artsy musings of a bibliophile

The Winner Stands Alone is such a phenomenal novel about everything in life. Though, it focuses on the world of the Superclass; but each of the other classes is a lower level of the Superclass. I loved how the novel was intertwined with various details of intriguing methods of killing and the tools, an explanation of people ordinary and unordinary; finally, a top-notch story containing tales and tales of the'universes' in itself.

Exhilarating and titillating; The Winner Stands Alone achieves so much in just a few hundred pages. It successfully describes the way mankind has come to think and the never-ending desire for Power. Coelho delves into the many aspects in the life of an ordinary teenage vendor to a member of the Superclass involved with the mafia.

I loved the way Coelho tells the story of each and every character in the book so delicately and with such intricacy in describing what made them how they became. Admittedly, there was a typical Guardian Angel of Igor part in it as well but it fitted in with the story. Igor is really a fascinatingly blunt character. He manipulates each of his victims in such subtle ways; yet with a definite craftiness in his manner. How he knows the anatomy, is so full of sagacity yet has a dark side. It was so breathtaking to read the things, that goes on into the minds of killers.

Paulo Coelho has done it again and this beautifully candid story about the complicatedly compelling Igor, Ewa who is forever stuck in time and about the unconditional capability of Hamid to love. Apart from that each and every character was worked upon and made into something more than just a name to be forgotten soon. Jasmine, Gabriela, Savoy, even the pathologist were all such ordinary people stuck in something extraordinary and out of their reach.

I would highly recommend it; my latest favorite by Paulo Coelho. The Winner Stands Alone is a sure winner!