life, soon the reader realizes that he/she is placed to take on the weight of the judgment seat and decide for himself/herself the purity or sin of that soul, put to death for being a spy, while she spread glamour through her body. Shot to fame, in 1905, for her provocative exotic dance forms, captivating the audiences from across the countries, boldly flaunting her body, Mata Hari gained much name in high profile society for elegantly bringing purity to nakedness and defying the conventional dance forms. Having a hideous childhood, she grew into a carefree and a free-willed girl, caught between the desires of fame and name.

Towards the end of the book, Paulo Coelho profoundly describes the state of the defense lawyer, who tries to put down all arguments in his final letter to Mata Hari, which he knows she may never get to read, but still writes for the sake of his own liberation from the guilt of a justice denied, and to reassure himself that he did his best to save her. As he reveals, the biggest evidence to save her was the lack of evidence, which was ignored because she never gave in to being a free soul, even in time of incarceration.

Noteworthy quotes from the book:

·       When we don't know where life is taking us, we are never lost

·       You must learn to follow your destiny, whatever it may be, with joy. As flowers grow, they show off their beauty and are appreciated by all; then, after they die, they leave their seeds so that others may continue God's work

·       Flowers teach us that nothing is permanent: not their beauty, not even the fact that they will inevitably wilt, because they will still give new seeds. Remember this when you feel joy, pain or sadness. Everything passes, grows old, dies, and is reborn.

·       I was not asking to be happy; I was asking only to not be as unhappy and miserable as I felt.

·       Know what you want and try to go beyond your own expectations. Practice a lot, and set a very high goal, one that will be difficult to achieve. Because that is an artist's mission: to go beyond one's limits. 

·       I was an exotic bird traversing an Earth ravaged by humanity's poverty of spirit 

·       People are usually ungrateful for what they have 

·       Extravagant is a man ten years my senior wanting to regain his lost youth between the legs of a woman

·       Love does not obey anyone and will betray those who try to decipher its mystery