Book Review: “Brida”

by Paulo Coelho
“Whenever you have to find about something, Plunge right
in!”
The above line, borrowed from the latest offering of
Paulo Coelho named ’Brida’ sums up all about what this book
is all about.
Search for one’s destiny, true love and a soul mate,
finding a path to a higher and more joyous self, making
choices that lead to these desirables are the usual Paulo
Coelho staples themes that one finds in Brida, the author’s
latest offering. This is both the strength and weakness of the
new novel. While these themes have been responsible for his
best-sellers like the Alchemist and Eleven Minutes selling
over 100 million books in 66 languages, with Brida they seem
not shine with the usual Coelho brilliance. However, the novel
does retain some elements of his usual eloquence and
wisdom and can be read for the same.
The book is a tad repetitive though and falters in
weaving the Coelho brand of magic and philosophy that
usually finds a resonance with most of his readers.
The novel follows the journey of 21-year old girl, Brida
who was a ”witch” or an enlightened woman in her past
reincarnations and had forgotten the same through various
births. However, the attraction to occult and magic lingered
in her memory and made her seek teachers and knowledge
that would guide her on this path. As she embarks on her
journey, she rediscovers her gift through the teachings of a
wise man and a tarot card reader who is herself a witch. This
woman teaches her to dance to the hidden music of the world
and connect with her soul through her own voyage of
discovery.
Coelho’s books allow the reader to slow down, introspect
and find answers to questions like who we are and what our
place in the world is. With Brida, the author seems to have hit
a rough patch. The storyline is a bit sketchy. However, Coelho
fans would recognize that Brida takes forward the “witch” or
free, joyful and intuitive woman” theme that he had
introduced with his earlier novel “The Witch of Portobello”.
In all, it’s a hit or miss book -- a hit with regular Coelho
readers and perhaps a miss with first time Coelho readers.
Brida is the story of a search of learning by a young girl
who is seemingly naïve, but she is neither naïve nor lacking
in intellect, since she has had a few incarnations, in which
she knew a lot about being a witch. Brida is a beautiful,
ambitious, and successful person, and she has a very
supportive boyfriend, Lorenz. The story takes place in Ireland
during 1983 and 1984.
The story opens with Brida telling Magus that she wants
to learn magic. What Brida doesn't know at that moment is
that she is Magus's soul mate. This she will find out toward
the end of the book together with who she is and what the
deeper meaning in her life is, by getting transported to a
parallel universe and through other supernatural experiences.
 Magus is the teacher of the tradition of the sun. Brida's
other teacher is Wicca, who is a witch, and she teaches Brida
the tradition of the moon.
This story's construction does not live up to the quality
of Coelho's other work; however, it is easy to find the
characters real enough, and the book is interspersed with
spiritual sayings and messages. Since the plot has no twists,
the storyline seems to be prolonged, possibly because the
writer wants the reader to pay attention to the messages
rather than the story.
In addition, wanting to learn to be a witch is melded with
wanting to learn wisdom, and this reader wonders if the
author views wisdom in its totality as being on the same level
of becoming a witch. Still, the book has inspirational
passages, even if it disappoints where the story weaving is
concerned. For example: "Life is about making mistakes,"
said the Teacher. "Cells went on reproducing themselves in
exactly the same way for millions of years until one of them
made a mistake, and introduced change into that endless
cycle of repetition."
Then, Paolo Coelho bonds the teachings of Christianity
with the Tarot, witchcraft, mysticism, and other practices. The
rituals of the witches are described in detail in several
passages. This is not necessarily harmful, but those who may
be put off by such practices should stay away from this book.