95. Eleven Minutes

by Paulo Coelho (273 pgs)

Rating: 3

Translated from its original Portuguese, Eleven Minutes is about a young Brazilian woman who embarks on a personal adventure to try and figure out what love is. In doing this, she leaves her country, travels to Switzerland, becomes a prostitute, and falls in love. Through all of this she keeps a diary.

I enjoyed this book. It was a relatively quick read and there was an interesting aspect of fairy tale to the prose which may or may not have been intentional. I worry about the subject matter though and wouldn't suggest it for young women. It doesn't precisely glamorize prostitution, but it does make it seem like much less of a harsh world. Of course there's cultural differences to be considered but still, I would feel uncomfortable recommending it to anyone I felt was...impressionable.

In general, however, I felt it was an interesting exploration of the difference between sex and love and would recommend it to people who have trouble with serial monogamy.