Rating: 
Summary: Great idea, poor execution.
Review: Coelho had a wonderful idea--a fictional account of Elijah to give us more insight into the life of a fabulous and not widely known Old Testament Prophet. Unfortunately, Coelho's execution of the idea is poor. The story is often silly, he attributes to Elijah thoughts that are not in the Old Testament and are often directly at odds with it, but there are gems of wisdom and occasionally good writing. Curiously, the most important part of Elijah's life--his confrontation with the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel--is avoided entirely and dealt with only by quoting the Old Testament. His death and ascent to heaven, the second most important element of Elijah's life, isn't dealt with at all. This book could have been so good, but unfortunately, it isn't.
Rating: 
Summary: A Mountain Never Presented Like This Before!
Review: Fifth Mountain is the second book of Paulo Coelho I am reading presently, after the Alchemist.This is a great book and reflects all the moods of the author as were presented in The Alchemist. Though the story is quite twisted through various pages and looses interest but still it is one of the great books I have read so far. It definitely looses interests as it goes too slow unlike "The Alchemist" at certain stages. But then it is worth reading as when it takes the interest back it strives with double power. Not every author has this talent of holding back its readers through the times when reading does not seems to be of much interest. I would recommend this book to all those who are not very religously declined towards the theories and who believe in words of widom - irrespective of who is saying them and from where they are coming. Teaches a lot about the previous life patterns when people believed in all sorts of God and had least idea of who God is? This was the time when probably everybody had its own form of God and nobody knew who God is. Elijah (the central character) is portrait as an ordinary man with fear of death and other simpler humanitarian implications of life. A messenger from God, a prophet - when presented so simple it becomes extremely difficult to express the feelings of the character but Paulo Coelho has done it well! The instructions he received from God and the way he carried out them were so simple and yet so good. A must read book for all of you - believe me some of the lines will drive you crazy and will take you into the era when all this would have happened. Happy Reading!
Rating: 
Summary: the fifth candy mountain
Review: Forrest Gump rewrites the Old Testament and it's kind of like a box of chocolates: once in a while you might find a little kernel of nourishment, but long before then you will have gagged on all the sticky sweetness
Rating: 
Summary: Why the confusion? It wasn't written in Arameic
Review: I am amazed at the large number of people who cannot tell fiction from non-fiction, and then hold the author accountable for the deceit they have suffered. Maybe this is why some writers title their books "xxxxxx, A NOVEL", so that no one gets confused. Paulo Coelho should have been advised to tackle on the words "a novel" after The Fifth Mountain, so that people did not think he was writing Elijah's biography. Leaving aside the fact that this is a work of fiction, I think the book portrays very well how life must have been in the Middle East so many centuries ago. The story is very moving, and comes to show how man's struggle with choices is as old as life on the planet itself. A worthy read for sure.
Rating:
Summary: And so my soul cried too.
Review: I have read other books under Coelho's authorship. In light of his work, there never seem to be a biased brightness towards joy or bitterness away from sorrows. The both unites through eventful discourse. The reality of Faith must endure, attest the holy journey of Elijah. The fifth mountain retelling a sliver of the Holy Bible is deeply inspirational to His words. A highly repeatable reading indeed.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece that will help me live my live to the fullest!
Review: I have read The Alchemist this summer, and since then, I am looking for every book of Paulo Coelho to read. The second book I read was the Fifth Mountain. This, without a doubt, one of the best and most inspiring books in my life. Everybody, who wants to live their life with more quality should read this book. It gives so many answers through a simple biblical tale about Elijah. It is not Elijahs life that is important, it is important that you identify, find yourself in the situations that Elijah is going through. I have to admit that I even cried reading this book, but I enjoyed it (this is the first book that i cried reading it) Give your soul a treat and read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: I haven't read any books that really impress me lately and I hoped this one would. But when I finished it, I thought it was just another decent book with some nice parts and some parts that seemed aimless. I understand it is a fable and all that. I knew what to expect. It was easy to read (which is good) and the points it made are pretty obvious (which isn't as good). Hey, I don't have a problem with it. I just think it isn't any big deal. Three stars!
Rating:
Summary: Not his best effort
Review: I loved the Alchemist and adored the Pilgrimage. I am a huge Coehlo fan and an adherent of his "New Age" beliefs. That said, this book is alright. It's a simple tale and easily read like his other books, but this one gets sappy and fizzles out half way through. From reading the other reviews I don't think people get that THIS IS NOT THE TRUE STORY OF ELIJAH. In the Bible E. goes to King Ahab of Canaan and warns there will be a drought if Ahab doesn't stop worshipping the false idols of Queen Jezebel's Phoenician religion. Ahab doesn't listen. E. escapes to the desert, flees to Zarapeth (Akbar), stays w/ the widow, resurrects her son, the end... Well not the end b/c in the Bible, E goes back to Canaan 3 yrs later to overthrow Jezebel. In the bible, nothing more is said about his life in Zarapeth/Akbar. In The Fifth Mountain, E. spends many, many years in Akbar. He lives with the widow, falls in love, the city is destroyed, rebuilt and he becomes governor. This story is all over the place. One example: after E. and the widow have professed their love, she tells Elijah that she loved him from the moment she laid eyes on him. Even though when her son died (but before E. resurrected him) she has him arrested for cursing the house. Their love story is very dissapointing. They are afraid for yrs., they have a good day or so, then she dies. Throughout there is a power struggle btwn the gods of the Fifth Mt (the Phonecians gods) and Elijah's judaism. There is another struggle: the governor & Elijah vs. the evil High Priest who wants everyone to die so that the alphabet doesn't spread. (no, I am not making this up). The HP wins and the city is destroyed in a war. Then Elijah rebuilds the city, he teaches the inhabitants who are left to write (the evil priest loses after all), he becomes the governor, he conducts a cheesy renaming ceremony and calls himself 'Liberation'... then god gives him permission to go back to Canaan (where he will supposedly complete his biblical task and bring back the right religion) It is hard to take this seriously. I can't believe Coehlo wrote this. The opening of the story is wonderful. It fails when he errs from the bible's story. I think he had a super idea--to tell the missing story of what Elijah did in exile, but he doesn't do it well.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best effort
Review: I loved the Alchemist and adored the Pilgrimage. I am a huge Coehlo fan and an adherent of his "New Age" beliefs. That said, this book is alright. It's a simple tale and easily read like his other books, but this one gets sappy and fizzles out half way through. From reading the other reviews I don't think people get that THIS IS NOT THE TRUE STORY OF ELIJAH. In the Bible E. goes to King Ahab of Canaan and warns there will be a drought if Ahab doesn't stop worshipping the false idols of Queen Jezebel's Phoenician religion. Ahab doesn't listen. E. escapes to the desert, flees to Zarapeth (Akbar), stays w/ the widow, resurrects her son, the end... Well not the end b/c in the Bible, E goes back to Canaan 3 yrs later to overthrow Jezebel. In the bible, nothing more is said about his life in Zarapeth/Akbar. In The Fifth Mountain, E. spends many, many years in Akbar. He lives with the widow, falls in love, the city is destroyed, rebuilt and he becomes governor. This story is all over the place. One example: after E. and the widow have professed their love, she tells Elijah that she loved him from the moment she laid eyes on him. Even though when her son died (but before E. resurrected him) she has him arrested for cursing the house. Their love story is very dissapointing. They are afraid for yrs., they have a good day or so, then she dies. Throughout there is a power struggle btwn the gods of the Fifth Mt (the Phonecians gods) and Elijah's judaism. There is another struggle: the governor & Elijah vs. the evil High Priest who wants everyone to die so that the alphabet doesn't spread. (no, I am not making this up). The HP wins and the city is destroyed in a war. Then Elijah rebuilds the city, he teaches the inhabitants who are left to write (the evil priest loses after all), he becomes the governor, he conducts a cheesy renaming ceremony and calls himself 'Liberation'... then god gives him permission to go back to Canaan (where he will supposedly complete his biblical task and bring back the right religion) It is hard to take this seriously. I can't believe Coehlo wrote this. The opening of the story is wonderful. It fails when he errs from the bible's story. I think he had a super idea--to tell the missing story of what Elijah did in exile, but he doesn't do it well.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Alchemist!
Review: I read "Fifth mountain" first and then "Alchemist". I would give "A" 2 stars and "F" 5 stars. In A, the boy's success is dependent on a lot of miracles, and I feel that the boy is chosen and I'm not. In F, Elijah's success in life is less dependent on miracle (although there's still some miracles around to help him out). So I feel more motivated cos Paulo makes it a stronger case that everyone is chosen in their own way. In my 31 years I had about 3 miracles to help me out, so the frequency of occurence is similar to Elijah's life. I think everyone has the same share of miracle i.e. 0.1 per year.:-) After reading F, I feel chosen too and thus stronger at difficult moments. I look forward to Paulo's writing a book about someone's life which has miracles yet none of those miracles is beyond common people's understanding of physics.
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