Igor
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Great ! buddy u r quiet right, infact dis what I also concluded about d the character of Igor.
Igor seems to be a person who lost his sense of right and wrong a very long time ago. I wonder if it began with killing in a war he did not beleive in. It seems that from that point in his story on he lost something. He did deals with shady people to move his business forward. He neglected his wife for his career. He seems to suffer from some deep seated control issues. I am not certain he ever really loved his wife. The greatest love of all is to let another being be free. He uses relgion as a reason for guiding his killing of innocent people and has become so delusional he belives that the woman he killed has become his angel. I think that part of the story shows really that he KNOWS he has done wrong and so desperatly needs forgiveness that he might have fabricated this angel. Whether a fabrication or not his “free will” has over ridden his heart. No longer can he hear his true spirit speaking through him.
The character of Igor seems to me bit of psycho kind of person , ho is unable to relate himself to the reality that his spouse was not inlove with him anymore.In hindsight this character also the kind of psychological effect wars , like that of Vietnam , can be on soldiers ho r involved in it.
I think he truly love Ewa (before he lose his sanity). That’s why he said that at the morning, everything is okay (he can move his business), but at night part of himself is dead and he become very depressed. He consider Ewa as part of himself (only with Ewa he can become himself, didn’t have to use a mask).
He was suffering very much when Ewa leave him and willing to accept Ewa again. Unfortunately, that love change into hatred and so the tragedy begins.
Dear Paulo,
I finished to read your book tonight, so, unfortunately, I couldn’t take part to the contest for your event in Rome, this october.
I like the story; it’s real and pitiless (impitoyable) at the same time.
My impression about the charachter of Igor, (now I could answer the questions of the italian contest), is that it deals about a battle like the one with the dog you described in “the Pilgrimage”.
I mean inside Igor there is a battle between good and evil.
Even Igor is fighting his “good Fight”, but there is a difference.
The difference is that, when you wer fighting with the dog, you realizaed that there were a moment where you could turn into the evil, and being aware of that, choosed to you put the “bad Power of the dog” back to the earth.
So your choice, in the end, was wise and positive, and the Universe appreciated, as your life testifies.
Igor, on the contrary, fights to the end, even when he realized he could let the lives to Ewa and her man, he decides to kill them.
He made the choice of death; he won, but, in the end, the Whole Universe made him “alone”.
I hope I’ve been plain enough about my opinion.
Love.
Chris
igor suffered from psychological problems.he became a dark personality, after the return from the war.teva left him but he should not go after her,she was free to decide that igor was not the right person for her.
Yes, Eva was free to do that. But, the problem is Igor was not ready to accept that fact. Hence all the problem happens. It’s not the question whether she was allowed to leave Igor or not, but how Eva should handle the problem and behave more wisely (not to stab people in the back by making affair). If only both of them parted with no hard feeling, maybe things could be different.
Just my 2 cents though.
this might sime strange but i completly understand igor.he is a person who is prepared to do anything for love and i don’t understand how ewa could have left him in the first place.he loved her like crazy,gave her everything she ever wished for,went to trips all over the world with her…if he had to work hard all the time it was only cause he wanted them to have everything,he was doing it all for them and she was an ungrateful bitch who turned her back on him after he did everything for her.the only thing i don’t understand is why he bothered to try to get her back.she didn’t deserve him,he was to good for her,putting his killing spree aside.he doesn’t know any better,he was raised in a society where a murder wasn’t that big of a deal.but when it all comes together,igor is a great person,he’s handsom,smart,interesting and all in all a good man.like i said:she didn’t deserve him.
Te imaginas que aburrido es tener un hombre asi? Para mi como mujer seria el hombre mas aburridisimo del mundo. Asi como la vida nos ofrece diferentes situaciones buenas y malas que tenemos que enfrentar, asi tambien pienso que mi como mujer no me gustaria tener un hombre que fuera tan perfecto, tan explendido, tan rico, tan enamorado de la pobre ewa. Me parece que el lo unico que necesitaba era lo que Ewa le hacia para que asi su vida tubiera un poco mas de sentido y de aventura podria decirse un poco mas de diversion!!!!
He deserved what she did to him. Por menso. Por desabrido.
Quote “if he had to work hard all the time it was only cause he wanted them to have everything,he was doing it all for them and she was an ungrateful bitch who turned her back on him after he did everything for her”: yes money offers the feeling of protection. That’s what a woman feels near a rich man. But imagine you are sitting in a restaurant with your husband at a table( you will say “exactly like in the novel when they were sitting in that restaurant near that Baikal Lake” and i will say “yes,exactly like there”). And, a begger comes in and sits at your table and starts bothering you with his problems about life(and you will repeat “just like in the novel” and i will say “yes, yes…”). And your husband decides that he has to put an end to this annoying scene (annoying the same way for you and your husband). And, your husband goes outsides with the begger and kills him. Doesnt crack something in your soul and mind? Dont you start doubt about the fact you are indeed being protected by your husband? I mean you as a normal person (which i assume you are)start to think that besides killing a human being (yes a begger it is a human being)that is socially and financially unlucky can be somehow else be persueded to go away from your table ( like give him a little money with which he will probably go buy himself a drink and sleep happy and drunk that night OR,IDEALLY, your husband could send one of his man to clean him and feed him, and hire him as genetor – put him clean toilets in one of his buildings and pay him a monthly salary- very little money-from which point the begger starts to have some ideas he can actually dream more than getting drunk everyday). Dont you start to think that your husband somehow become in his mind God because he suddenly decides who lives and who dies? Dont you start to wonder from where all that money he has come from? Maybe he did to some other people the thing he did to that begger? Doesnt it crack something in that paradise you 2 live in? I mean your husband is (i quote) “handsom,smart,interesting and all in all a good man”. He doesnt abuse you in anyway: not mentally, not physically. But he DOES kill a simple begger that was annoying. Dont you start to wonder what is happening in your husband’s mind if he considered that only solution to solve that man’s issues is to send him to graveyard? Dont you get scared at night thinking that the man near whom you sleep has in HIS MIND the right and in his hands the strength to take a human being’s life? I mean in a relation ship there are some defects you can tolerate: the fact your husband farts, snors at night, doesnt wash his socks etc etc. You tell yourself “he farted cause he had gasses, gasses produce pain so you have to eliminate them, he snors cause he has problems with his breathing, he doesnt wash his socks cause he is lazy” etc etc. But how you justify a murder he does? I would personnaly think if i stood at that table and that happened that i have indirectly my hands full of blood, i would feel dirty.
I found Igor to be fascinating. On the one hand he only realises his loss when Ewa leaves him. He then resorts to cold-blooded murder to try and attract her attention.Interestingly believing all along that she will return to him if he does this! It was only when he realised that nothing will bring her back, that he uses his’ guardian angel’ as an ‘excuse’ to change the course of his actions. Igor is a personification of what each of us carries within. When loss is absolute, we change from Jeckyl to Hyde in seconds….it is only inner strength and compassion that can take you to a higher place. Igor wasn’t used to compassion.He was trained to kill. Had he gone to the police, the ending would have been different….had he shown any remorse, maybe he would have reached higher ground…unfortunately he believed right up to the end that love is only justified by possessing….when love is infact only realised in the releasing.
Actually, I blame the police who just ignored him when he confessed the first time. If only that police try to contact the hospital/Hq, to understand what happen. Maybe, they can put him into jail and other victims didn’t have to die.
And for me Igor is like the wolf of the Little Red Riding Hood in his behavior. He have two faces, the public face and the obsesive face. I think that Igor have an obsesion with his broken relationship.
Saudações…
Gostei muito.Mas por que ele não pagou a promessa a qual ele havia feito para santa[...]
E essa história irreal…
I have just finished the book i wanted to read for the last 3 months. I find the character of IGOR as a self centered man with unbalanced heart but good in strategy and efficient in execution of plans. he seems to believe in himself and his mission being as an accomplishment of some god send goals but in reality he is a troubled person finding answers through various means to his own inability to dominate his world.
IGOR the main character is being depicted in Grey sheds in this novel. But I think revenge is a very practical nature of human being.Igor proved it with the power,money and expertise in the various fields he mastered throughout his life. He has taken the revenge.I really admire him for this.
You admire him for murdering innocent people he doesn’t know ? That’s not revenge, it’s psychosis. Alright so he is powerful and experienced and knowledgeable and disciplined, but he’s also cold blooded. Nothing shakes him. He is incapable of human emotion. That’s admirable to you ?
Dear Paulo
thanks for yet another inspirational fable, but one that scared and chilled me, recalling when I was convinced that a controlling person was good for me. It takes a lot to break free. I felt for Ewa and her inability to tell her fears or escape her fate.
Igor (or ego) thinks he knows what he wants/needs to be happy or fulfilled. Our egoic minds are like delusional monsters who can’t appreciate the needs of others. They exhaust us and worry us trying to get and prevent various things. Uselessly. It’s never enough for us to rest in peace, which is what I believe we are all after, peace to see what’s really valuable and important. The ego is obsessed by survival and is a useful tool for that, but fears higher evolution which sees the ego as a delusion, a phantom created by so much mental activity. The trick, I feel, is simply not to take it seiously, realizing we are more, so very much more than the machinations of our minds but also only the awareness by which all is known, we are light. The phantom of Igor is all around us, scared of light.
with love Prudens
Dear Paolo,
how could you create this character?! it must have been very difficult to go to his mind! how could you describe his feelings,so natural?! and after all of his evil acts, do you want to persuade the reader that he is a little right! or to show his faults?
you`ve put a puzzle! and this man, can be a good judge for our own prejudices and faults and sins, asking ourselves “aren`t i like him? seeing things upside down???”
wow!
Tomorrow, July 22nd is the feast day for St Mary Magdalene, and as Igor’s story starts out, with prayers in front of Relics of St Mary Magdalene, let me try to sum up a few reflections on this character. I believe my only reference point to a man like this is Italian mafia guys. They go to their Sunday Mass, they love their lady and they kill in the name of love and family. Any woman would be a bit flattered by a man protecting his lady to this extreme, to the extent where any other man touching her, will soon be dead, and any attempt she does to leave him, will result the same way, with death. Igor does describe himself as a very respectful husband, who support his lady through thick and thin. Of course Igor is an attractive character.
Why does he so strongly believe in killing for love? Because his perception of love is completely twisted, and he doesn’t understand real love can only grow in complete freedom from both partners. I will almost characterize him as a gentle serial killer. I don’t see deep sadism in his murders. He doesn’t cause his victims long lasting pains. And he doesn’t take body parts or other victim belongings as souvenirs, as we often see in hard core serial killers. At the beginning, we get the impression, he is destroying worlds, to get Ewa to understand, he is willing to do anything to get her back.
Then there seem to be a turning point in the story, when Igor discover, he doesn’t love Ewa anymore. According to him, it is her who failed to love him all those years. She gave him nothing. She didn’t love or care for him, and then she left him, after being unfaithful. It almost seems justified for Igor to kill Ewa in this situation. How many men hasn’t been in the same situation committed jealousy murders? In fact, today even women commit murders out of jealousy. I really do ‘understand’ how Igor can justify to himself, that Ewa deserves to die, and with her also her lover/husband, Hamid. In many parts of our world, revenge killing like this is fully accepted and allowed. Igor is a hero for standing up like a man, and do the right ting, as an answer to what Ewa took him through.
In my opinion the biggest mistake Igor makes, is despising his ex wife’s mental capacity, because he himself must be much, much more intelligent than she is. High IQ can really be a curse, especially if one expect other human beings to have the same mental abilities. Many people blame Ewa for not having left Igor earlier, or for not telling Hamid more clearly about her fears when she received those text messages. I believe Ewa was just not able. She was just not able to comprehend a man of this magnitude, and she just had to let the horror take place. There were no way she could have stopped Igor. There is now way we can accuse her of any responsibility for Igor’s hatred. He is wrong in his contempt for a innocent person like Ewa. Ewa’s only ‘mistake’ is she isn’t in possession of a mental capacity, similar to that of her ex husband. She is just saddened and desperate she cannot escape having ever involved with Igor.
Several times I see the sense of being trapped, as one of Igor’s issues. Is there hope for a person with psychopathic traits? These are the only one patient groups most psychologist give up on. They have no sense of guilt feeling. If you try to help them, they will despise you, and very soon wrap you into their psychological manipulations. They will even kill you, if they get convinced it’s the only solution to a situation. Of course, murder in the name of love or family, is very questionable. Most people believe in killing to defend loved one’s from being killed. To kill to get a loved one back, is flat out wayyy to selfish. A love being forced by murders would never have a chance to live. I’m surprised Igor, as smart as he is, I’m surprised he doesn’t realize this, and let Ewa go?
The end of Igor’s story proves there is hope, also for a serial killer. So, I must conclude by saying; I was pleased with the end, as I am convinced the individual sacrificed for this mans soul, will not be in vain. However, Igor will have to be able to say; I’m sorry, to save his soul from eternal damnation.
Dearest,
I just read your exciting book.Bravo!Your sense is touching my heart.Again and again!Thank you!
If Igor is psychopath I’m afraid that half a world have same illness.
When the people kill another human in the war,in name of religion,power,money,political belief is bed energy for all.For me is the same when the somebody kill in the name of love.
Aggression is sad,in all life directions.
When is individual or collective,touch the hell in present moment is the karma,destiny.I’m sure is painful…
Just individual get out from personal hell.If that person can do move from hell to the good side of heart,this is win.This is triumph!Igor make it.
Igor is an obsessive man, he would again be with his wife, all he was doing was for love, as it seems crazy before the eyes of others.
Dear Paulo
I loved the book.I really wished if Igor would have been caught by savoy, because Savoys mission remains incomplete.
I think Mr Paulo make an open ending in which every reader can make an ending which satisfy him/her. It could be Igor was captured or killed by victim family or by his enemy. Or also Igor atoned for his sin. Or anything else.
I’m quite pleased with the open ending cause Mr. Paulo let reader to interpret his story and make an ending appropriate according to him/her (reader).
for me igor’s mentally ill, maybe his childhood,maybe the war,maybe his luck,pushed him to create his own rules.he got gifts,he’s attractive,smart,strong,obviously dangerous for the others and himself.his faith,his love,his angel made a confusion, is it possible that the mysterious way of god…of course not!! love is not an obsession.
Igor has left a clue: the sentence in the letter: “I love you, Katyuska”. When the police will find the last murder they will make the connection and catch this sick person.
Ewa.. Katyusha
Kinda hard to relate those 2 names in any ways.Only if she had very intimate friends that knew this detail about her life. But as novel says, she was kinda lonely. Probably that spy she made her friend couldve known this detail. Seems like Ewa told that woman kinda much about her life.
Possibly that the name and the nickname are both Russian can somehow orientate the police. But Igor left false proofs at every step: he had false documents, he left no fingerprints, washed his cloths of blood in his own room so that he didnt risk someone else get suspicious about the staints if they were of blood, he disguised himself in the photos made specially for the documents. So he technically wasnt there. Hardest would be place Igor in Cannes in that period of time.
Maybe the boy that saw the murder on the beach could recognise him. But what you know? Maybe the family advices the boy not to mess with those kind of things for same reasons that made Jasmine Tiger did not confess when she was young and saw that murder in the club.
Igor can be considered as multi-layered character.He has some traces of a good nature in him,though he constantly struggles to fight them.Although a fictional character, he succeeded in scaring and drawing the reader’s attention to the possibility of the presence of such a person anywhere near you, comouflaged in any possible social image.His deprived childhood resulted in his love for possession along with the cruelties he witnessed during the war which, as a way to redeem his conscience,made him create excuses to justify the wrong deeds he commits in the name of a great higher cause.
Igor was a fighter and a survivor, his past trauma, afterall being through a war is no cakewalk, and his complusion to seek help from undignified sources, everything combined togather to make a mosnter out of a possibly good human being. Igor was in need of some religion, some help, which could have been provided to him by eva, but she chose to abandon him, making his life more dark than it was.
I feel sad for igor, such a talented human being, if only he could have learnt to control his mind, his desires — there would have been no story worth reading. hope igor finds peace, but that will come to him only if he encounters a master or by some sheer shance, luck he is able to awaken the master within.
love
aditya
In fact, in my opinion (and I must stress that the author is just another reader) Igor used anything to justify his actions. Of course he was delirating when he started hearing voices and seeing the “angel”
Dearest Paulo,
what does delirating mean?
Love
Marie
interesting reply from you Paulo – so when is one not delirating when hearing voices-seeing angels and when are you?
It makes me think of the young man in The Zahir – who according to one theory simply had epilepsy but according to himself he met or had visions of the Virgin.
The line between sanity and insanity is thin…
When I read the passages where Igor heard the angel, I asked the same question as Josephine. What makes you so sure that Igor is delirating? Of course, you wrote his story and he is your creation, but let’s imagine he could escape right know out of your book and talk to you. He would say enraged: “Surely, Olivia talked as an angel to me, Paulo! I heard her voice very clearly! I was not delirating! You also believe in angels. Why don’t you take me seriously? Is it only because I am bad in your eyes?”
What do you answer him?
Mr. Paulo Coelho,
I’m not going to start and say how great, wonderfull writer you are. I’m sure you know yourself better, you know what you can do and what you cant do and you dont need some unnecessary opinions from someone little like me.
Anyway, the thing why i’m writing this is to ask something that might sound as a joke and im sure first thing you will intend to answer would be “I would have to write another novel for that” (but i only want just some sentences not a novel): that day, when Igor went to that policeman ,on the street near the place he made his first victim ,and confessed his murder; what would have happened if the policeman, suddenly stopped staring at that lady’s diamonds, turned around, looked in his eyes, saw Igor’s pupils are normal(which means that Igor taking drugs is out of the possibilities why he is doing what he is doing)and announce through his gadget the chief-inspector that he has in front of him a man claiming that he is the murderer? You will probably say also that there wouldnt exist the rest of the novel. So dont say that pretty please:)))
Dear Paulo,
Why was the spirit or “angel” of the young girl that Igor first killed at his side? why was she guiding him if he was mad and had a distorted perception in which he was killing in the name of love? you wrote “love would never bring death” and i completely agree. Then why was he being guided by her spirit? did you plan that to happen? can somebody please explain it to me?
Thank you
Yashua
Igor:
Egoistical, egocentrical, powerful psychopath who surches and always find reason that suits him to accept his awful deeds.
He does not love, he posses, he is man of property, emotional,economical and any type of machiavelism for him is acceptable if it makes him reach his goal.
Highly inteligent, analistic mind and perseverance make him lethal weapon and nightmarish.
Luce
Choosing Igor to be Russian is So fitting!! I can’t pin point why, but it just fits, not to insult Russians! My ancestors come from Russia!!
Dear Paulo!
Igor off his machine and went home, and what about those who remain here and continue doing it because it’s all taken. Quotes you would like to have a Hungarian writer Sándor Márai “You should know that the power is a sin, and be able to create and shape, at least as well as virtue.” Veronika
Kedves Paulo!
Igor felszállt a gépére és hazament, és mi van azokkal akik itt maradnak és csinálják tovább, mert úgy gondolják mindenhatók. Szeretnék egy magyar írót idézi önnek Márai Sándort” Meg kellett tudnom, hogy a bűn is hatalom, s tud alkotni és alakítani, legalább úgy, mint az erény.” Veronika
Paulo Hi….I want to ask you about Igor. He is a psychopath, he is cold and without a true heart. But when he thinks he will turn himself in and does go to the police..is he feeling remorse at all or is it another part of his evil character….? Also the adoption of Olivia into his head who he feels is watching over him…is there a tiny part of him that is sorry that he killed her or again is it all part of his evil.
He is such a believable character…and it is easy to see how all of us could be entrapped by people like him. To a way lesser extent I think we are.
He wanted to destroy worlds to attract her attention because he believes he loves her. Why do you think he goes to such extremes and then thinks he doesnt love her at all?……Thanks…with love
I think he feels a little bit guilty because killing Olivia. He said that he want to search Olivia last name, make some donations, and make a book about her who changed him (or something like that).
‘Katioucha I destroyed another world for you’
Can’t imagine a worst proof of “love” not love but sickness, evil, ugliness.
Haven’t finished reading the novel yet. I’m coming back.
What a powerful novel;
what a compelling read!
Thank you Mr Coelho.
I keep thinking that Igor is going to very famous public places and is taking a great risk: are there not hidden security cameras?
Being a rich and sussessful man in his own country: might he not have his picture and biography documented somewhere?
And as careful he is not to leave any traces, how about a stray hair that might give his DNA?
And how about the text messages he sends to his ex wife, could they be traced back to his mobile?
And of course there is a witness who spoke to him and that he has allowed to let live. Would that witness realized what has happened?
One thing I don’t understand is why Igor didn’t use some disguised (like he use in his false passport). It was very big risk to kill people without disguise(not to mention he is a public figure).
I would be very surprised if Savoy and Morris could not trace Igor. I doubt Igor has cover everything. I think the biggest threat is Gabriella cause she know Igor real names. And because of Igor, her dream was shattered. I have no doubt that Gabriella wants police to catch the one who killed Hamid.
I wonder what will Igor do when Savoy and Morris question him about his alibi. But, I suppose I will never know the answer. I can only try to imagine it in my mind.
I think Igor represents something in all of us, the part of us that’s capable of shattering dreams and destroying universes, our own and those of others, and always believes we are justified in our actions. Whoever said he represents the ego may be right. The mind is wonderful, however left on it’s own without the guidance of God can cause chaos in our lives. Igor thaught me alot of things, I feel compassion for him because aside from all the power that he displays in his life, he is clearly fragile and very much human. Thank you Paulo for allowing me to see into my own mind through such a wonderful character.
Is there any real serial killer in history, who killed in the name of love for a woman?
Where did you research in order to describe Igors character conclusively?
Did you interview psychoanalysts, detectives or real serial killers?
Dear Monika,
Igor was the only character that I never actually met in real life. I took elements from a few business men I knew – but the psychopath, luckily, I never met.
Love
Paulo
I have read half the book now: The realization of what Igor is, is dawning on me: he thinks he has a mission from God in the name of Love.
He was changed forever by his experience as a soldier in a war he didn’t want. Was there something in his character that was unleashed by his experience? Would counselling have helped him?
Anne Claude
I believe you have a point in mentioning counselling. Where is the responsability of governments in sending young people to war and on their return offering no counselling services. Do they believe that a trauma like that can be just washed away by having a shower?
Homeira, Anne-Claude and Marie-Christine -
I think you all have a point there that a man (and woman) change in some way when learned to kill in a war.
The examples of men who got traumatized in the war in Bosnia
and Kosovo is very real. One of these “ex-soldiers” killed two policemen in Sweden after robbing a bank in a small town. He killed them by shooting them in their neck as in an execution.
Igor has other personalities.He gathers lots of information about the subject,he must know everything.This made his success in money and power.all of successful people has this,but fortunately most of them use it to make a peace of art or invent something.But Igor is a tough person and able to tolerate a lot of pain.He is depressed ,easy to understand.:killing people even suicide is the cause of depression.But Igor is angry,deeply angry.He thinks his wife has behaved in such an unfair & cruel way & he wants to express his anger in violent way.Once,when I lost my mom, I was so angry that I killed a cat!!! I can’t believe it was me .I just remember that everything was red,bloody red.I am so sorry now.But there is no way to redress.
Igor, maybe he looks alike putin or someone in classic James Bond,but
most important things about him is his mean caracter.Mr Coelho just said a bit about Igor’s past in war,but this is enough to remind me lots of stories about soldiers who come back home and kill their family or freinds , shot to the innocent people and make themselves a Vampire!because I live in middle east, I folow these sort of stories.Wars in Afghanestan ,Iraq,Pakistan in mid-east and in Cosovo in Europe trained lots of serial killers. Igor is just symbol of them .When armies train them,teach them to kill:no name no challenge with superior.the most dangerous ones are the clever ones.Igor is clever.
Is not Igor a misfit, a victim of his circumstances?
He had an unhappy childhood, was sent to a war he did not want to fight, came back a wreck, He is very lucid and also resentful of the Superclass because can see both sides of the story, no? He has experienced the two.His dream came true he did not take the opportunity to redeem maybe had he had some counselling things might have changed for the better.
On page 111 -Paragraph 5
“Look at the Superclass around us, they think they are so important, so socially aware, because they are willing to pay a fortune for some useless item at a charity auction or to attend a super organised to raise funds to help the homeless in Rwanda or to save the Pandas in China. Pandas and the homeless are all one to them. THey feel special, superior to the average person because they are doing something useful. Have they ever fought in a war? No, they create wars, but they don’t fight in them. If the wars turns out well, they get all the credit. If not, others get the blame. They are in love with themselves.”
If we imagine Igor sayed that he was sorry,he couldn’t believ it was him,would it change something?Aswell as trying to find an exuse in the war traumas….Instead of saying “sorry” ever tryed to help animals?Cats?Just the way you can.. A child might be not explained that the easyest victims are often those who are defensless because of uncoditional love and full trust and support, but an adult is able to realise that he can still help to the alife not as a compensation, but for a relief and the personal growth..istead of looking for the similar examples, still not feeling better.
Igor reminds me of Putin as well. He is a soldier, very intelligent very reserved. He knows SAMBO, he kills people with poison, for him the means justify the end. He is very ambitious, he will stop at nothing, Putin! Does he get away with all the crimes in the end?
If he does, that kind of sets a bad example for a lot of crazy people out there.
Indeed…:):):):):)
the answer about animal was for Homeira, sorry to put it to the wrong place.
Putin is not the only one. Many dictator like that. And unfortunately many of them live a good life unpunished.
I loved this character! He had power, control, strenght yet could be vunerable. The dream he speaks of was not his own, but something created jointly by Ewa and him. The dream did not exist without her, and I don’t mean he could achieve it alone. I mean that both souls had merged together in its creation and without one soul it prevented it becoming reality, and he knew this. His life to that point was to achieve his goals, this suddenly became a goal that he could not get near to.
I think we need goals, but we also need to know that they can change. Life is about changing and adapting, making choices and seeing were they can lead us. Other people can come into our life and change what we thought we wanted, making life an adventure. If you see these changes as compromises and look back saying….I could of been or I could have done this…. we don’t enjoy the gift of the other person in our life. As with taking a person for granted and and continuing on with what we want and forgetting the other persons dreams. He thought he could hold on to their dream, to when it suited him to take action, proving we should act on our dreams now!!
What you are forgeting is to step back and see the big picture. This man killed inocent people.. who cares what his reasons were.
If we all do the same thing, just becouse we have money, inteligence, will power etc. or anger, love.. the population on the Earth would halved by next week :)
Love, Katarina
And perhaps all the characters share a characteristic, like a circle.
for always there is a ‘Singular Eye(3)’ that sees all_______
Myabe Igor represent the Ego in all people, all the different characters in the story and in life??
May be________
Igor is the caracter I’ve been thinking most about.
Correct me if I’m wrong – but is he not the first real murderer
you have included in all of your novels?
In one way it is impossible to come to a real understanding of the mind of a psychopat – it’s so twisted, dark and full of “gaps” that trying to understand the way such a person thinks just drives you crazy too… Like the young man how went in to a nursery in Belgium and killed several babies in the beginning of 2009.
To me Igor is doing what a lot of men who think they feel “love” are doing – trying to regain their power over another human being. It’s not about love – it’s about power. One of my best friends stayed in a very destructive relationship for several years. In between the beatings which she felt she had a “provoking” part in, there was a lot of real love – but this persons personal history made him extremely jealous and so the very thing he feared – that she would leave him – he created with his own hands.
As I wrote earlier I found a relief in the end. I felt through Igors caracter how the tensions were gone, the end made sense to me.
Relief only arrives when one sees the light of the angels, and is able to shut eyes in a perfect rest.
Igor justifies his crimes in the name of Love and in the name of God. He thinks about spirituality, about mission… but he never ever question himself if it correct… if it is the rigth way… He is absolutely security about his choices, his life.
My questions are: Is his heart fooling himself? And about the price… how is he paying the price, if he does not have idea about what is rigth ou wrong? Aaaaand why innocent people doesn’t have another chance?
And the last one: how can I recognize the True, if the evil will be in the ligth clothes… seems the Master???
Thank You so much!
Love,
PATRICIA RUDECK
(sorry my poor english, it’s because, as you know, i never lived in other countries… This english is from classes, only, hehehehe. Kisses)
Sometimes, if the intention is pure, it doesn’t matter the action… right? LOL well maybe not to the point of killing and taking someones life, but I have found this to be true. Some people do not understand something if they are told, so they have to experience it. And some people, when they’ve been through a lot, done a lot and many things, they find it worthy to engage in such an act, to ‘playing god’ if you will… to show someone some thing, or maybe even just for their own satisfaction.
He is paying the price by the life he is living… constantly being paranoid, worried if someone is watching him, someone following him, if he’ll be found out, snitched on… the Hell and bondage in the mind that comes with such acts.
Why innocent people don’t have a chance… because there are wolves out there.
You can’t recognize the truth Patricia, not if it’s the evil hiding behind white clothes. You can only rely on your intuition. And Time. Time will tell if your intuition was right or wrong…
This is Life!
To be fair, I don’t think you can judge Igor with the same standard you judge ordinary people. He have killed people in the war. So, his mind have been twisted and without counseling, it was no fair to put him in the same level with people who have never killed before.
The analogy is like it’s no fair to ask why water phobia people who have drowned before, afraid of water when ordinary people didn’t.
Maybe we all live in our own little worlds. Our own reality side by side with other reality….A bit like the in To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf where all characters seem to be existing by each others……around one central character who does nothing but knit socks….or is she knitting a whole new reality?
We are trapped in our own bodies with our own pains and aches and pleasures. Our own mind is trapped within that body with our own thoughts and feelings.
How many Igor are walking the streets of our worlds?
However someone may describe Igor, to himself, he is doing something Just. Besides, in his view, what is one world, one universe, someone’s drab lifeless life compared to the love he has for Ewa…
More to come… This blog is moving fast, I can’t keep up! I need to install a turbo engine in me…
Igor is a narcissistic personality… to bring that forward we can say he has a ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ – this disorder, while being totally disconnected from it; resembles schizophrenia. To take it a little further we could say that he has a ‘morbid’ narcissistic personality disorder.
Could Igor be described as a psychopath?
But they say psychopaths don’t have any real sense of feelings. So if Igor is killing for love what does that make him?
I don’t think Igor is psychopath. He is a murder ? yes. Psychopath ? I don’t think so. Because psychopath enjoy killing his victim or mutilating his victim body. As evil as Igor, I don’t think he enjoy killing his victim. Not to mention, he choose to kill the victim with the least pain.
When I started to write the book, I had no clue on how to end. Somehow the characters take their destiny from the hands of the creator (the writer, and not only me). My main surprise with Igor is that he justifies his crimes in the name of love. We saw that before, and unfortunatelly we will see for the years to come.
Igor, A person, who kills innocent people, just like that, and shatters the dream, because his dream is powerful? his dream is right? his dream is just? he has the support of the guardian angle and others dont? How he becomes superior over the other strong headed people? only difference is, he has decided to shatter the dream and others didnt.I strongly would say, ‘Ewa’ breaking the dream of ‘Igor’ would be the practical end. ‘Igor’ standing alone, would be a wishful thinking, which i dont know, for what reason.
Paulo had tried very hard to differentiate him from a serial killer/maniac. But, in my view, failed. Igor reminds of the hero in ‘American Psycho’, played by Christian Bale.
Height of disagreement for me with Paulo, is, Igor is guided by Olivia, which makes me doubt, the book, ‘Alchemist’. Is that true, by reading, ‘Alchemist’ i felt positive energy, it is also true, someone else, can believe in guardian angel/daemons and do insane acts.
perhaps, the Igor’s character and the book, winner stands alone, is a testing stone, for your sanity, how far you would believe in your guardian angels or the daemons?
dear Shivang, I needed to edit your question because it tells the end of the book.
Yeah! the martial arts bits…speaking foreign languages, etc.
I recognised a few of them I think too, Kealan.
Scary!
I will have to come back later and write more on this… For now Igor reminds me of Vladimir Putin. I thought of this after Paulo said that the characters in the book are based on real life people.
Is Igor being delusional as to thinking that for all the macabre things he’s done is really guided by a higher being he has imagine in the form of Olivia? It is really difficult to delve in the minds of people that have gone mad but at some point religious teachings that are abused and misused play a role in our psychosis.Some people whose beliefs are shallow will really be threatened by reading and not understanding the inner depth and meaning of Igor’s character.
Igor is a man obsessed on regaining his lost love and justified his actions as for the greater good but really he’s just a man on the verge of loosing his sanity and sense of morality.
Thanks Kealan.
Dear Annie
That dear friend who told you this, is very clever , in good way.
Congratulations because you’re nice & surrounded by nice people.
best wishes
Homeira
Carolena,
I desagree with you, the action matter a lot!!! We have many terrorist walking around of us, justifying his acts in the name of God, of the religion, and what matter in these cases are the action. The intention can be pure, but the results can be unprovided of Love.
I desagree about to have the experience… of course it is very important, but we are intelligent people, we are able to learn with intellectual mind and choose the Good. The life is too short to learn only with own mistakes.
And the evil is smart… I belive in my intuition, but I’am alwayas praying and watching, because the evil is smart (again)… not sensitive, but smart…
Kisses my darling,
Love
PATRICIA RUDECK
The last sentence of first paragraph is a question, ok? hehehe Sorry…
Evil a psychology of its own, its not ours to decide. Which brings us to the question of oneness. One should ask one’s self, what lies and wrongs one has done and what one has to offer for the good of mankind, for all our thoughts will be transferred to…. one might call the following generation: Only if for the good of all mankind.
that is perhaps a good idea to get rid of weapons of any sort …:)
Josephine in Brussels
“Death is the arena where the policies of Power, Retribution and Violence are applied to a man using materials such as concrete and steel until the man turns into steel and his heart becomes as hard as concrete. However, though steel can be hard , it can still be flexible and though the heart can be transformed into concrete -it still beats-. Beyond the concrete and the steel stands the man , his love of life and the great principles that rule the human beings.”
Justin
“The letter that I can’t answer” MAY,9,2007
Igor loves everyone!
Much Love___________________________+++
zaccai – I don’t think it’s ignorance,
it’s a choice to stay naive in the positive meaning
of the word, a choice to turn towards your inner light,
remain a bit foolish instead of turning suspicious to
every contact… It cost Olivia her life, but what kind of world would it be if we all lived in constant fear of each other?
Dear Ava,
I don’t agree – Igor thinks he loves but his heart is cold. His final realization is actually based on his incapability to love. Love would never bring death. It is the very source of life.
Love
Paulo
If love is the source of life, yet Igor, whose cold-heart could only bring death is allowed to live at the book’s end, what are you saying about life? I closed the book applauding you for having the courage to admit that things don’t always end in a moral way, that justice, as we know it, is not always about capturing the bad guy. Maybe, the rich and powerful who kill at will must suffer in a hell of isolation and false pretense, while the innocent, or at least those who don’t act on their murderous impulses, can slumber in eternal bliss, ignorant of society’s harsh machinations.
Dear Annie,ell
You gave an interesting comment.
I agree with what you said that if” we let ourselves believe that we are victims of the circumstances, then we let others lead our lives…and it leaves us hanging in the air.”
If you are hanging in the air floating , it is good, it means you are still dreaming..
I believe Igor had the “whole package” worked out- only my opinion, similar with you- his childhood was an unhappy one, the war episode then making it in the world.
He had one foot in hell, the other in heavens.
Instead of taking the “less travelled road” he made the wrong choice ,took the wrong turn and he paid the price.
Of course, only Igor knew what is going on in his mind at the time.
I like what Paulo said”
” The pursue of your dreams will rid you of all the unnecessary things that clog your soul. It’s a purification process.”
I can’t help thinking how many people are in the same situation, wearing masks , being a doormat?
I know I have been there – done that -. I am “in the process of purification” too.
Thank you for being.
Love,
Marie-Christine
Thats what I wanted to know.. I always thought that in order to write about feelings so clesely you have to experience them your self. All of the other characters were ordinery people with feelings and thoughts that we can all have from time to time. But Igor? My God, what an evil bastard. How such a high inteligence, strong will and sharp mind can get so confused? Everyone can justify the wrong things we do in life..chating, hurting people, as a selfish child that thinks can do no wrong(as you said) but killing? In a name of love? I was actually really angry when I finished the book and he went on unpunished..or, is his empty life punishing enough? I know, i know, no all books have to finish with happyend..and Im not even american :)
wish you all at least one magic moment a day,
Katarina x
I think choosing his nationality perfectly fits, as Russia, coming out during changes from USSR into several democratic republics, gave birth to lot of prototypes of Igor, individuals who accumulated wealth from scratch or nothing, economic growth not followed by inner growth, war and struggle, corruption mixed with political inteligence (ex KGB), strong and forceful characters are normal consequence.
Just my point of view, and I can not imagine any other nationality with all resources that Paulo in the book put on his disposal (money, succes, information, spies, mobility, weapons, force)
Love
Luce
True! Thank you!
Thank You Annie, it makes sense now.
Hey! how can you call Igor emotionless.It is his passion for his lady love and her betrayal which has made him what he is. Revenge has dominated him to the extent that he has turned to a cold blooded murderer. I admire him for the his mental ability to plan the revenge and get out of it without being caught. I admire his intelligence.
Intelligence is not an emotion and is not equal “to be capable feel”. And that’s his problem: he feels ONLY FOR that lady and he feels nothing towards others. Its not normal go around kill people and think you have the right to do so just because your wife left you.
If I were Ewa, I would take my husband to the psychiatry first. Not just making affair and leave him alone with his twisted mind. I’m not justifying Igor murdering. But, things could be different, if different actions were taken.
I think somehow Savoy and Morris will be able to trace Igor. But, to capture and put him into the jail is another story. Igor can use the best attorney or bribe the judge.
But, I believe justice will triumph evil in the end.
I agree that murdering cannot be justify for whatever the reason is. But still I cannot treat each murder equally. It’s different between killing in the war to protect your country and killing innocent people just for fun. It’s different between killing to defend yourself or your family and killing to take revenge.
I cannot hate someone who kill to defend him/herself or her family. Yes, he/she is guilty for murdering. But, I still cannot hate him/her the same with I hate psychopath murder.
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