By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgiveness /

by Paulo Coelho

Book Overview

From Paulo Coelho, author of the international bestseller The Alchemist, comes a poignant, richly poetic story that reflects the depth of love and life. Rarely does adolescent love reach its full potential, but what happens when two young lovers reunite after eleven years? Time has transformed Pilar into a strong and independent woman, while her devoted childhood friend has grown into a handsome and charismatic spiritual leader. She has learned well...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060977264
• ISBN13: 9780060977269
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

I was very unhappy that a hardcover came without the paper over on it!!! Old looking book yellow pag

Thanks love this author

Coelho never disappoints

At first Pillar's inner thoughts irritated me. But then I came to the realization that I AM Pillar! Lol! Great story of self awareness & spirituality! Another brilliant work by Coelho!

Na margem do rio Piedra

como comentei nos outros livros do Paulo em portugues, edição kindle, estou entusiasmada. Antes era uma chateaçao encontrar uma livraria, que cobrava preços exorbitantes para livros em portugues. Em NYC só me lembro de encontrar em duas delas. Mas agora, com o kindle, tudo fica muito mais fácil. Parabéns, Paulo, pela inovaçao (mais uma vez)

Great book for those who've ever felt love

I loved the book as the majority of books of Coelho. But this one is very exquisite to me. A lot of useful citations. It really helps to understand the meaning of love, the feeling, the beauty and yourself.

Muy buen libro

Este libro me encanta. Es bien entretenido, y lo vasa a querer terminar ttan pronto lo leas!!

Beautiful!!!

I have read many of Paulo Coelho's books during the last year, and I am constantly amazed by how he's able to thread amazing spiritual lessons within fictional works - and all of them page-turners at that! "By the River Piedra..." is about love - the love of a man & a woman, and the love of each of them for God. It also explores the feminine aspect of God - describing God as having both male & female "attributes" (for lack of a better word), as well as the idea that we all have the ability to perform miracles - in our own lives, and in the lives of others. Overall, I found this to be a beautifully written spiritual book - one that lends itself to reflection. If you are at all interested in fictional books with a spiritual lesson, I would highly recommend not only this book, but all of this author's books - they all have something wonderful to offer!

A Beautiful Story of Love

With each book I read by Paulo Coelho, I come to admire his works of wisdom, of love and of hope even more. Each book is a gem! I could not write down the quotes fast enough from this book! This book will leave you joyful as well as hopeful in this most romantic tale.Pilar is confronted with facing herself - either she embraces her love or she walks away from it in the form of her childhood friend, who has misgivings about entering the seminary, due to his enduring love for her. She encounters the feminine face and force of God, which desires her to open up to love. Likewise, her seminarian is facing the battle of choosing between love and God. Both characters encounter challenges of the heart and find that they can have the best of both worlds - of love and of God. This is NOT a pushy or preachy religious book, but a book, which imparts the feminine and masculine aspects of God in our lives amidst the deep love of a man and a woman have for each other. "The previous day, the world had made sense, even without love's presence. But now we needed each other in order to see the true brilliance of things (88).""But love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence. If we reject it, we die of hunger, because we lack the courage to stretch out a hand and pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life. We have to take love where we find it, even it that means hours, days, weeks of disappointment and sadness. The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us. And to save us. (79)"Coelho, the eternal optimist, shows us once again the power of love and of God's love in our lives. This book is a quick read and it is one of Coelho's best! A great love story!