Review:The Monk who sold his Ferrari

“Enjoy the beauty and sacredness of all that is around you. You owe this to yourself.”

Julian, The Monk who sold his Ferrari

Hello everyone!

I have something exciting to share with you, before I start with my review! Yesterday night, I had posted about this book on my Bookstagram and guess what? Mr. Robin Sharma actually LIKED MY POST! How great is that?I still can’t believe it’s true!

So let’s begin with the review!

Tour d’ Horizon

The Monk who sold his Ferrari is a fictional fable revolving around attaining inner peace and happines in life. It begins with a realistic depiction of today’s man, running blindly behind money and fame, without pausing to enjo life and create memories. This cycle doesn’t stop until he realizes he has reached the brink of death and had completely forgotten how to live. The novel then follows the salvation journey of attaining peace and being happy mainly through changing our pattern of thoughts and life style; focussing more on gratitude and acceptance rather than trivial fights and animosity.

Characters

The book is narrated primarily through a confab between the two protagonists Julian (the lawyer turned monk) and John (his best friend). Julian narrates the tale of a spiritual journey he had undertaken after his near death encounter to attain inner peace to John, who he fears is making the same mistakes he commited by walking on the same cruel, dark path and is determined to help him revamp his life.

Narrative and Writing Style

The plot is very streamlined and the narrative can’t be any clearer. No parallel stories, no multiple character perspectives, just a normal conversation between two friends, which might change their life for better.

The writing style foccuses on the first person perspective. I think this might be a result of the story being inspired by the author’s real life. Man, a litigation lawyer, aged twenty five, decided to quit his job and help people find the meaning of their lives through his writing. How courageous he might have been! I get shivers even while thinking about it.

Review

I had heard so many people talk great about this book, so I just had to read it. I had huge expectations expectations from the book regarding how it will become a life affirming expierence for me, but alas it did not happen. I could easily relate to the events that happened in the beginning and end, but I was too tempted to DNF, halfway through the book, owing to some advanced philosophical ideas, which I was not ready for, apparently.

Although I wasn’t completely disaapointed either. Some of the lines and ideas resonated with me deeply and I can’t seem to stop thinking about them, even now. The ideas of the power of our negative thoughts, showing gratitude daily to have inner peace and so on and so forth. I think I now have an addition in my favorite quotes list.

One thing I am sure about is, I am going to ponder and act upon ‘the Heart of Rose’ practise. I guess, I desperately need it. It is a meditation technique to help solve problems of lack of focus and concentration. I think everbody needs to give this a try, once.

Maybe this book is like fine wine, as it ages, it becomes better. Probably as I grow older, I’ll relate to it more and start liking it better. I am not saying, I did not like it now, it’s just it did not have the desired impact on me. Or is it too muvh pressure on a single book. Poor book!

So I would say, this book should be read atleast once. Not to succumb to readers’ pressure but to liberate ourselves from the entrenched walls of stress and sorrow we are closing ourselves in.

This book stands at a 3.5/5 for me. Tell me in the comments section what were your expierences while reading this book! Do you think after reading my review, would you read the book?

Until the next time,

Cheers!

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