Four stars only because his writing is on the simplistic side of the spectrum, and I personally do prefer some more depth, contextualization, exploration of nuance and details, writings with atmospheres so well fleshed out that you can smell it in your head. But I figure that Paulo Coelho has been able to become such a worldwide bestselling beloved author because his books are highly accessible. And that's a good thing. If all good books had to exclusively be à la Tolstoy then we probably wouldn't have as many readers walking around.

It's just that once I read war and peace and every single other book that I considered giving five stars just unavoidably makes me go "...but it's not war and peace". And then they end up in the four, four and a half star shelf.

This isn't even a critique to Paulo Coelho's writing, this is just his style and it serves its purpose and it does what it needs to do, and I thoroughly appreciate and value it for what it is. I do want to read many more of his books and I certainly will do so throughout the course of my life.

Anyways, if I ever were to meet him on the street, my first impulse would probably just be to give him a big fat hug. Consensually.