I didn't really warm to this book although I do like Paulo Coelho. I wonder if it was because he was writing about a real woman (Mata Hari) but fictionalising it with his own views. The beginning with the execution was heartbreaking and did make me want to read on. Overall I found the story a bit disappointing and was glad the author recommends a few non fiction books and biographies to read to get the depth needed if required. There are parts of the story which are excellent and some fascinating facts (her head was kept at the Anatomy Museum in Paris until it went missing?!?) but I don't really feel this book does justice to a remarkable woman with a huge survival instinct despite her tragic end.

I was given copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Hubby loves Paulo Coelho and devours everything he writes, same goes for this...

This story is about the life and times of Mata Hari. Interesting but not very enlightening. Not the kind of book I normally read and I didn't manage to get involved in the story at all.

Interesting novelisation of the life of Mata Hairi.. .. good characterisation.. gets a bit lost in the middle, but picks up at the end..

The Spy by Paulo Coelho is a historical fiction read.
When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless.

Soon she was feted as the most elegant woman in the city.

A dancer who shocked and delighted audiences; a confidant and courtesan who 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. Until, in 1917 she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees and accused of espionage.

Told through Mata's final letter, THE SPY tells the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to break the conventions of her time, and paid the price.
This was a good read. I liked mata. 4*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

A Brilliant insight into the life of Mata Hari:
"The Spy" by Paulo Coelho is a fascinating, short read. The Portuguese author is well known for the brevity of some of his offerings. Quality transcends quantity. Narrated largely through the eyes of Mata Hari herself, this novel provides us with a fascinating glimpse of Europe and its Empire in the years leading up to and through the First World War. The brevity of the book makes that glimpse all the more vivid.
"The Spy" tells the story of the notorious Mata Hari (shot in 1917 as a German spy) through the final letter written for her daughter in the dark days she spent in a prison cell before her execution. Her lifestyle was outrageous even by today's standards and she perished without a shred of viable evidence linking her to the espionage charges for which she was found guilty and executed. Her execution seems almost one of convenience as she carried any damaging secrets she held on many men in power to the grave. Her final remains were placed in an unmarked grave and forgotten. A cruel end to a colourful life. However, she was never afraid to play her connections in life to her advantage and it seems likely from the contents of her letter that her death was a relief to many. Those that live by the sword often die by the sword and this no doubt explains the reluctance to grant her appeal for clemency as her end approached. It appears few tears were shed after her execution.
Her life reads in many ways like a fairy story. Her ascent to fame being rapid and sensational.
After a brief period in the far reaches of the Dutch empire, Mata Hari (which was her preferred and professional name sounding so much more glamorous than her actual name which, through marriage, was Margaretha McLeod) separated from her husband and daughter and arrived in Paris with hardly a penny to her name. She didn't waste much time in exploiting her extrovert social and dance talents to full advantage and was to eventually amass both money and fame ( and lose certainly the former as quickly as she had made it). Mata Hari seems to have possessed a unique talent to entrance those that witnessed her perform on stage and besot the men she was introduced to in high social circles.
Photographs included of her in the book record her beauty but she also possessed a magnetic personality. Courted by famous men of all nationalities and backgrounds, she seemed to be have an almost hypnotic effect on all who watched her perform on stage. In her heyday, Hari was the face of Parisian fashion, earning a proportion of her income from the stage and the rest from being a courtesan (what might be construed as upmarket prostitution). Men of high breeding and power were besotted by her beauty, personality and her eroticism when performing publicly on stage or in private for her numerous lovers. Her routine was innovative and fresh. At least for a time.
The author, Paulo Coelho, touches on so many themes in this short book which illustrate the brilliance of his writing capability. Mata Hari was not alone in failing to comprehend the dire consequences of the war (WW1). But for a Dutch national in time of war to suppose that she could have her cake and eat it, by playing spy and double agent at the same time, all for financial gain, seems if anything to highlight a streak of stupidity inherent in her character.
In her letter she comes across as incredibly naïve and self-centred. I suppose that should not be a surprise given her determination for fame at any cost to herself or others. At times it is difficult to sift through what she believes is fact when in reality it is fiction. In a sense that epitomises the very basis of her character, one which seems to have been largely based on fiction of her own making.
She lays the blame for her incarceration firmly at the feet of her "incompetent" lawyer who is also a former lover. A status it would appear he shared with a fairly large proportion of men who exercised political power and artistic influence in Paris at the time.
Coelho brilliantly balances the book by including in Part III a letter from her lawyer to Mata Hari. A letter she never had the opportunity to read. In it he provides a somewhat more objective truth as to the motivation behind her arrest and trial. She seemed to have no comprehension that in war ignorance or misguided opportunity can be construed in ways unthinkable in peacetime. The lesson of the book? War twists truth to suit its own sordid aims and is run by nameless men for their own ambition and goals. If you choose to flout the norms of society at any time, but especially during war, be prepared to reap the consequences.
Another brilliant and original novel penned by Paulo Coelho. And easily read in one session given its length. I learnt a lot from it of those early 20th Century years. An awakening occurred in art, music, the arts, sexual attitudes and engineering. This cultural awakening suffered a set back by the onset and duration of the Great War.
"The Spy" is another great novel, by an exceptionally talented author.
No excuses, this book goes on the "must" read pile.

Mata Hari arrived in Paris penniless and leaving behind a baby daughter. Before long she was famous for her shocking dance recitals, reputation as a courtesan and her fashions. But with the war came fear. Approached to become a spy she tries to use her position and fame to become a double agent. Then, in 1917 she is arrested.

From her cell she writes a letter to her daughter, telling her the true story of her life. A life lived as fully and sometimes as foolishly as possible.

Mata Hari has long been a person that others find deeply fascinating, who can resist the mix of sex and spying? Combine that with a well known author like Paulo Coelho and that’s best-seller material right there.

But is it worth the money?

Well, I found this a quick and fairly enjoyable read. Coelho has a knack of simplifying even the most complex topics so that this book could be read by someone who had never heard of Mata Hari and who knew nothing about World War One.

The book paints a vivid and colourful picture, it is full of warmth and all the flaws and follies of humanity.

However when I finished it I felt just a little dissatisfied. Maybe it was a little over simplified, maybe it was just the length, it just felt like a dimension was missing.

Worth it for paperback prices, but I couldn’t in all honesty suggest you pay hardback price for it.

3.5 Bites

NB I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review. The BookEaters always write honest reviews.

I enjoyed this so much. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this new book by Paulo Coelho. It differed from the others I had read by the author. The enjoyment was the same though.. Super thoughtful writer, thought provoking. The book stayed with me for days.

Do read it .

www.edithsbookpicks.blogspot.de

Most of Paulo Coelho’s work is usually too esoteric for my taste but I loved the book he became famous for, “The Alchemist”, and when I saw that he had written a novel about the legendary Mata Hari, I was intrigued and decided to give him another go. Mata Hari was a colorful personality in the early 20th century, dancer, It girl of her time, mistress to many man and supposed spy, so plenty of material to write a captivating book I figured. I could not have been more wrong.

Coelho decides to set the book by letting Mata Hari or Margaretha Zelle as was her original name, telling her own life story. As she is waiting for a pardon after being sentenced to death in France’s Saint Lazare prison, accused of spying, she writes a letter to her lawyer looking back on her life. What could have become an unputdownable, fascinating story of a self- determined modern woman, burbled along instead, going from one shallow life event to the next, from one empty love story to the another with very little meaningfulness, depth or insight into the real life or loves of Mata Hari , instead filling the chapters with platitude.

I took the novel on a holiday with me and was thoroughly bored. His attempt to put himself into Mata Hari’s shoes failed royally in my opinion. I do love the book cover !

Posted by edithlovesbooksandothermusings at 7:23 AM No com

She was the little Dutch girl who grew up to be the exotic dancer known to the world as Mata Hari. A contemporary of Isadora Duncan she was compared by many to Salome (the subject of an Oscar Wilde play at the time). The similarities in their dance styles could not be ignored with Mata Hari’s act being very similar to the dance of seven veils performed by Salmoe. Shocking as this dance was at the turn of the 1900s Mata Hari soon found fame in Paris and became accepted into high society. However her popularity and eagerness to find patron’s to finance her art soon got her into difficulty. The advent of the second world war saw both sides trying to recruit her services, hoping that she would use her seductive techniques and access to men in the know, to gain military secrets. Was she really a spy? Did she play both sides? It is likely we will never really know. There was little evidence to support the claims of her accusers and it was felt that she fell victim to the men she had courted as they denied her claims many times to protect their reputations. Guilty or not she was executed by a French firing squad on 15th October 1917 and that’s where Paulo Coelho’s story starts. This fascinating book takes real facts and fits them into a fictional account of how Mata Hari might have reflected on her life. Firstly told from her own perspective and then in part 3 from the perspective of her defence lawyer. Whatever the truth her life was not boring and this well written story does a great job of summarising it.

Mata Hari is a woman who has fascinated me for years. You should know by now that I'm all about women breaking gender norms. She was as enigmatic as they come and her end only aroused more questions than answers. Not only did she live during one of the most interesting times in European history, she played a very interesting role in that time. Combine my obsession with Mata Hari with my interest in Paulo Coelho, author of the cult classic The Alchemist, which I enjoyed, and you should have the perfect recipe. Unfortunately somewhere in the kitchen, however, something went wrong and I was left slightly unhappy with what was served. Thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mata Hari was born to Dutch parents as Margaretha Zelle in 1876 in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. At the age of 18 she answered a marriage ad in a newspaper and married Rudolf MacLeod a year later. He was a Army Captain in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and a ticket out of a life that was already becoming stifling. Unfortunately, he was also an alcoholic and abusive. The couple eventually returned to the Netherlands after the death of their youngest child and divorced. In 1903 Marghareta moved to Paris and in 1905 Mata Hari started making waves amongst the social and artistic elite. Mata Hari danced unlike any other, apparently exotic and other, yet incredibly sensual and physical at the same time. Over the years she became more known as a courtesan than a dancer, embodying the Bohemian spirit of freedom and beauty. But as WWI loomed on the horizon, her fame turned into infamy. Then in 1917 she was arrested in Paris for spying for the Germans and thereby causing the deaths of 50,000 men. She was executed by a firing squad the same year at the age of 41. Margaretha's life was a turbulent and almost permanently outrageous one. She broke a lot of the rules in places for women both then and now, and telling her story is one hell of a mission. Despite the title of his novel referring to a very specific part of her life, The Spy does cover her whole life, attempting to give the reader a real insight into her life.

As I said above, something about this novel left me unhappy and even perturbed. On the one hand Coelho's novel provides a fascinating insight into the life and mind of a fascinating woman. He takes his liberties with history, moving events around to fit his own ideas, but he is honest about it and it works for the novel. I also don't think that Margaretha wouldn't have minded, considering the frequent liberties she herself took when telling her own story. On the other hand, however, his version of Mata Hari was strangely disaffected by most things. The way I imagine Mata Hari is as someone who lived intensely, saw the world around her, both its freedoms and limitations, and wanted to make the most of it. Coelho's Mata Hari, however, is uncaring about the events leading up to World War I and the people in her life. This could be a consequence of the form of the novel, more on that later, but it still left me slightly disenchanted. Who knew the proverb to never meet your heroes also counted for literary rendezvous'?

Coelho's writing can be stunning. In The Alchemist it is at times beautifully descriptive and then obtusely convoluted. In The Spy there are also moments of beauty, stunning quotes that really give an insight into how someone like Mata Hari might have felt. At other times, however, the pace is too high to truly make the reader care. The novel has the perfect set up, starting at the very end. The reader first meets Mata Hari in French prison and witnesses her final moments. From there Coelho lets Mata Hari "take the word" through a letter to her lawyer, written in the days before her execution. It's a brilliant way to bring the reader closer to her, but much of Coelho's work is undone when the novel ends with the lawyer's "reply". It really was a shame because it almost overturns all the work he has done to make Mata Hari appear sympathetic and for me the magic ended very quickly towards the end. Although Coelho does say he has taken liberties, there is a lot he didn't touch upon that would have fit beautifully with the story he does tell. As historian Julie Wheelwright has said of Mata Hari, she was:
"...an independent woman, a divorcee, a citizen of a neutral country, a courtesan and a dancer, which made her a perfect scapegoat for the French, who were then losing the war. She was kind of held up as an example of what might happen if your morals were too loose."
Personally I would have loved to read more about how perception of her changed, how her life in Paris was. Some of the most beautiful quotes from the novel are when Mata Hari lingers on the opportunities she took, the boundaries she broke and the expectations she dashed. More of that would have been welcome, but then The Spy is only 208 pages and not a biography.

I enjoyed The Spy, it is a short and quick read, well-written and mostly engaging. With any other person at the centre, however, this novel would not have worked. Coelho doesn't do much to add to Mats Hari's mystery, but at least he also doesn't take away from it too much. I'd recommend this to people interested in finding out more about Mata Hari and fans of Coelho himself.

Great read and easy to follow story line. Look forward to reading more from this author.

I found this a very interesting re-telling of the Mata Hari story. I knew very little about her before I read the book, and it was a beautifully written book. It certainly is a tragic tale, and I shall be interested to find out more about her.