Paulo Coelho’s Blog

8 Responses to “Marie”

• jill

  October 17, 2009 at 8:18 am

  this is as far as i remember from marie, since i read the book a while back and lend it to a friend. anyway, i have great respect for the character, i think she is very brave and know what she exactly wants and love, doing absolutely anything to keep her love and knowing when to let go. I just keep on remembering the part about the distance between the railroad tracks, and how eager she is to find out what it is. She came from a relationship with lots of promises of leaving the wife but her lover never did. She cultivated from that experience and choose the writer, and supported him every step of the way. She never told him what to do, although she knows he never loved her like she did. well, in summary.. i just like her. you clearly see her flaws and hesitations but there is something real to her.

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• Savita Vega

  August 18, 2009 at 2:49 pm

  To me Marie seemed like a representation of society as a whole. The writer, Mikhail, Esther - these were all heroes/heroines in a sense. Each pursued a path that led to some great internal transformation and realization of life’s greater meaning. Marie was left out of all this. She was exposed to these potentially transformative concepts, through her conversations with the writer, through meeting Mikhail and attending one of the meetings at the restaurant, but this seemed to have no affect on her. She went on with her life just the same, clinging to her “story,” and at the same time, being imprisoned by it. I think this was the purpose that she served in the novel - she was the one who “just didn’t get it.” She was too wrapped up in her own story to take notice of the opportunity that stood before her.

  I could imagine Marie going on living her life just the same until she died. Maybe one day she would find the commitment she had been seeking, and she would get married, maybe have kids, get bored, have a few affairs, but pretend that everything is okay because to admit that it was not would necessitate taking action, assuming risks…. In short, her life would be very mundane, very “proper,” very “sane.” She would die never having truly lived.

  I didn’t dislike Marie. I just don’t regard her as a particularly admirable character.

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• Elaine Stevens

  August 15, 2009 at 8:15 pm

  Namaste,
  Marie is still an enigma to me. In many ways, all we really know about her was that she was an actress who wanted a closer relationship with the writer than was possible under the circumstances. While Esther challenged the writer, Marie submitted, although Marie did make her wishes clear. Marie never stuck her neck out in that relationship. She even moved from Milan to Paris because she knew he would not move for her. She smiled in the face of his pain, like in the hospital, instead of pushing him to heal. She was a symbol of accepting the status quo to me. In the end, she was just another distraction for him to indulge in.

  Love to you.

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  Elaine Stevens Reply:
  August 20th, 2009 at 4:39 pm

  Namaste,
  I must ammend my thoughts here. I saw a segment of a movie as I was channel surfing while I waited for dinner last night which provoked a memory of the writer talking about how he chose women whom he wanted to see as his reflection… Forgive me. I’m dyslexic and we don’t remember the written word as well as the thoughts we take from what we read, so I’m not being accurate, I know.

  My point is that the idea of reflection brought Marie into a different light for me. I started thinking of Marilyn Monroe’s marriage to Arthur Miller. She wanted people to take her seriously as the intellectual that she was, so she married a man who reflected intellectuality. Unfortunately, Miller lacked the sense of humor she needed to survive the artificial world in which she made her living. She, on the other hand, reflected the heroics he admired (when she got him off on the UnAmerican charge merely by announcing their engagement… her power was that enormous at the time) and the innocence which he felt was lost in his life. Her innocence was superficial as well, so their relationship was doomed from the start.

  Marie reflected a contentment with the writer which he wanted to feel within himself. Unfortunately, he was at war with himself which was why his Zahir was one who seemed to know what he needed whether he liked it or not. Marie, who is young and beautiful, can take that relationship and use it as a life lesson, although the pain of rejection is never easy to overcome.

  Anyway, I am still digesting this work. It will take repeated reading for me to truly understand it’s nuances, I fear. I’m discovering shadows of Zahir in The Winner Stands Alone, so my understanding is growing as I read this later work.

  Love to you

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• Monika

  July 23, 2009 at 10:40 pm

  At the end of the story I feel sorry for Marie. She knows that there is no future for her love and she has noone who is waiting for her as whishfully as the writer waits for Esther.

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  T.K. Reply:
  July 24th, 2009 at 1:40 am

  Monika:

  Read the story again. You may have missed the GREAT lesson that Marie was afforded that is priceless to her having someone waiting.

  God bless! :-D

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• juana santana

  July 9, 2009 at 11:39 pm

  i admire marie because she help the writer first to heal the wounds and second she give him some courage to find his wife, and she did all this loving him

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• cem cansu

  July 7, 2009 at 2:21 pm

  I don’t remember Esther pushing the writer for such a relationship like Marie’s, but I guess it is highly recommended to 360 degrees fully understand his obsession to Esther. I am glad that Marie was aware of Esther’s presence as well.

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