Brida is the story of a quest for learning by a seemingly naive young woman, but she is not naive or lacking in intellect, as 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 begins with Brida telling Magus that she wants to learn magic. What Brida doesn’t know at the time is that she is Magus’ soulmate. This you will discover towards the end of the book along with who she is and what is the deeper meaning of her life, being transported to a parallel universe and through other supernatural experiences.
Magus is the master of the sun lore. Brida’s other teacher is Wicca, who is a witch, and she teaches Brida the lore of the moon.
The construction of this story is not up to the quality of Coelho’s other work; however, it’s easy to find the characters real enough, and the book is interspersed with sayings and spiritual messages. Since the plot has no twists, the plot seems to drag on, possibly because the writer wants the reader to pay attention to the messages rather than the story.
Furthermore, the desire to learn to be a witch is combined with the desire to learn wisdom, and this reader wonders if the author considers wisdom in its entirety to be on the same level as becoming a witch. Still, the book has inspiring passages, though it disappoints when it comes to the fabric of the story. For example: “Life is about making mistakes,” said the Master. “Cells kept reproducing in exactly the same way for millions of years until one of them made a mistake and introduced a change in that endless cycle of repetition.”
Paolo Coelho then links the teachings of Christianity with the Tarot, witchcraft, mysticism, and other practices. Witch rituals are described in detail in various passages. This is not necessarily harmful, but those who might be put off by such practices should stay away from this book.
Brida is in hardcover, 224 pages with ISBN-10: 0061578932 and ISBN-13: 978-0061578939. The book begins with a quote from the Bible, Luke 15:8-9 as the first page. Then a warning page, a foreword by the author, and finally follows the story of Brida’s search.
The author, Paolo Coelho, was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947. He worked as a theater director, actor, lyricist and journalist. After traveling the world and learning about secret societies and other religions, Coelho turned to writing, publishing his first book in 1982. In 1987, The Alchemist was published, which became an eventual international bestseller. Coelho has received many awards, too numerous to list, including the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum and the “Knight of Arts and Letters of France.” His books are: Brida, The Valkyries, On the Banks of the Stone River I Sat Down and Wept, Maktub, The Fifth Mountain, A Warrior of Light’s Manual, Veronika Decides to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, The Zahir.
Brida is a readable book, if the reader does not expect the same heightened enjoyment of Coelho’s other works.