I found Paulo Coehlo’s Brida from the Instagram story of a yogi I look up to. She gave it a raving review filled with spiritual healing and high running emotions. The expectations were set high, but Coehlo did not disappoint. I believe that Brida came to me for a purpose.
At the time, I felt lost in life (more than usual at least). My spiritual journey was desperately trying to leap out of my fantasy and into the real world. I was petrified of the unknown that laid ahead of me and felt it easier to play it safe in the seen world. Brida lifted me above the delusional fog I had manifested. There is so much in life that we build up to be, well, “bad” for lack of a better term. Fear is born and lives in the mind. Very early on in the book, so this is not a spoiler, the idea of the, “dark night,” comes into play.
Within the first twenty minutes of reading this book, I realized I was living in the dark night. I was covering my eyes to keep myself locked away in a pitch-black bubble, unable to see the sunrise. Brida is the inspiring story of a girl, Brida, who follows what I like to call the twilight path. Although she has her moments of questioning, she for the most part dives head into the world of the unseen. Brida is raw in her emotion. She is messy in what she does because she follows her heart. Maybe because spiritually I have so much in common with her, but throughout the book I would go into a trance-like state where I felt like I was Brida.
I rarely cry due to books or movies, but this book was an exception. Not because of the story per say, but because it forced me to realize things about myself that had been staring me in the face for so long. Coehlo is a powerful writer, and if you have only read The Alchemist by him, buckle up because Brida is in my opinion even better.
Overall Rating: 9.99/10 (I’m holding onto that perfect score still)
