Hippie Hardcover – September 25, 2018

Very pleased with my new book.

I'm a Paulo Coelho enthusiast. I've read all the books available in English and taught several of them in my college classes. I've been hoping for some time to see newer works that matched the quality and impact of his earlier ones. Coelho's new book, Hippie, comes close to this. -- beginning about half-way through its 284 pages.Without giving too much away, I would advise readers to begin this book on page 183 (not all pages are numbered; you'll need to find 184 and who back one!) Beginning here, the book truly gets interesting in terms of the personal/spiritual journey of its main characters. In some places , it approaches The Alchemist in terms of insight and beauty. But the previous 100 pages or so verge on the tedious. Yes, as someone who lived through the hippie era, it was interesting to see Coelho's take on it, especially as a participant. But that wore thin rather quickly. This is another journey story, and unlike The Alchemist or The Pilgrimage or other such tales, we see little to engage a reader in the day-to-dayness of this journey. The vicissitudes of hippie life, both in urban centers and on the road, have bee already explored to death over the decades since, and Coelho adds nothing new to this; neither do we really experience much of an inner journey -- until page 183. The rest of the book is stunning in places, engaging throughout, moving in its conclusion, and leaves a reader asking, "Where was all this on the ride here?"Coelho's characters often comment on the tedium off their ride on the Magic Bus, once the initial fascination had worn off. In this book, we get just the opposite -- the tedium comes first, and then the magic happens. Still, I found this book well worth reading, but for best affect, start in the middle and go to the end. By then, the characters and their experiences will matter to you sufficiently to want to know their route to arriving there, no matter how mundane and repetitive it might seem.

Like the majority of Paulo Coelho’s lovely stories, ”Hippie” takes the reader on a journey of self enlightenment.The book begins with a bit of a diadactic, history lesson that helps its reader to learn about so called Hippies. It also goes into detail about the MAGIC BUS, its destination, its stops, its monotony, and its extremely cheap fare.Some readers have found the beginning of the book to be a bit long. But I, (coming from a part of the USA where it would have beenstrictly forbidden to ”ride on a bus like that with ’characters’ like that,”) found it quite informative.As is common in his books, the character, Paulo, wants to experience and to find answers to his deep and insightful questions. In true fashion, the Universe delivers the ”Invisible Post,” the book ”Europe on 5 Dollars a Day,” the character, Karla, and the cheap transportation for the two of them to climb into as they explore the inner and outer peace that they desire.Once the two begin the journey, the ”page turner” part of the story evolves and culminates with some of most illuminating description that Coelho has penned.I recommend it whole heartedly.

A beautiful snippet of life on the hippie trail. No plot, just a lot of feeling and experiencing among a group of strangers ... Until they aren't.

One of my favorite authors. I have most of his books, so decided to order this new one. Not my favorite amongst the lot, but I did enjoy it. The first part will be familiar to anyone who grew up in the 60s. It was a surprise at times to recall a place or time or song "forgotten" or recall people, images, dreams. It's always interesting and rewarding the way poetry, fiction, and/or memoir can bring to life a time and place so vividly in ways the daily media depiction never can.If you're a Coelho fan, you'll enjoy the read. If you want a peek at the 60s in an up-close, personal way, you'll enjoy it.But, alas, my all-time favorite will probably always be The Alchemist. Everyone should read it, at least once.

I was afraid this was going to be a documentary, like many of the articles about Woodstock, but it was a very sensitive, honest account of a few peoples' experience and approach to the "hippy" times. It was not at all a cliche. And it could very well have been totally fiction: it had all the elements of a good and interesting story.I loved it. I gave it 4 stars, because as good as it was, I reserve the 5 stars for the mind-blowing twisting stories that take years to write and that have layers upon layers on them. This was a highly sincere and straight forward story, and I still recommend it.

This book is based on Coelho’s experiences as a young hippie in 1970. It begins as Karla meets Paulo in Amsterdam and persuades him to accompany her on the “Magic Bus” to Nepal. The story vacillates between several points of view in the group traveling on the bus but as soon as I became invested in a character’s story, it switched to someone else seeming never to complete each story. Still, I found it an interesting and enjoyable read. Free love, drugs, freedom, searching for meaning, and being judged for being non-conventional in appearance and life choices immerses the reader in a blissful, innocent, and fleeting moment in time. Where have all the hippies gone? We sure could use some love and peace, generosity and acceptance.

The story goes a little bit too deep into the various characters' lives for me. These side stories became confusing and slowed down the action. It's still a pretty damn good read. I also found it disappointing that the main character "chickened out" from going on to Kathmandu for the Hippy Trail. I realize that "Hippie" is semi autobiographical but its a little depressing and maudlin. I wish Cohelo would return to the lyricism of the Alchemist, which I absolutely loved. I must admit that I co-wrote the recently published, "Wanderer, The Ultimate Hippy Trail Journey" which I think is more action oriented, and a better exemplification of the Hippy phenomenon. Steve.

hi, Paolo Coelho is still my favourite authorbut I was shocked by his views on feminismsaying that the bra burning was attention seeking !I've found feminism really important to my spiritual journeywithout which I could not express how I truly feel ...and I'm grateful to all those women who have stuck their neck out for mestill my favourite author though ... such gripping taleslove Lucie Robson

A good book, giving some insight to the hippie phenomena of the late sixties/early seventies. Disappointing in that they never got to Katmandu. But you can't change history. Or can you. A sequel on what might have happened?

I heard about this author for years and I've never read any of his books, so I had very high expectations. The story is interesting but constantly interrupted by some cheap pseudo philosophical / mystical nonsense (Something that shouldn't be too surprising for a book called 'hippie', I know..). Probably just me not understanding the writing style in general was not something that impressed me

This book is another eye-opening take that helps the reader reconnect with that inner hippie, even for those who do not and have never identified as a hippie. We all have a yearning for something deeper, both from the world and from ourselves. This book opens the door and puts words to feelings.

Yet another amazing piece of work from Paulo. As always I couldn’t put it down. He has a magical way of drawing you into his world and connecting to yourself.