What do You think about Brida (2015)?
Blank toilet paper is more gripping to read, with a better plot.Wow. This "book" was so bad that I joined Goodreads just to get it out of my system. I had a pretty good idea that this was bilge from the cover, but I picked it up and skimmed thru it anyway. It exceeded my worst expectations, and mine were pretty low to begin with. Forgive the swear words, but really.The whole thing is some random shit about love and soulmates... err, sorry, make that Love and Soul Mates, because Coelho wants Every Damn Thing in caps, to make it sound all Significant and Important and Mysterious and bull. Gah. *rinses mouth* Its a huge bad-book-LOL-read, because I read it in the bookstore and everyone was wondering if I was reading a joke book. I mean, in the first sentence (or para), it is explained that some old dude named Magnus laid eyes on this Brida chick and Found That She Was His Soul Mate. Wow. (How Very Significant and Ho Ho Ho, The Reader Will Be Gripped To Death And Will Totally Want To Read On. Kaboom.) And this Brida woman is supposed to be Irish, but I can't see anything very Irish (or human, or realistic, or remotely interesting) about her. Huh.This "book" is full of some incredibly dull crap about Love and Magic (involving no magic, but some dumb-as-shit and boring-as-hell rituals) and Souls and Mates... on and on. Trees are crying cause of this pointless waste of paper. And guess what the Big Baddd Climax of the story is? (I'm NOT spoiler tagging this, because it doesn't begin to start to deserve it.) Was it a) a murderer unmasked? b) some philosophical truth, some insight?c) even two people kissing? even that?Not even close. It was some shit about Brida trying to clear her wardrobe (cause of some vibration bullshit)... and then saying "never mind". And for those who read books solely to enjoy "sex scenes", don't bother. There's some vague and meandering mention of someone sleeping with someone in the middle of a rainbow in a forest filled with unicorns and bubbles... nobody knows why. Even the characters don't - they freely admit it. Also, Brida finds some Wicca woman sexy... in a vague, meandering way, of course. Ooooh. Scandalous. Guaranteed to make soccer moms squeal. (Take that, Fifty Shades!)I've seen comic book characters (who are by definition two-dimensional) with far, far better personalities than these unfathomably dull bores. In so many books, I've met characters I've loved, characters I've rooted for, even characters I've hated and wanted to destroy (like any good villain). But these guys? They bring out all the apathy I never knew I had. I can't even begin to care enough to hate them, or even dislike them. They are so vague and dreamy... even dream people have more personality than these.Bottom line - read it only to laugh at its absurdity. For those misguided critters who claim that this is "Philosophy" or "Romance"... *shakes head out of pity*... it is NOT. Sorry, buddy. You ought to be embarrassed to like such things, let alone consider them profound or meaningful. This is vague, meandering, meaningless claptrap, not an insightful, intentionally slow paced, thought-provoking story.Borrrow it if you really do need something to beat your insomnia, but don't pay for it.
—Nom Deplume
.ربي ساعدني كي افهم ان كل الأشياء الرائعة التي تصادفني في الحياة ،تجئ لأني استحقها فعلاً"ساعدني كي افهم ان ما يدفعني للبحث عن حقيقتك إنما هو القوم نفسها التي دفعت القديسين،وان الشكوك التي تراودني هي نفسها الشكوك التي راودت القديسين، والعنف الذي ينتابني هو عنف القديسين نفسه.ساعدني كي اتحلي بالتواضع المطلوب، وكي اتقبل اني لست مختلفة عن سائر البشر"ولكن ماذا لو التقينا اكثر من شق روح واحد في الحياة الواحدة؟!باولو كويلو من اقرب الناس لقلبي ،دايما قادر انه يفاجئني في كل كتاب ،باحس انه قادر يتلون ويبقي كاتب تاني في كل كتاب بقراه ليه.بريدا خدت حتة من قلبي ،بالسؤال الابدي "من انا؟"الكتاب ممتع وجميل بوابة لعالم تاني من السحر والخيال وتلاقي الارواح "كم اني افتقدت لمجرد اني خفت ان افقد"
—Mariam
My first Paulo - "The Alchemist" was very inspiring and motivating, but this book is very different.First off, the story-line is brilliant - searching for a Soul-mate.But, as the books progresses, it tends to go off track in certain places. When Brida falls into her first trance, somehow she stops caring about finding her soulmate and for a time, The Magus is forgotten and then again the story goes back to him. It all seems very vaguely connected.As a reader, you don't really experience the emotions of the character,something which was very different when compared to "The Alchemist". It takes quite some time, to absorb all the various lessons and thoughts which went into each sentence, and then more time to knit them all together. There are some places, where I found I could relate to Brida, but not many.On the other hand, it was enlightening to learn something different. Witches, rituals, traditions and then the concept of love is very clearly explained. Each character in the story is very interesting, with their own personal pasts and different beliefs and although, it is cumbersome to read, it makes you gently understand each level and actually live through each page of the book.On the whole, reading the book....was a very different experience.A book, that needs to be read more than once, to actually grasp its true meaning.
—Angelica Watson (psst! amrutha)
