The Winner Stands Alone - Paulo Coelho

The Winner Stands Alone is a novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 2008. The book was first published in Portuguese under the title O Vencedor está Só. It is the thirteenth major book by the Coelho. The book is roughly based upon the growing rise of what the author calls "The Superclass".

Book Description:

    The beloved, bestselling international author of The Alchemist returns with another haunting novel—a thrilling journey into our constant fascination with the worlds of fame, fortune, and celebrity.

A profound meditation on personal power and innocent dreams that are manipulated or undone by success, The Winner Stands Alone is set in the exciting worlds of fashion and cinema. Taking place over the course of twenty-four hours during the Cannes Film Festival, it is the story of Igor, a successful, driven Russian entrepreneur who will go to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love—his ex-wife, Ewa. Believing that his life with Ewa was divinely ordained, Igor once told her that he would destroy whole worlds to get her back. The conflict between an individual evil force and society emerges, and as the novel unfolds, morality is derailed.

Meet the players and poseurs behind the scenes at Cannes—the "Superclass" of producers, actors, designers, and supermodels, as well as the aspiring starlets, has-been stars, and jaded hangers-on. Adroitly interweaving the characters' stories, Paulo Coelho uses his twelfth novel to paint an engrossing picture of a world overrun by glamor and excess, and shows us the possibly dire consequences of our obsession with fame.

Source for description here

My Review:

It's my first book to read for Paulo Coelho, so I can't tell how it is different from his previous books as most people say.

Of course anyone is going to love Paulo's writings. His description of Cannes is magnificent. You'll feel as if you are inside of it. It discuss how far limits may cross, how much they may sacrifice to get to their goals.

For a person like me , who believes in punishment, a serial killer getting away on his private jet seems pretty hard to accept.

After all, it is a good book to read, especially if you are a Paulo's fan.

(I have a copy of the book if you want to read it)