Brida

Another new book from the master story teller and my favorite author, Paulo Coelho. This is a story of Brida, a beautiful young Irish girl and her quest for knowledge. On her journey, she meets a wise man, Magus, who teaches her about overcoming her fears, and a woman, Wicca, who teaches her how to dance to the hidden music of the world. They see in her a gift, but must let her make her own voyage of discovery.

As usual Coelho's story always tells about somebody's journey related to his spiritual search. Just like Brida who seeks her destiny, she struggles to find a balance between her relationship and her desire to transform herself.

I love Wicca's answer (Brida's teacher) when Brida asked about her soulmate:
"But, how will I know who my soulmate is?"
"By taking risks. By risking failure, disappointment, disillusion, but never ceasing in your search for love. As long as you keep looking, you will triumph in the end."

Other touching statement comes from Brida's boy friend, Lorens, when he's confused to see Brida 's acting so weird the whole night.
"Tell me everything, I'll listen and respect whatever decision you make, even if you've met someone else, even if this is goodbye. We've been together for a while now. I may not know you that well, I mean I don't know exactly who you are, but I know who you're not. And you haven't been yourself all night."
Oh.......so sweet (I'm melting...*exaggerating*).

Compared with Coelho's latest book that I've read, "Eleven Minutes", I think Brida is a bit 'hard' to enjoy. The story tell a lot about the rituals as those have been practiced over the century, such as the Tradition of the Sun and the Tradition of the Moon. Sometimes I fell kind of bored to read them since I'm not familiar with those rituals. Still...I find many touching quotes in this book and they definitely inspiring.