The Spy
Ratings9
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings9
Average rating3.6
In his new novel, Paulo Coelho, bestselling author of The Alchemist and Adultery, brings to life one of history's most enigmatic women: Mata Hari. HER ONLY CRIME WAS TO BE AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city. As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men. But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage. Told in Mata Hari’s voice through her final letter, The Spy is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.
Reviews with the most likes.
Mata Hari is a fascinating historical figure, and her story is one that is both exciting and a testament to the injustices that women face in patriarchal societies. She deserves books that explain the sensational and extraordinary life that she led.
This, unfortunately, is not that book. Coehlo chooses to frame his story through a series of letters written at the end of Mata Hari's life, and in doing so makes the story more focused on her death than on her life. In doing so, he deflates a lot of the dramatic tension from her life.
The voice in the storytelling is awkward, as well. Mata Hari's letters are written in the first person, but she writes as someone aware of the infamy and iconography she will achieve after her death, which makes the voice sound more like the Coehlo's rather than the character's. This creates an awkward tension in the narration that detracts from the protagonist's telling of her story.
