Eleven minutes: Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian writer born in Rio de Janeiro on August 24, 1947. He is currently one of the most well-known and widely read novelists in the world, with a total of over 150 million books sold. His books have been sold in more than 82 countries and have been translated into 2002 different languages. He has been a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since XNUMX and has received numerous awards throughout his career due to the success of his publications.
His most acclaimed work is The Alchemist , his second book and the literary work that catapulted him to worldwide fame, placing him among the bestsellers of the time. It is the best-selling Brazilian book of all time. After this story, Eleven Minutes is undoubtedly the Brazilian writer's second most successful book. It was published in 2003, originally in Portuguese, but has gradually been translated into various languages.
The author has many other equally popular works such as *By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept* , *Veronika Decides to Die*, *The Zahir*, and *Adultery*, among others. Like Coelho, there are many other Latin American writers with extensive careers and acclaim. We invite you to read the following article and discover more about one of them, a great one: the history of food in literature.
Argument
Paulo Coelho's novel, Eleven Minutes , centers on a young teenager named Maria, who lives in a town in northern Brazil. Due to past romantic misfortunes, she harbors feelings of hatred toward all things related to love. Determined, she travels to Rio de Janeiro, where she meets a businessman who offers her the opportunity to work in Switzerland. There, she begins working as a samba dancer in a nightclub, but over time she realizes that this is not what she truly wants to do.
After leaving the club following an argument with her boss and dreaming of becoming a model, Maria decides to sell herself to an Arab man for a certain amount of money. The young woman is pleased with what she's achieved and the ease of earning money this way, so she decides to start working as a prostitute in a brothel. There, she meets great friends and interacts with all kinds of men, focusing on money and closing off all possibilities for love.
Having become a professional prostitute with a reputation among her clients, one day María meets a painter with whom she falls madly in love. However, she persists in refusing to settle into a relationship. Before leaving Switzerland, as planned, the young woman will test the purity and nature of sex and love with the painter, an event that changes her forever. The book offers a profound reflection on the close relationship between body and soul, through a brave, intelligent, and determined protagonist.
Eleven minutes characters
María
She is the story's protagonist, a young teenager with a strong character, as well as great intelligence and beauty, the latter of which she uses as a means to gain control over the men who approach her. These men are seen by the young woman as a threat to her aspirations, as she believes none of them could offer her what she so desires: love, marriage, famous children, a beach house, or stability.
In search of happiness and adventure, she decides to move to Geneva, where she realizes that the situation isn't what she imagined. Nevertheless, her mental fortitude allows her to persevere despite the job life has chosen for her (or so Maria believes). If you'd like to learn more about the context of this novel, you can read about the expectations of love in literature.
Ralf
Ralf is the handsome painter with whom María falls in love, although he seems to be happy and complete, deep down he feels empty and longs to find that person, that place that complements him and gives him complete happiness. He is in charge of teaching María many things, which will help her cope with the moments that he lives throughout the plot, including the discovery of the feelings that both develop for each other.
Heidi
A librarian whom Maria often visits for information on certain topics of interest, she becomes a close friend of the protagonist during her stay in Geneva. Apparently, Heidi is a woman of few words, demure and conservative, until the day Maria asks her for books about sex, and she begins to read them as well.
Through these readings, she discovers that her marriage had actually gone very wrong and that she has always been sexually dissatisfied, to the point of not experiencing orgasms. She also accepts that she wasn't the most exemplary wife, as she failed her marriage by being unfaithful to her husband in pursuit of pleasure and gaining value as a woman.
Milan
He's the owner of the brothel where Maria works in Geneva. He acts as a responsible father figure to the girls who work there, defending himself against clients who try to overstep their boundaries and calling them out when they make mistakes. For Milan, his family is the most important thing, so he constantly reminds the girls not to cause scandals that could get him into trouble.
There are other extra characters in Eleven Minutes such as Maria's parents, Maílson (her agent), Nyah, the young woman's only friend in the brothel, or Roger, the businessman who offers her the job in Geneva.
Summary of eleven minutes
Once upon a time
The plot begins in a modest town in northern Brazil, where everyone knows each other. Maria is born surrounded by the love of her lower-middle-class parents. Her mother, a seamstress with a steady job, invested all her money in raising her daughter and maintaining the household, despite not earning much. Maria was born at 16, so she is a fairly young woman who longed for a better future for her only child.
On the other hand, her father was a street vendor who earned a good income only on certain days, he used to go out to play cards every Wednesday and still he was a straight man, able to protect his daughter from any danger. Despite growing up in humble conditions, Maria was never interested in material things over love, she considered that the latter had the power to destroy or save anyone.
Childhood and first love
Although she had an adventurous spirit, Maria was shy at school when interacting with her classmates, especially the boys. She dreamed of finding true love, believing in fairy tales, love at first sight, and her Prince Charming, whom she hoped to meet someday and thus live a grand adventure, conquering the world. To better understand her quest, you can read about romantic relationships in literature.
One day, one of the children approached her to ask if she could borrow a pencil. The young woman, very nervous, ran away, leaving the boy puzzled by what had happened. When she got home, Maria was delighted; she realized the boy only wanted to start a conversation with her, as she saw a pencil in his pocket that he could have used to write.
The little girl began to think about the words she would address to the boy the next time she saw him. One day, the young woman, overcome with fear, experienced something that made her think she was going to die, a fact that led her to write a letter dedicated to the boy with the pencil. However, the letter was never finished because her mother entered the room and, seeing Maria covered in blood, explained that this wasn't because she was going to die, but because she was now a "little woman."
The course ended and the boy did not say a word to María again, so she chose to take the initiative, but to her bad luck when she returned to class the boy did not return because he had moved out of town. The young woman made an oath with much pain, not to be shy again.
love is not fun
María grew up, becoming an intelligent, determined and very beautiful girl, as well as having many friends. For a long time, the young Ella dreamed of finding a handsome man who would fulfill her fairy tale.
One day, María decided to approach a boy who caught her attention, establishing a great friendship that little by little turned into something more. The boy gave Maria her first kiss, a weekend in the square, under a very romantic atmosphere.
While the young man tried to insert his tongue into Maria's mouth (showing his expertise), she simply imitated what she had seen in movies. They then continued walking until it was time to return home. The next day, Maria told her friends about the kiss, including the fact that the boy had pressed his tongue against her teeth and that she now "had a boyfriend," eliciting mocking laughter from the other girls.
As a result of the teasing of her friends, the young woman decided to learn how to kiss correctly. One day at a party, María witnessed how one of her friends was affectionately clinging to that boy, which caused her to cry when she returned home, feeling very bad.
Go ahead
Having lost faith in love, one day Maria, while exploring her body in search of hairs that needed to be plucked, felt pleasure exploring her genitals and continued touching them, completely unaware of masturbation. To learn more about pleasure and sexuality in literature, see this article on foods for memory and love.
Her father, who returned home early, found Maria in the act, scolding her for something she had no knowledge of. Thanks to this, the girl decided to educate herself on the subject, coming to believe that she didn't need any man since she could make herself happy on her own.
María continued her studies obtaining very good grades, however, she still hoped to find that love she had always dreamed of. She fell in love several times but still felt empty.
At the age of 17, she lost her virginity to her boyfriend, driven by the pressure her friends exerted on her. She was convinced that masturbation was much better than sexual intercourse.
Good future
After graduating from high school, she started working at a store in her town and used her beauty to get benefits like a better salary from her boss. She managed to save enough to give one month's salary to her parents, and for two years she saved up to travel to Rio de Janeiro.
During his trip, he stopped in “Punta Cana” to get to know the sea. During his stay, he was approached by a man who barely spoke Portuguese and although he was initially suspicious, the words dollar, job and talent caught his attention.
The opportunity
With the help of a translator, Maria understood that the stranger was offering her a job as an actress in Switzerland, which she accepted after careful consideration, receiving an advance of $500. The businessman (Roger) allowed Maria to return home to say goodbye to her parents, who were not very pleased with the news of her trip abroad.
Upon arriving in her town, María went to meet her parents, who, despite not being entirely in agreement, gave her advice and wished her the best. She said goodbye to her astonished friends and lastly, she went to present her resignation to her former boss, who gave her a Virgin Mary necklace as a gift.
Switzerland
Maria's dream ended when, upon arriving at the hotel in Switzerland, a woman named Vivian explained that the $500 she'd been offered was a lot of money in Brazil but practically nothing in Switzerland. Furthermore, she wouldn't be able to return for a year due to the signed contract. If you'd like to learn more about the surprises of this trip, check out this article about music and emotions while traveling.
Maria danced with six other girls before men who blew kisses at her and made obscene gestures at her but with whom she could not speak. At the end of the first week, the young woman only received $50 since her contract established that the expenses caused by her arrival and stay in Switzerland would be deducted from her salary.
Enrolling in a course to learn the native language, Maria meets an Arab man with whom she starts dating. She is subsequently fired from the club, getting a $5000 severance pay after fighting with him.
Freedom
Maria decided to stay in Switzerland to continue generating resources that would allow her to become a millionaire, she hired a professional photographer and began visiting modeling agencies. Her call to be a model never came, she tried to save as much as she could and yet she wrote to her friends telling them that she had everything she had wanted, she decides to go to a library to read and learn plus.
Easy money
After living off her compensation for two months, when her money was running out, Maria received a call from a young woman who claimed that an Arab man had seen Maria's photos and wanted her to participate in his fashion festival. When they met, the man asked Maria to accompany him to his hotel to share "just one drink" worth 1000 francs ($600), a significant section of the novel Eleven Minutes.
a new route
After drinking one glass after another, a very drunk Maria ended up having sex with the man, simply satisfying him without much effort. Maria, who had doubts about whether people or fate made life's decisions, learned that she could have chosen not to that night. In 11 minutes , the young woman earned the money she hadn't been able to earn during her time at Rogelio's club.
Decision
Determined to continue earning money this way, Maria looks for a place that offers this type of work, one she had heard about before. She eventually arrives at a place called "Copacabana," where a Brazilian-looking girl explains what she needs to do and how much she must pay the owner. For more information about jobs in the literary world, see the article on various characters in literature.
11 minutes
Despite not earning the same amount offered by the Arab and without more options, María learned the business until she became something numerical, the faster the higher the profit. 11 minutes was the time needed to have sex with a man.
Princess
Maria's goal was to collect all the money she could in a year and then return to Brazil, however, one day she met Ralf, a painter who had made a painting of the Mother of God in the middle of the street. As the days passed, both shared more and more pleasant moments and sincere talks, little by little the friendship they built turned into love.
Although Maria knew they belonged to different worlds, she and Ralf began dating, their time filled with kisses, hugs, and pleasant conversations. Three months before leaving Switzerland, the day of departure had arrived. The night before, Maria had made love to Ralf without telling him about her leaving. This concludes our journey through Eleven Minutes . We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
If you enjoyed this post about the novel Eleven Minutes , we invite you to read other articles about great bestsellers like Animal Farm.
