The Fifth Mountain
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

The popular Brazilian New Age novelist offers his take on the prophet Elijah's time of exile with a widow in the Phoenician city of Zarephath. He greatly expands upon the biblical account, which says no more of the episode after Elijah resurrects the widow's son. Convincingly reimagining that miracle, Coelho then portrays Elijah becoming a respected citizen, partly because he can be held as an ace in the hole for anticipated dealings with Israel, whose Phoenician queen, Jezebel, wants him dead. Love blooms between Elijah and the widow, although both resist it, knowing that Elijah is destined to return to Israel and expel Jezebel. When the Assyrians besiege, attack, and burn the town, Elijah leads its rebuilding and becomes the new governor. Finally, he departs for Israel when the angel of the Lord tells him he must. Half of Coelho's effort is good enough, but then New Age mannerisms overwhelm it. Elijah's tendency to make banal pronouncements increases, the angels who speak to him step up their (inconsistent) faux^-King James patois, and during a ritual of renaming that Elijah conducts for the rebuilt town, with townspeople adopting the likes of Wisdom and Reencounter as new personal names, an Enja soundtrack swells in the mind's ear. Fans of Coelho's best-selling Alchemist (1993) will want to partake of this offering, but for better biblical fiction, try Shulamith Hareven's development of Exodus, Thirst (1996). --Ray Olson

Following up The Alchemist, an international best seller, Brazilian author Coelho retells the story of Elijah. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A huge improvement over Brazilian author Coelho's last, the gucky religious romance By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1996). The carpenter Elijah, at age 23, knows he's a prophet because an angel keeps visiting him and giving him orders on what to do with his life. The Israelites and their One God live under the heels of the Phoenicians and of the slinky Jezebel of Samaria, worshipper of Baal. Jezebel sends her troops and priests out to slay all Israelite prophets, of whom there are many, and so Elijah's angel tells him to flee to the desert, where a crow will feed him daily. Indeed, the crow not only feeds him but talks to him as well, although Elijah insists that he's really talking only with himself. Then the angel appears again, this time telling Elijah that he must avenge the Lord--a plan that includes his going to Akbar and living with a widow. The widow at first resists taking him in. And when her boy dies, the townsfolk take the Israelite's presence as a curse and the cause of the child's death. The priests send Elijah up on Baal's Fifth Mountain, where they assume he'll be consumed by fire. Instead, of course, his angel appears and tells him to return to the widow and raise her boy from the dead. This he does, though the priests don't accept the miracle. In a later test of faith, Elijah, triumphing over these same priests, sets in motion a series of events leading both to Jezebel's death and Baal's humbling. Eventually, Elijah--still alive--is carried off to heaven in a chariot of fire. Compellingly, everyone keeps keen score on the gods as if they are strangely real rival sports teams. Coelho meanwhile handles religion, politics, battles, plagues, the earthshaking arrival of the alphabet, and the destruction and rebuilding of Akbar with realism, suspense, and down-to-earth dialogue. Surprisingly persuasive storytelling. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The popular Brazilian New Age novelist offers his take on the prophet Elijah's time of exile with a widow in the Phoenician city of Zarephath. He greatly expands upon the biblical account, which says no more of the episode after Elijah resurrects the widow's son. Convincingly reimagining that miracle, Coelho then portrays Elijah becoming a respected citizen, partly because he can be held as an ace in the hole for anticipated dealings with Israel, whose Phoenician queen, Jezebel, wants him dead. Love blooms between Elijah and the widow, although both resist it, knowing that Elijah is destined to return to Israel and expel Jezebel. When the Assyrians besiege, attack, and burn the town, Elijah leads its rebuilding and becomes the new governor. Finally, he departs for Israel when the angel of the Lord tells him he must. Half of Coelho's effort is good enough, but then New Age mannerisms overwhelm it. Elijah's tendency to make banal pronouncements increases, the angels who speak to him step up their (inconsistent) faux^-King James patois, and during a ritual of renaming that Elijah conducts for the rebuilt town, with townspeople adopting the likes of Wisdom and Reencounter as new personal names, an Enja soundtrack swells in the mind's ear. Fans of Coelho's best-selling Alchemist (1993) will want to partake of this offering, but for better biblical fiction, try Shulamith Hareven's development of Exodus, Thirst (1996). ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1998)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews

Following up The Alchemist, an international best seller, Brazilian author Coelho retells the story of Elijah. Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information.

This fascinating retelling of the biblical story of the prophet Elijah by Brazilian novelist Coelho is smoothly translated to read like a modern novel. The fleshed-out tale follows Elijah as he flees his homeland of Israel, where Jezebel, Phoenician wife of the king, had ordered the murder of all who reject the pagan god Baal, to Zarephath (Akbar). Elijah's spiritual crises continue after he is taken in by a widow and her son, following his direction from an angel, and ultimately falls in love with the widow. The movement of the novel comes from Elijah's introspective struggle with faith as he confronts his troubles, but the result is neither dull nor preachy and should find a niche among readers of popular fiction. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/97.]?Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va. Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information.