'Brida' by Paulo Coelho

So I have just finished reading my first novel by Paulo Coelho. I guess for an avid reader I should probably have read Coelho before and am unsure why I have never been attracted to his books. I guess one of the best things of being part of a local library is introducing yourself to books of 'old' i.e not the recent international best sellers put on show in your average bookshop. Yes these are available in your local library by the way but there is usually a long line of people that you have to work through before you can access them! Also being in New Zealand this past year I have found lots more time to read and enjoy books than I have had in the past.

I have mixed feelings about Coelho's book and yet I am intrigued to read more works by the author and boy there sure are many. I always am intrigued by best-sellers and books which win awards...I guess I want to know what the hype is about and why the review experts like it so much.  It was not until I had reached the end of the book that I managed to read a small autobiography of Coelho that maybe explained a bit about the book itself, that is it appears as a reflection on his own life and experiences of things literary and spiritual.

'Brida' kind of left me hanging though and wanting a lot more from the story line. Yet I guess 'Brida' is a book not about the story, which is about a young girl in Ireland who goes on a search of herself, but I think about the meaning of things as it really could be a story set anywhere in any time. Sometimes I felt like maybe I should be taking notes. It is also the story of witchcraft so if that bothers you I would suggest you might want to stay away, though it is maybe more spiritual than scary, a kind of coming of age I guess.



I leave and now head into 'By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept'