Review Manuscript Found In Accra by Paul Coelho
I thought this was going to be a true story, instead it is more like a monologue of Coelho’s WISDOM, which is nonetheless grand (okay, okay, I’m a fan of his universe). It is full of advice given by a wise man on the best course of actions to take in given situations. You can but agree with this advice because it is WISDOM. Once I accepted it as a lecture I found Manuscript Found In Accra truly enlightening.
That said, beware, there is no antithesis, no character that challenges the WISDOM. I would have loved to have seen a character saying something like, “I had a comfortable life, now I am ruined, my wife has gone off with my best friend and now the left wheel of my cart has fallen off, my hair is falling out, my hemorrhoid is playing up and I can’t find a job because I’m told you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…”
But there isn’t, they are all about to be slaughtered by invaders the following morning and everyone accepts the WISDOM. It is frustrating. What’s more, you don’t get the end of the story, they all go off having been told to remember the words of WISDOM which they must pass on even though they are all certainly about to die. The story ends there.
But I enjoyed the book whose WISDOM is such that at least a part of it will speak directly to everyone with regard to their present situation. Except, that is, if you’re chips are really down and you have become so ugly and fallen so low that you have started collecting really good cardboard boxes for a night under the arches with your stray dog, your only mortal friend. But if you are, you probably wouldn’t be reading this book anyway. No, WISDOM is best digested and most easily adhered to when you are comfortably sitting in your own favourite armchair in your own home safely snuggled away from the “unwanted visitor”.
BTW, if you have become really poor you won’t understand any of this because being poor of course makes you stupid, i.e. unwise, doesn’t it?