What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim: A Midlife Misadventure on Spain's Camino de Santiago

by Jane Christmas

To celebrate her 50th birthday and face the challenges of mid-life, Jane Christmas joins 14 women to hike the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Despite a psychic’s warning of catfights, death, and a sexy, fair-haired man, Christmas soldiers on. After a week of squabbles, the group splinters and the real adventure begins. In vivid, witty style, she recounts her battles with loneliness, hallucinations of being joined by Steve Martin, as well as picturesque villages and even the fair-haired man. What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim is one trip neither the author nor the reader will forget.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir, Book Club, Canada, Biography Memoir, Spain

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Virginia Pulver · Rating 1 out of 5]

I walked the Camino myself in Apr/May 2009. I've read widely about the Camino and I've read many books about it (both before my own pilgrimage and afterwards). I kept thinking this book would get better, but when I finished my read, I literally tossed the book across the room. I was disappointed. I would not recommend this Camino book to others. I enjoy humor, but it just did not come across in this book. Nor were there any redeeming factors...just a lot of superficial whining. There are some very good books (both humorous and informative) about the pilgrimage to Santiago; this is not one of them.

"Ginn"
In Sunny SC
Peregrina 2009

[Nikki Bouchier · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this book didn't already have me at it's title, then it certainly had me in the first paragraph: 

"Impulse is intuition on Crack. If Intuition is the prudent angel who carefully directs your spirit, then Impulse is its mischief-making twin. The "imp in impulse."

I want to start by saying that you shouldn't read this book as a travel guide. If you're thinking of going on the voyage then do it! Don't let this persons experience taint your reality. She didn't mean it as a travel guide, she meant it as a journal of her own sabbatical. And don't mistake her brutal honesty for whining when she describes the trials and tribulations of taking yourself out of your comfort zone and stepping into the unknown.



This is from the perspective of a woman turning 50 and having initially fallen into leading a group of middle-aged women along this pilgrimage. The woman telling her tale is a bit pessimistic and quite intolerant of stupidity and shallowness.

The beginning of her voyage includes the challenge of leading this pack of women she progressively disdains. 

Before she even leaves her home for the unknown she meets with a psychic and she tells her many things that unravel accordingly throughout the entire story. 

She continues to face challenges of rugged terrain, unpleasant weather, blistered feet and other misc. injuries. Loud and sleepless nights in tight sleeping quarters, creepy men and an unkempt, imageless way of life. 

These are supposedly the sole reasons why everyone embarks on this pilgrimage, for the spiritual journey one finds in self-recognized martyrdom.



She constantly struggles throughout the entire journey with the urge to give up and find logic and reason for the path she has chosen. 

Although I personally would not be interested in this particular path of self-discovery and soul-searching I found her way of writing extremely poetic and in that cynical manor in which I love to immerse myself.



I always love when a story can leave you with a feeling of completion, yet open to some interpretation. Full circle yet joined to other circles. A fine balance between pessimism and optimism. 

For me the closing sentence was just as capturing as the opening sentence, causing me to close the book with a snap, a smile and a satisfied sigh of content.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished walking from Burgos to Ponferrado with one taxi ride when my 17 year old daughter was too sick to walk. We were part of an Anglican church group of eight. I am also just a year shy of fifty and have three children 15, 17 and 21. My oldest daughter invited me to join the group with her when she had only one course left to finish high school and a very accommodating biology teacher. So we added mother/daughter dynamics to our walk. I found I empathized with the author in many ways: the desire, joy and loneliness of walking alone, the spiritual struggle within oneself, the working self and being true to values - having integrity when it is not valued, moving beyond a self identity as mother to ...something else I'm still figuring out. And for me it was also the wife thing -beyond parenting together and forward to a renewed partnership that allows for the individual to thrive after 25 years. I loved being all about me and the walking. Jane captures so much. The pain involved, for me it was blisters and shin splints. The naked bike riders - my daughter slept beside them on the dining room floor when the Auberge in Boadilla was filled to every available space - and it was a very hot night. There were a few differences, I found the people in Spain to be lovely, friendly and unfailingly helpful. The food was almost always delicious and the wine complimented every supper. I still indulge in cafe con leche and toast with peach jam for breakfast.
Thank you for your story Jane Christmas. I wish I had your ability to write so beautifully. I laughed and I cried and I remembered and this morning I went for a long walk - to pray and to think.
My daughter and I are planning our next Camino to complete another portion of the Way of St. James.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is promoted as a delightfully funny, whimsical memoir of the author and fourteen other women hiking the Camino, and it started out that way. I like the writing style and might have enjoyed the book but I put it down after chapter two because of some really upsetting passages.

Why on earth would someone who is writing a comedic memoir, decide to blast chapter two apart with an overly explicit dream sequence about an attack she experiences on the Camino? It was unnecessary and far too detailed, regardless of whether any of it came true. I suspect she told it because the handsome blonde rescuer in the dream is meant to show up later on in real life, but even that is triggering. A book about strong women on an adventure does not need a tease about a man coming to their rescue.

I'm guessing the editors and author had discussions about the appropriateness of her dream description. I am certain they all made the wrong call. This one is going in the giveaway box.

So disappointing. I have another book by this author which I've been told is very good. I'm hoping I'll have better luck with that one.

[Ali Boom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm planning on going on Camino this fall and read this book as a funny prep book for what is to come.
I couldn't get over all the complaining.
She also constantly contradicts herself.
Example: She's borderline volcanic when she's with the group she organized to walk with, but when she 'loses' them, aka ditches them, she whines about being alone.
She has this 'entitled to a miracle' attitude that I find revolting. 'Ooooh the cathedral wasn't what I imagined. St. James didn't speak to me...'
*barf*
And she writes as if she'll do anything to get to the end, even if she's crawling to Santiago to Compostela.
But she forgets to stop and smell the roses, and make real connections.
But when she means a man, suddenly she's seeing everything with whimsy.
*barf*

I will give props to Jane Christmas on her writing style. She made me laugh out loud through some of the stories.

[Tinika · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim is a bit of a mess. I see other reviewers have talked about the charm and humour of the writing but did they read the whole book? The reason that I am asking this is that the book did, indeed, start off charming and humorous. Jane Christmas relays her reasons for walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago, her preparations for this month long walk and her visit to the psychic which casts just the right amount of foreshadowing to create suspense. All in all, this first section is well done.

Once in Europe, the writing starts slipping, becoming more disorganized as the book progresses. Another personality emerges, that of the world’s most disagreeable group leader/pilgrim. Christmas is whiny and blames her emotional highs and lows on others, especially when they are not around. She does not like her travelling companions but does she feel this creates the tension needed for a good story? Even if so, it is handled as sporadically as everything else in this section. Woven in with her woes with her group are her woes with the terrain, woes with the refugios and woes with her life in general. I detected no personal growth. She occasionally breaks her grievous litany to haphazardly throw in something about the Camino’s history or a legend associated with it but there is not enough information for a good travel read. All in all, I found a lack of focus.

The final few chapters are the worst; here she does not seem to remember what she writes from one page to the next. She felt nothing from the Camino; she felt so much it would take years to process. Finisterre lacked the hospitality of the Camino; then what was all that belly-aching about sullen and disinterested refugio attendants? On seeing Santiago for the first time, she mentions “A pilgrim’s newly acquired traits of humility and tolerance.” This takes the prize as any flashes of humility were fleeting and tolerance failed to make an appearance at all. What was she referring to?

A book like this, a pilgrimage, should be a work of love, thoughtful and crafted. To be fair, it did send out that vibe in the beginning but by the end it felt like a bunch of pages hurriedly slapped together to meet a publisher’s deadline.

[Rochelle Magri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing itself hooks you as it is smart, funny and gripping, however, the camino experience as told by the author was highly off-putting to me, in view of the pessimistic approach conveyed. Being a resident of Spain, I was somewhat disappointed at how little the author seemed to appreciate the Spanish culture and temperament and the idyllic beauty of the typical ancient villages, or at least her appreciation thereof did not come across vividly in the book. Suffice it to say, I count it as a demotivator to embark on the camino.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me say up front that I am not new to Jane's writing. I've read several of her books and have always appreciated her down-right honest approach and often cranky attitude. I have also read many Camino memoirs and went into this knowing that it would not be a sugar coated account. And I was right! Jane is brutally honest about her experience and though it may not live up to the hopes that others might have about walking the Camino, I appreciated that it felt completely real. And if I am honest with myself, her feelings would probably be close to what I would be feeling if I chose to take on the challenge of this walk. Days of rain and mud, snoring pilgrims and bickering trail partners would have broken me long before it did her.

Jane clearly got herself into trouble from the beginning by allowing so many other women to join her. She mentions this in the book, but she really let it get out of control and should have just said a firm NO from the start. I really don't think she realized how much they would have seen her as their "leader" because she is just not wired that way. But this unwise decision definitely leads to a large portion of her struggles during her journey.

With all that being said, if you are looking for an uplifting account of a Camino journey, I might say "pass on this one". But if you are open to hearing one woman's difficult and honest experience, I'd say "read it". And its important to note that the author does a great job including a lot of interesting back history on the Camino which I loved. I found this missing in a lot of the other memoirs I've read.

[Suetheartist · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A pilgrim life is largely an artificial one; you exist in a bubble of camaraderie, pain, & poverty of shared purpose. " Jane sums up her experience in that statement very nicely. Her dismay of the church celebration in Santiago reminded me of a procession in Italy; the adornment of money and garish parading is quite the contrast to the individual whom the celebration is dedicated to; here it is St. James. St James was a humble servant of God. The walk could be anywhere but unfortunately the popularity of this walk has taken on quite the consumerism in the local communities and the Catholic church. I am glad I read this book because my curiosity to participate in such a venture has been satisfied.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Balanced writing - informal without being obnoxious.

[Jacquie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seldom have I disliked a narrator as much as I disliked Jane Christmas. Suffice it to say she deserved all the misery she encountered on the Camino!

[Jaimie · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is NO reason this book should have been written. This is a long, boring, irritating, entitled and often excruciatingly negative account of the Camino.

[Doreen Richards · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked the book up 10 months ago and as it did not “grab” me put it aside thinking it was probably my mood at the time. Picked it up again two days ago and decided no, just not worth my time.

[Jakky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I backpacked through Europe in my 20s and, since then, have thought fleetingly of doing the Camino trail... so, when I saw this book, I was intrigued. I enjoyed the author’s voice - she strikes me as honest, self-aware and delightfully flawed. There were a few brief moments of humour, but I would not characterize the book as “wickedly funny.” Christmas peppers her travel memoir with just enough historical background to be interesting although, I admit, I sometimes skipped over a few paragraphs when I didn’t care about a particular back story. I could relate to the rush of arriving in a town and searching out hostels, finding a shower, sharing accommodations and meals and drinks and becoming friends with smelly, funny, strange, kind, peculiar, inspiring, noisy fellow travellers from around the world. There is a camaraderie and shared experience in backpacking which I can only compare to summer sleep-away camp. After a while, dirty laundry, funny nicknames, pesky irritants, found friends and secret stashes of snack foods take on an importance that is unparalleled anywhere... and which one misses when the experience is over. I enjoyed this read and found myself dreaming of one day setting off again on my own adventure.

[Laina Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is not my custom to critique memoirs, so I’ll just say some of the things I appreciated and some things I didn’t find so satisfying:
I liked how Jane stuck with her commitment to hike the entire Camino and didn’t give up despite some very difficult circumstances.
I liked how transparent she was about what the journey meant to her in a spiritual sense.
And I liked the very last part of the conclusion of her adventure as I had not predicted that outcome.
I didn’t find this to be wickedly funny as advertised. And some of the imaginative sequences left me wondering how much of this memoir is based in fact or daydreams.
Overall I think this is a good book to read if you’re interested in hiking Spain’s famous Camino.

[Jacquelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim was exactly what I needed! At the end of the school year (I'm a teacher) I get the travel bug, and this book has helped me scratch that itchy (slightly!). The story holds the same tone as Christmas's other books. If you've read any of her other novels and enjoyed it then this book is for you! If you haven't read one of her novels and you love a good travel story then I'd highly recommend this book. Christmas goes to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago. The story is full of spiritual musings, hilarious moments, and good detail of what it would be like to venture out on your own. It's the perfect balance of thoughtful without being daunting to read. I can't recommend her books enough. Happy reading!

[Kristine Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to be moving toward a decision to walk the Camino Santiago, and this author’s account is no breathless account of a spiritual conversion. Although she is a woman of faith, she struggles along the path and at times is just plain unlikeable. I think she is trying for a humorous account of her walk, but it often comes off as snarky, sarcastic, and petty. Still, it’s honest, and I now have no illusions about the difficulty of such an undertaking.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Pilgrims don't always know why they feel compelled to make a pilgrimage. Loss, trauma, a personal milestone, the desire to escape the world for a while – these were reasons that drew most people to the Camino, but it often took days if not weeks to work out precisely why you were there." (Page 257)

[Ml Lalonde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where do I even start? The author is one of the most unsympathetic memoirists I’ve read in awhile - so much so that I couldn’t put the book down in my eagerness to see what she would do or say next. I hate-read it a mile a minute. Why? Well for starters, the author announces she is going to walk the Camino, organizes a group of 14 women to walk with her, and then resents each of them from Day 1 for some small infraction or other. She makes zero effort to build connection with any of the women, then complains that she’s always been an outsider. Only a few days into a nearly month long trek, she abandons her group. It’s mostly women who earn her wrath on the Camino, because she manages to walk for days with an emotionally repressed (but nice looking) British man with a secret. The epilogue produces some surprises, which I won’t spoil here, in case you want to spend some time walking the Camino with mean girl Jane. I’ll be walking my own Camino this summer, hopefully with a lot less resentment and considerably less whining.

[Ruthann Haider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with the conflict among the book’s characters and how the group splintered. I appreciated the honesty.

[Cindi Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for some insight into what it would take to walk the Camino, this memoir offers lots of stories woven with some history of the pilgrimage. Enjoyable.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

She is an excellent writer, which is unfortunate, as she complains so much and it's like you're there. In addition to the constant issues with literally everything and being rude to workers, she is fat phobic and homophobic (includes a homophobic slur). Not recommended.

[Bakestar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well-written. There were no grammatical errors or awkward sentences (what a relief!) and pace was good. In it, Jane Christmas tells the story of her journey at age 50, walking the Camino de Santiago. The Camino is an 800km walk to a sacred site dedicated to St James the apostle of Jesus.

I rated this book at 3 stars because I was satisfied with the read but simultaneously slightly annoyed or disconnected from the story due to the author's seeming lack of awareness. Mostly, I was amazed that this woman decided to bring along up to 45 other women she barely knew with her on a pilgrimage, and didn't clue in to the fact that they would expect some kind of leadership or communication from her. She ended up only taking 10-15 women, which is still a lot. It was painful to watch the group disintegrate and struggle for cohesion while she mostly avoided them and never gave them a straight answer about what she really wanted, even when they directly asked. Listen, I get it. I would not want to walk with them either. But why did she accept their requests to join along if she wasn't willing to give them some clear parameters?? It seemed like she more often buried her face in a glass of wine than gave a straight answer.

As I read her tales of aggravating group dynamics I had to wonder how she didn't think to sit everyone down at the beginning and talk about this stuff: Who would like to walk together? Who would like independence? Why are people taking this journey? If she didn't want to babysit them (which was clearly the case) she should have made that clear to them from the onset. She needed to set a tone for the pilgrimage: We all came here together at the same time but this is each person's independent journey and we need to respect that. People will walk at their own paces - let them go! Group clinginess drives me nuts and this was hard to watch. I understand that the author just didn't seem to have those skills or be comfortable with that role, but I would have liked a little more self-awareness about what could have been done better. Instead she seemed a bit like a victim running away from a situation she had a lot of agency to change. I wanted to just hand her and all those women on the trip a copy of Codependent No More - but there I am, solving other peoples' problems again.

The other issue I had with the narrative was the fact that her trip-mates pilgrimage-hopped by bus or taxi and stole spots at the hostels from actual pilgrims. She mentioned this, in almost these terms, but didn't seem to take any responsibility for setting this whole thing in motion. She's not the pilgrimage police, I get it. It just struck me that most of these women had no idea what they were getting into and should have been on a sight-seeing tour instead. It was annoying. Was there a lesson here to be had? I would have liked to have heard it.

That situation aside, it was a well written book with lovely descriptions and was an enjoyable read. I recommend it for armchair adventurers like me.

[Jo-anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading some of the comments on Goodreads I was prepared to give this book a pass but I am really pleased that I gave it my own read. I have been intrigued with Spain's Camino for several years now and have spoken with pilgrims, read and watched different works. Each provides it's own interesting perspective.
Jane is a voice that I connected with as the thought of having a group of women join me on such an undertaking has absolutely no interest to me. This was reinforced after attending a Camino talk at our local MEC store. When I mentioned that I had come to terms with the fact that my health would not support a total commitment to walking and that I was pleased that there are other creative options when if going gets too tough, the Purists in the group made me feel very inadequate. Woman Purists... I should note. The men did not feel the need to provide unasked for comments. I can say with some certainty I will not take on the Camino Frances but still hold onto a small ray of hope for the Portugal Camino. "Besides, we are pilgrims, not martyrs, right? A pilgrimage is not about punishment but about making an intentional decision to look at the world with fresh awareness and to consider your place in it. A pilgrim defines her own pilgrimage; maps are guidelines, not prison sentences. If I walked every single step of the Camino's route, it would not make me a better pilgrim or a better person. It could make me a superhero, but I had already traveled that road and found it to be highly overrated."
I found her honesty refreshing and her humour entertaining. I liked that finding love on the Camino, although what must be a huge story for her as she has moved to Britain with her "fair-haired man", did not become a central theme of the book. Some passages really resonated with me. "It made me pine for the comfort and the familiarity of my ordinary but happy life. I always seemed to be looking toward greener pastures for answers to questions I couldn't even articulate, when in fact, my own pasture was perfectly fine, perfectly beautiful." Ultreya....Onward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-bhx...

[Deborah Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't actually have any plans to walk the Camino, so I came to this book with no preconceived notions. I didn't expect a travel guide; I expected a memoir. It didn't disappoint. Jane's 500 mile midlife walk of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) included hiking up the Pyrenees and a personal and seemingly unvarnished account of a range of encounters, beautiful and mundane scenery, difficult personalities, sweet strangers, deprivation and physical challenges. Interspersed with cafe con leche and wine, both of which appear to be a Camino staple.

It wasn't a walk in the park and it wasn't at all a gloomy whine either, which some reviewers felt to be the case. It felt truthful and accurate, and just as Shirley MacLaine told a unique story of her journey, this was Jane Christmas's own and very personal experience.

The memoir was written with deft skill and wry humour in a forthright style. At times it was laugh-out-loud funny and at other moments I cringed for her. She wasn't all that happy on much of the journey, but as far as I'm concerned she showed remarkable restraint in not running screaming from her female companions the first opportunity she got!

[Sarah Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written with pace and honesty, and dotted with snippets of history, lore and commentary, this is a book which keeps you reading. Despite it being pretty uplifting, Christmas doesn't beat about the bush on the subject of the emotional anti-climaxes, nor on the drawbacks of attempting the Camino with a group, the scramble for beds, the lack of proper sleep, and the nastier sides of some of the paths and refugios. What she is utterly silent on is how Women Who Get Taken Short When Walking Between Cafés deal with the situation. This, and the fact that she doesn't seem (despite continuing to sleep on pillows) to have made any attempt to get rid of the head-lice she acquired en route, are going to occupy my mind for quite some time.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am walking on the Camino in two months (only part of it!), so I was interested in what this Canadian author had to say. It's a humorous account and quite honest. I see there are a number of criticisms of the author by other Goodreads readers, but I think it takes courage to say frankly (knowing it may not be politically correct)how you react to situations and people. It's true she whined sometimes and was not always tolerant of others, but I appreciated her honesty. It gave me an enjoyable reading experience and a background for what's to come.

[Jane]

Angie because she actually walked the Camino.

Leigh, because many years ago, before kids, we promised that we'd do this pilgrimage.

Naomi, because of all my friends, she's the most likely to take a psychic's words seriously.

I liked this book more as I went along. At first, I was just irritated by the author's tone that 50 is so old - since I'm 45 and don't feel at all old, I was peeved, but she quit that after a while and just went on with her story.

[Normaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was walking the Camino myself so was keenly interested in this book. In her quest to make this book interesting enough to read she seemed to come up with some issues to write about. I found it fairly negative - honestly, describing the Camino as "hell on earth" seemed a bit much, even though it was hard hiking. She also seemed pretty bitchy to the other women she was with - making them out to be vapid and irritating. Wasn't a big fan of Jane.

[H · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you, like me, are interested in walking the Camino, do NOT read this book. This book is a largely negative retelling of the author's tribulations throughout her journey. She experiences bad service, horrible accommodations, many many moments of emotional upheaval and a lot of nasty drama along the way. I came away from this book grateful I had not been on the trail when she was, and more than a little relieved to be finished with her book- long complaints.