Review: The Spy

Coelho's short account of the life of Mata Hari is both rewarding and frustrating.  It takes the form of a series of fictional letters exchanged between Hari and her lawyer around her trial and execution.

Rewarding because I was unfamiliar with the life of Hari beyond the basics of her being an exotic dancer who'd bedded a lot of powerful men and eventually been shot as a spy for reasons that weren't entirely clear.

Coelho does bring his trademark simple-truths-wrapped-up-in-beautiful-prose to the story, but thankfully it only surfaces sporadically.

For example, I loved the comparison of a life with tulip seeds. Seeds, like people, cannot change what they fundamentally are - and there is a sense of passing and continuity with the production of more seeds - and a few more:

"So you must learn to follow your destiny, whatever it may be, with joy." 

"When we don't know where life is taking us, we are never lost."

Frustrating because I felt like I could have done with more as the lack of depth of character exploration makes her seem vapid at times.

But the overall impression I was left of Hari is that of her as an early twentieth century equivalent of pop stars like Madonna, Rhianna,  Lady Gaga and even Miley Cyrus.  All creative powerful women which are regularly reinventing themselves and lauded, even a little fearfully, for their transgressive behaviour by the rest of society.