The Zahir

“Zahir” is not just another bestseller. It is a personal revelation—something like a confession presented as a plot-driven narrative.
The main character is a popular writer who once came from a backward country where “there isn’t even an indigenous literary tradition,” a hippie and a drug addict, and now is a respectable resident of France, rich and famous—so reminiscent of Coelho that it’s hard for the reader to avoid the thought that the story is about a fictional character rather than the author himself.