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Title: A sister book to Bridges of Madison County?
Review: If you loved The Bridges of Madison County, By the River Piedra is for you. It is a smarmy, self-congratulatory love story couched in new age mysticism meant to make the tale sound serious. By the River stupifies the reader with the same thoughts, the same phrases, slightly reworded and then repeated endlessly. The characters are stick figures. The "childhood friend" character, now a man belonging to a religious order, mouths the spiritual platitudes of the author. Pilar, the female protagonist, was surely written to draw in the romance novel crowd. If you want to read some excellent Central or South American writing, pick up Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende. Coelho is best left on the shelf
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