Resumo de Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder

Sophie's World is a delightful and fast-paced novel that combines the history of philosophy with a magical story about a fifteen-year-old girl's discovery of the truth about herself.

One day, Sophie Amundsen receives two little notes in her mailbox, each containing a question: Who am I? and Where did the world come from? Every day, she opens her mailbox to find an envelope addressed to her. Gradually, the envelopes thicken, transforming into lessons on life. Not just any lessons, though; this is hardly a self-help book, at least not the regular kind. The mysterious letter-writer, Alberto Knox, is determined to teach Sophie all there is to know about the history of ideas.

The letters transform into walks and meetings, and soon Sophie finds herself on a wild imaginative ride, learning about the Sophists, the Empiricists, the Romantics, the Existentialists, and everyone in between. Alberto uses simple, direct language and examples to enthrall Sophie into understanding. To illustrate Kant's idea of perception, he tells Sophie to drink, a la Alice in Alice in Wonderland, from a bottle that says 'Drink Me.' Instantly, Sophie finds things changing size, enlarging and wandering away from each other. A similar bottle makes the opposite happen. To illustrate Marxism, Alberto conjures up Ebenezer Scrooge and the Little Match Girl in the woods; the latter sets fire to the undergrowth to show how the proletariat triumphs over the money-hoarder.

But creeping in unnoticed are clues about what is really going on: why is Alberto so intent on teaching Sophie about the history of philosophy? Who is the fifteen-year-old Hilde, and what is her relationship with Sophie? Gradually, Sophie pieces together the stunning truth. She, Sophie, is the protagonist in a book being written by an Army Major for his daughter's fifteenth birthday. The narrative moves to the 'real' world, where Hilde, reading about Sophie and Albert, is fascinated by the characters' awakening into their fictional status.

The irrepressible Sophie, determined not to let her fictional status defeat her, escapes the Major's watchful eye and enters the real world. Glad she has escaped, Hilde sits by her father at the end of the novel, and thinks she has caught a glimpse of Sophie in the 'real' world... Moving seamlessly between philosophy text and magic realist metafiction, Sophie's World is a treat for readers of all ages. A must-read, if ever there was!

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