Brida

by Paulo Coelho

Una novela sobre la sorprendente historia de Brida O’Fern, una de las más jóvenes maestras en la Tradición de las Hechiceras, donde la magia habla todas las lenguas del corazón del hombre

"Un texto anónimo dice que cada persona, en su existencia, puede tener dos actitudes: construir o plantar.

Los constructores pueden demorar años en sus tareas, pero un día terminan y quedan limitados por sus propias paredes. La vida pierde sentido cuando la construcción acaba.

Los que plantan pueden sufrir tempestades y pocas veces descansan. Pero el jardín jamás cesa de crecer, y aunque exige la atención del jardinero, también permite que la vida sea una gran aventura. En la historia de cada planta está el crecimiento de toda la tierra."

Paulo Coelho

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Philosophy, Romance, Spirituality, Novels, Magical Realism

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 10, 1990

About the author

The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage. In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time. Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and Winner Stands Alone (to be released in 2009). During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions. Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in Wordpress, Myspace & Facebook. He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube and Flickr, offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers. From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution of his work.

Reviews

[Dusty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Coelho's Alchemist is one of my favorite books. I've read it twice, and both times its simple story and straightforward Universal Truths have stirred me. Brida tells a similar story about a youth who feels herself tugged onto a unique path toward greatness. But lightning has not struck twice.

This is a book of only 200 pages, yet it took me almost a month to read, and not only because I was grading hundreds of research papers at the same time. It discusses a 21-year-old Irish girl (Brida) who is strangely drawn to a local forest-living Magus who describes his profession as Teacher of the Tradition of the Sun, whatever that is. Brida goes to him for "lessons," and he leaves her alone on a rock in the middle of the forest. This annoys her, so she finds herself a different teacher, this one a middle-aged woman named Wicca, who is a Teacher of the Tradition of the Moon, whatever that is, and through a variety of mystic gizmos and hallucinations, she informs Brida that she is a witch. Brida has been a witch in all her previous lives, will be a witch again in future lives. Being a witch is her Gift.

Now, for some reason, I've read several books about witches this year, but Brida is certainly the first in which the witches are devout God-loving Christians. I mean, the witches do typical Pagan witch things -- they bemoan their ancestors who were burned at stakes, they dance naked around bonfires in the forest, etc. -- but they also talk incessantly about God and His plan for witches, who are His Gardeners of the Universe. This intrigued me for a while, but I decided I was ready to move onto another book about the time Wicca informs Brida that the only way to truly connect with God was to have an intense orgasm. This Brida accomplishes twice, with two different Soul Mates, and both times in the public outdoors. Oh brother.

Perhaps you've noticed how many times I've capitalized non-proper nouns in this review. Perhaps you've been distracted by the same. If so, Brida certainly isn't a book for you. In every paragraph Coelho introduces some kind of Universal Truth (that phrase itself is capitalized in the novel) that we as readers are apparently intended to take to heart. Some of these are legitimate life lessons (everyone has a Gift, but only a lucky few seem able to discover and utilize it), while others are silly (God allowed Adam and Eve to fall from Grace because He needed the "Universe" to be set in motion). He does the same in The Alchemist, but the strength of that book is its focus. Here, there were so many Truths that I was at first overwhelmed, later confused, and ultimately so annoyed that I found myself skipping over them.

[Will Byrnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

“So what is magic?” she asked.

…”Magic is a bridge,” he said at last, “ a bridge that allows you to walk from the visible world over into the invisible world, and to learn the lessons of both those worlds.”

“And how can I learn to cross that bridge?”

“By discovering your own way of crossing it. Everyone has their own way.”

My first exposure to Coelho was many years ago. I read The Alchemist at a time in my life when I was experiencing some major changes and I found very real comfort and guidance there. I enjoyed several more of his novels but after a time there seemed to be a repetitiveness to them that left me unsatisfied.

Brida is yet another enlightenment quest story from Coelho. I enjoyed it for a while, but well before reaching the end, I found that I was getting bored. It seemed like I was reading Casteneda after he had scarfed down a peyote button laced with Robert Heinlein. Despite the mysterious base of the subject matter, a young woman seeking to learn about magic and gain insight into her special “Gift”, there is too much bright and cheery obviousness here. I recall once reading a book about auras in which the author assumed that after a few exercises the reader would be able to view human auras as easily as one might see the color of a hat worn by someone you pass in the street. There is that sort of presumption here, a presumption of a magic realm, a presumption of rituals that allow people access to that realm. Yes, it is a novel, but I expect that that is a politic way of marketing what Coelho believes to be more of a self-help book.


Paulo Coelho - image from Post-Gazette

I suppose it is possible that Coelho has some insight into other layers of existence, although I do not accept that as given. This book made me wish that he had made better use of what mystical powers or insights he might have to have written a more engaging story.

Read / firt-posted - 2009
Revised/re-posted -12/18/15

[Meghhnaa (On a Review-Writing Break!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Brida” is a pursuit for enlightenment, a quest for knowledge, a search for love, a journey towards completion!!

Just like all other novels of Paulo Coelho, “Brida” revolves around philosophy, mysteries of universe, spirituality and is additionally nestled with search for love/soulmate!!

Brida, is the story of a 21-year old Irish girl on the quest of knowledge to learn magic/witchcraft to become a wicca. Witchcraft has been rebuked for the evil practices and wrongdoings but here we see the positive application of wicca for self-discovery of the soul. In the process she is introduced to the Tradition of the Moon and Tradition of the Sun. But mostly, Tradition of the Moon is touch-based which Brida picks up. Under the Tradition of the Moon, there are four pillars:-

The first pillar is of time-travel, through which one ends up learning about thyself. Pernicious consequences of using witchcraft for controlling destinies have been cited, in of the instances when one who tried doing so was banished into loneliness. The importance of using this craft for self-discovery and good causes has been strongly dwelled upon.

The second pillar is of soulmate (my favorite aspect 😊) This part piqued my interest and appealed me the most. I know the soulmate theory in the novel was rebuked and strongly debased. I am not trying to convince the readers but I personally admired it the most.

One of the quotes from the book regarding soulmate is-

“But how will I know who my Soulmate is?” Brida felt that this was one of the most important questions she had ever asked in her life.

By taking risks’ she said to Brida. ‘ 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.”


The third pillar is of the four rings of revelation. The four rings are the four paths for discovering the wisdom of the world for self-discovery. It depends what ring the woman is assigned for self-discovery. The four rings are - virgin, saint, martyr and the witch. Brida is designated the fourth ring of the witch.

The fourth pillar is of reincarnation, as time-travel has been spoken about in the tradition of the Moon.

There are many favorite quotes, but few of the lovable ones are -

“Do not try to explain feelings. Live everything intensely and treasure what you feel as a gift from God.”

“I learned that the search for God is a Dark Night, that Faith is a Dark Night. And that’s hardly a surprise really, because for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”

“The whole Universe is moving all the time, and we must do like-wise.”

I felt a strong lingering of "The Alchemist" and "The Pilgrimage" in this work(maybe more but I have read just these two).

The magic theorems, esp. soulmate theory is looked upon with trepidation, but I personally enjoyed the book for the structured approach, so an endearing 4-star for Brida 😊

NB- This book has had a huge impact on me during my formative years, now that's what I refer to as "the power of writing"

[Aparna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How will I know who my Soulmate is?" Indeed, we are all looking for something. Someone to love, someone who loves us, something that adds meaning to our life, our existence. Some sign, to know we are not alone. Some indication to know that our thoughts, feelings, memories, will not die with us when our physical body perishes.

Brida addresses all this and much more. The story is presented as a young woman's quest to find answers - to questions that mean the world to her. Questions, which if we introspect, come to us as well, albeit in different paraphrasing.

Its not the story in itself as much as its elements - the progression of the human soul, with all its elements (feelings, memories, experiences, people around us, thoughts, actions, choices) through time, is portrayed like a charcoal sketch - black and white, stark, with elements of the distinct unknown in various shades. The rituals and the steps culminating in a merry Sabbath party, the Tradition of the Sun and the Tradition of the moon, the four forms of expression of the self, and the ultimate epicenter of the book - The Gift (Yes, we all have one, even if we do not carry a 2 pronged dagger, or remember who we were in the 12th century).

There are no fancy characters and descriptions. Brida, Magus, Wicca and Lorens. There are vivid guest appearances, but the simplicity of the cast makes the book more profound. It does have a love story, even a love triangle (make that 2), the whole book is supported by a spine consisting of the Occult, and yet to me it was not a fantasy story.

This is definitely not a comparison, but if a certain JK Rowling makes the term "witch" seem innocent,cute and funny, the Coelho adds an ethereal beauty to the word.

I haven't been able to read any comments or feedback about the Portuguese version, but this translation does deserve an ovation.

Pick it up, if you believe in signs. Pick it up, if you think you are alone in finding that elusive something or someone that adds meaning to your life. Pick it up, if you simply want to believe that there is a bigger world waiting out for you when you die. that you are not alone in your journey through time, whether in your current physical body or out of it.

P.S: I also especially love the part where the women are standing naked, and do not feel ashamed of their bodies, irrespective of its flaws or perfections, because it is theirs as a facilitator to view this life through a physical form.

P.P.S. : One thing about this book, though, it has too many references to God. Being borderline Agnostic myself, it was slightly uncomfortable to digest, but it makes equal sense if viewed through a Spiritual perspective also, instead of a merely Relegious one.

[Jackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Paulo Coelho is clearly a genius--and not a literary one. The fact that he can write something this unfathomably dull and make millions of people buy it is a feat of marketing brilliance.

This book relies on a series of vagueries that one would imagine the author might at some point explain. I suppose Coehlo thinks the mysteriousness of arcane-sounding phrases like "Tradition of the Moon" and "Dark Night" are substantial enough to keep a reader captivated with neither qualification nor tact. Perhaps he feels that capitalizing such phrases will provide sufficient proof of their worldliness.

A boggling aspect which I can't quite get past is the fact that there is not a single real conversation in this book. Everyone speaks to each other in brief, billowy ambiguities and somehow knows, with no indication other than the author's repeated assurance, what everyone else is thinking at all times.

I would not recommend this book to anyone with an I.Q. higher than a tomato's. A more soul-stirring story about witches can be found in the Wizard of Oz.

[Namratha · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only quotes that I liked and made sense in an otherwise rambling narrative:

"Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day"
~ Brida's father (Pg.99)

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd"
~ William Blake (Pg.174)

"I learned that the search for God is a Dark Night, that Faith is a Dark Night. And that's hardly a surprise really, because for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet we still go forwards. Because we trust. Because we have Faith."
~ Brida (Pg.24)

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I DID IT!
I survived this book!
I am a champion!
RAAAAAAR!


I had an extremely violent, visceral reaction to this story, not because of the mixing of religion and witchcraft, not because of the amorphous way this world worked, not because of the insistence that man and woman are the polar opposite sides of the same thing and that everything everywhere is binary - black and white, yin and yang, light and dark, sun and moon, day and night, no gray area ever. Not even because I rolled my eyes at nearly everything anyone said or did or thought.
No, my hackles were raised throughout my time with this book because it's wrong. It's so terribly, deeply, ignorantly wrong.


So you know how youths often romanticize an idea they know little to nothing about firsthand? I felt I was listening to that kind of writing. It's simplistic, not simple or unfussy but simplistic, as if words are hard and turning an entire imagined journey into those words is even harder. It's naive, filling in gaps of knowledge with vague references to things that sound lovely. It's insulting.

But moving on, let's meet our three main characters, the protagonist and her two mentors:

First, our heroine, Brida.

She’s young, she’s not the sharpest spoon in the drawer, and she wants to be a witch when she grows up. Hooray! So she travels to the forest to find a wizard she heard about and he initiates her into The Dark Knight.

Oops. Sorry. I meant
The Dark Night
You know, like Of the Soul.
The dark night of the soul.
That kind of dark night.
And it's not as erotic as it might sound. He leaves her alone in the woods all night, watching from afar as she talks to herself until the sun comes up.
First test: Passed! She can now enter into the learning of witchery.
Oh, by the way, she's Irish and they're in Ireland but except for Dublin showing up here and there and mention of Celtic wise ones back in the day, there's no way to know this other than being told a few times. The narrator doesn't even use an accent when voicing these characters.

The second character we meet, The Magus, is her male mentor, a warlock who lives in the aforementioned woods.


He is fascinated by her because he can tell that, clearly, she has a gift but also, she is his soulmate. He is twice her age and is something of a creeper, as you may have noted from the whole watching her in the woods thing I mentioned earlier but it’s ok because they’re soulmates. It's not gross if it's your soulmate.


We meet the boyfriend but he's not really important right now because we need to get to the next mentor, Wicca.
Wicca? The female mentor’s name is Wicca?


But! But, she's so hip, so cool, so beautiful, so distant. She’s such a good teacher except for all the information she withholds. She's a real modern-day witch and you know this because the author tells you. And she's really beautiful. But old. Like, 40. But still beautiful.


She wants to teach Brida who, clearly, has a gift, and Wicca wants to know both what that gift is and why The Magus was interested in Brida. Lessons abound but are not so much teaching tools and learning moments as they are strange things that this weird (but hip and cool) lady does because she's kind of arrogant and imparts that the devil is in the details but that there's a magic to be found in zoning out during phone calls. Remember, she's a great teacher. Even if you don't agree, you'll be reminded of her great teacherly ways several times throughout the story.

Alright. We've got the main characters. Now we must puzzle out a few things, such as learning witchcraft via The Tradition of the Sun (which has something maybe to do with Christianity but I'm not sure and it might be the way artists learn but I'm not sure. The Magus is a spokesperson for the Way of the Sun but he teaches the Way of the Moon...I think. I'm not sure) or through The Tradition of the Moon (I think this is stereotypical female witchcraft, the kind that got you burned in Salem, but I'm not sure. I want to say this is the feminine version of magic but I don't think it is but, again, I'm not sure). Also, soulmates. We have lots of soulmates because there was a group of original souls and they shattered and became many souls so it's possible to meet up with other people who contain shards of the same soul you have a shard of...I think. I'm not sure.


And this all falls under the umbrella of God. And also Jesus because he was a Way of the Sun dude. I think. I'm not sure. I think you collect soulmates to find a path to God over a bunch of lifetimes and when you win, you finally get to die one last time and move on to an astral plane? Maybe?
It's all pretty vague and not really important because soulmates.
And God.
And suns and moons and ways.


Did I mention this is also sorta sexist?

Exhibit A. That’s the great problem with anyone wanting to study magic...when we set out on the path, we always have a fairly clear idea of of what we hope to find. Women are generally seeking their soulmate and men are looking for power. Neither party is really interested in learning, they simply want to reach the thing they set as their goal.

Exhibit B. In a sensual but non-consensual moment of learning, Wicca unbuttons Brida’s jeans and pulls her tshirt up to expose her belly but doesn’t ask permission or explain what she's doing. Then she puts a stone on Brida's belly and another on her forehead and this is the equivalent of magical pillow fights while wearing negligees and kitten heels.

Exhibit C. Also explained: Women have the power of transformation. Male knowledge + Female transformation = Great magical union = Wisdom.
Apparently, there is no homosexuality here because soulmates can only connect as man and woman as we sort of glimpse when two men with the same soul shard come into contact later on in this tale.

Exhibit D. Women choose to find revelation through four embodiments: The Virgin, who lives for love but lives in solitude; The Martyr, who sacrifices all; The Saint, has to give and give because that is what leads to receiving; The Witch, who finds revelation through pleasure. This is a terribly skewed idea of women. It’s another Virgin/Madonna/Whore/Crone

Exhibit E. Wicca schools Brida with fashion advice. The Magus never gives or receives fashion advice. No male in the story does. But Brida, witch-to-be, finds she has a complicated relationship with her clothes because outfits have power and some were meant for you but those that were not will always bring you bad luck.
And then they go shoe-shopping (they don't...but they do go shopping for other stuff)

Exhibit F. And then feminine intuition rears its head toward the end because we all know witchcraft and magical femaleness are inseparable, the same thing, really.

Dude, stop. Just, stop. This is not your mysticism to explain so please stop trying. Stick to your own brand of spirituality, k? And, you know? We already got the message, actually, in The Alchemist which, amazingly enough, shows up here, too!
...we realize that there is a reason for us being here and, for us, that is enough. We plunge into the Dark Night with faith, we fulfill what the ancient alchemists used to call our personal legend and we surrender ourselves fully to each moment knowing there is always a hand to guide us…
Wow.


In addition to all that nonsense, there's general silliness.

“... you have a gift”
“How do you know?”
“By your ears...People born with a gift have very small, attached earlobes.”


And why is the magus growing bromeliads in the forests of Ireland? Because magic? That’s cruel to the bromeliads which are tropical plants. Ireland is not tropical. Wet, maybe, but not tropical.

I realize that perhaps a lot was lost in translation. Even so, I couldn't help but feeling like the author had taken someone else’s story about a subject he doesn’t understand and tried to make it his own but ruined it. He had to use smoke and mirrors to fill in for his gaps in knowledge and his gaps were wide and frequent. In addition, I felt like he was trying to shoehorn the stolen story into a framework that makes him comfortable because it seems witchcraft, which is tied into the Female, apparently, can’t be what it is but has to relate to his brand of religion and spirituality in order to make it acceptable.

While listening to this, I went into a trance and saw the author as a young boy, sitting with his aunts and mother, grandmothers and sisters, girl cousins and lady neighbors, listening to them talk about their powers, their divinities, their understanding of the mystical. Maybe he saw things he couldn't explain. He obviously loved and respected these women but knew that, as a male, he had to somehow find a way to be in charge of all they had, all this power that was beyond him, he had to control instead of understand this thing these women spoke of. As he aged and gained experience, he carefully created a loose narrative to fit his own beliefs around theirs and he felt very good about himself afterward.

But I just made that up. I don't know anything about this author beyond the little Goodreads bio. I can't say what he did or did not experience that lead him to write this book. All I know is that I deeply, instictively felt this story was never his to tell and yet tell it, he did, and he did a piss poor job because instead of sharing wonder, he stole it, trapped it, and framed it in a way to showcase his own path to enlightenment.

But whatever.
I'm out.

[Ibrahim Abdulla · Rating 3 out of 5]

تحكي الرواية قصة بريدا الباحثة عن أسرار الكون التي تتعلم من اثنين من معلمي حكمة الشمس و القمر .

بعض المشاهد قد تشعرك بالملل، والبعض الآخر قد يلهمك، والبعض الآخر لا يمكن سوى أن ترفع القبعة تقديراً لخيال باولو ( مشهد لوني و تالبو، مشهد من الصعب نسيانه)

لا أعتقد بأنها أفضل كتابات باولو، وجدتني مللت بعض الشيء في النصف الثاني من الرواية، لكنها تبقى جيدة
ينصح بها لمعجبين برواياته الأخرى .

بعض الإقتباسات التي أعجبتني :

ما من شيء في العالم خاطئ تماماً، فحتى الساعة المعطلة تشير إلى الوقت الصحيح مرتين في اليوم..

كل ما يحققه المرء يظل ناقصا إذا فشل في إيجاد نصفه الآخر ..


لا تحاولي تفسير عواطفك، عيشي كل تجربة بجوارحكِ كلها، واحتفظي بما شعرتِ بأنه هبة من الله

حين تجدين طريقك، عليكِ ألا تخافي . عليك التحلي بما يكفي من الشجاعة لارتكاب الأخطاء، الخيبة، الهزيمة، اليأس .. أدوات يستخدمها الله لإرشادنا إلى الطريق )

ملاحظة : يوجد العديد من الأخطاء في الترجمة التي ضايقتني حقيقة و أضطررت لإعادة قراءة الجمل مرارا لكي أصل للمعنى المقصود ولا أعرف كيف بهكذا أخطاء أن تقع، في النصف الثاني خصوصاَ .. مثل الخلط بين أسماء الشخصيات، رغم قلتها .

[Fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

جریان عشق خاص و کشش روحی بریدا در این کتاب همان چیزی بود که قبلا خیلی کم درکش میکردم اما حالا به لطف این کتاب که مثال خوبی برایم شده خوب میفهمم و درک میکنم ؛ مفهوم تقسیم روح و ورودش به جسم های مختلف که این روزها با واژه ی
twin flame
در زبان انگلیسی میشناسند اش و گاهی زیاد در بین مطالب افراد بیدار شده یا در حال بیداری به چشم میخورد ، اینک در این کتاب داستانی حقیقی از این پدیده ی روحی آورده شده و بریدا داستان دو تویین فلیم اش و نحوه ی پس گرفتن عطایای روحی اش از طریق سنت ماه و با کمک استاد سنت ماهش را به پائولو کوئیلو میگوید ، تویین فلیم یا همان آینه های روح ما و بخش دیگری از خود ما ، ارواحی بزرگ و پر قدرت اما تقسیم شده اند که بعد تقسیم شان، کمی ضعیف تر از قبل در دو جسم یا سه جسم و گاهیم بیشتر ، جداگانه به زندگی و جست و جوی حقیقت و انجام ماموریت های روحی و پاس کردن درس هایشان میپردازند ، این ارواح گاهی در زمان و اعصار کاملا مختلف به دنیا میایند و گاهی هم در یک برهه از زمان و عصر متولد میشوند و دست قضا انها را در سر راه هم قرار میدهد آن هم برای اجرای هدفی والاتر یعنی تجربه ی عشق حقیقی و خالص بین دو کالبد زنانه و مردانه که یک روح مشترک دارند ! این موضوع به قدری جالب بود که برای هضمش چند روز کتاب را کنار گذاشتم تا بهتر موارد مشابهی را به یاد بیاورم که در کتاب های دیگر و سایر مقالات روحی و معنوی (قبل این کتاب) خوانده بودم و مفهوم کلی اش برایم آشنا بود اما هضمش نمیتوانستم کنم که بالاخره کردم . دانستن این قضیه خودش عظیم و غیر قابل باور هست اما شنیدنش از دهان خیلی از بیداران انگلیسی زبان و شنیدن تجربه ی شخصی خودشان با نیمه ی دیگر روحشان یا خواندنش در کتاب این نویسنده ی مشهور که دارد داستانی حقیقی را باز میگوید سرشار از هیجان و بهت و شکوه و ترس و لذت است و سرانجام درک و باور میشود ، امیدوارم همانطور که این کتاب برایم عطیه ای زیبا و به موقع بود برای دیگران هم باشد و دیگران بدانند و بفهمند که این کتاب فقط یک داستان حقیقی نیست و بیشتر از این خواهد بود اگر با قلبی باز به سراغش بروید و درباره ی این پدیده ی روحی تحقیق کنید ...

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It broke my heart into a jillion pieces. I feel like crying. Love is when you'll be able to understand that at some point, you were never meant to be together. That, sometimes, even if you're just in time, it isn't still sufficient. It isn'r selfish. It allows you to grow and to go in search of your path, in search of your soul. It does not hinder you to become the person you wanted to be. It doesn't require you to give up all the important things you have just because...



Of all the Paulo Coelho books, I believe, this this the best book I've ever read. There's so much to learn and so much to understand in life. He wrote it in a way you'll learn.; not just on one side of life, but for the whole package. I waited a year to acquire this book, and waited for Christmas as well to have this as a present. there are other things i wished i received. But the one who gave it made the best choice of picking it out on the book shelf.



Life is so complex. Sometimes, it requires us to choose a difficult path. And even if its hard to chose the other choice and leave someone behind, broken, we have to.

[Ramzy Alhg · Rating 2 out of 5]

"مامن شيء في هذا العالم ، ياعزيزتي خاطئ تماما فحتى هذه الساعة المعطلة، تشير إلى الوقت الصحيح مرتين في اليوم".

الرواية تتحدث عن السحر ويؤكد باولو حقيقة هذا السحر وان القارئ يمكنه تعلّم سحر أوراق التارو وأسرارها.

بريدا شابة يانعة تبحث عن الحكمة وتعمد الى كل سبيل للوصول إلى ذلك، ألتقت بريدا معلمها المجوسي ووضحت له انها قطعت كل تلك المسافات لتلتقي به وتتعلم منه السحر، لأنّ السحر سيوصلها لأجاباتٍ عن تساؤلاتها حول الحياة.

بعد أن وافق على تعليمها ، تتبع بريدا معلمها طويلاً في الغابة، ترغب في التعلم وكشف اسرار الحياة لتنهل من نبع الحكمة والصواب، فطلب منها معلمها البقاء وحيدة، وتركها بين الأشجار ، باتت ليلتها وحيدةً في الغابة في ظلمة حالكة، تقلّب نظرها في الأرجاء، أدركها التعب حتى سقطت خائرة، ولم تستفق من غشيتها حتى انبثق الفجر.

تلتقي بريدا عن طريق متجرٍ متخصّص ببيع كتب السحر، بالساحرة ويكا، وتجتهد بريدا في كسب رضاها لتعلمها أسرار أوراق التارو وفكّ رموز حروفها الخفيّة، فتنال منها الموافقة بعد جهد جهيد في إقناعها تعليمها ، وترشدها إلى معرفة رفيق روحها، تماماً كما تعلمت من المجوسي حكمة الشمس التي تُفضي إلى كشف حكمة الحياة من خلال الفضاء والعالم الذي يحيط بنا، وحكمة القمر التي تعتمد الزمن وكل ما تحتبسه ذاكرة الأيام.

تكتشف بريدا خلال مدّة تعليمها العلاقة التي تجمع الساحران (المجوسي وويكا)، وتحاول استغلال ماتعلمته من العلوم السحرية في اصلاح العلاقة التي تجمعها بحبيبها، وتكتشف أن الحكمة تعني عدم الخوف من ارتكاب الأخطاء، وأن يعيش الانسان كما يتمنى ان يعيش برفقة شريك العمر.

الرواية ممتلئة بالترّهات والحشو المبتذل وأعتقد أنها تقبع في قاع أعمال باولو كويلو وخاصة انها صدرت بعد رواية (الخيميائي) التى لآقت نجاحاً منقطع النظير.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, so this book came recommended to me by a freind, so I was pretty excited to read it. Once I got started, however, I was a bit disappointed (soory M.C.)

First off, the main charachter was niave and a bit juvenille. Everything that she thought of and said was almost infintile.

Secondly, She was supposed to be searching for a "Gift" and there was never really a solid confirmation as to what this gift was, even when she found it.

Thirdly, who ever heard of witches being Jesus loving Christians? That really threw me off.

Fourthly, everything in the book was based on this concept of the Tradion of the Sun, Tradion of the Moon, and the Dark Night, none of which were every fully explained either.

I was not a big fan of the book and the climax was some what disappointing. I really wanted more to happen or maybe something a little more dramtic to happen.

[Saadia B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Stars

As much as the title intrigued me to read this book. The story itself was sluggish and tedious to be exact.

Brida wanted to learn magic and goes all the way to the forest from Dublin. There she met a Magus who knew the Tradition of the Moon. But he left her alone in the forest in order to test her endurance. She passed the test but decided to go back to Dublin.

She went to a bookstore regularly but never bought anything then one day the bookstore owner gave her a number. She called and went for a meet up with Wicca who told her that she is a gifted witch. Magus was her soul mate yet he left her for another man at the Witches Sabbath.

In every other paragraph Coelho introduces the readers to a Universal Truth. Some of these were legitimate life lessons such as everyone has a Gift but only a few are able to discover and utilise it while others are silly like God allowed Adam and Eve to fall from Grace because He needed the Universe to set in motion.

There are too many distractions and truths in this book which at first are overwhelmingly, then confusing and contradictory and eventually annoying because they made no sense with the story.

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[Imene MELLAL · Rating 4 out of 5]

"بريدا" الرواية التي قرأتها في الوقت الضائع !

حين انتهيتُ من "Brida" الرواية الأولى التي أنهيها لباولو كويلو، شعرت بأنها قد غيّرت بداخلي أشياء كثيرة ..
لقد تعلّمتُ منها مثلاً ..

كيف أنّ كل إنسان معلّم نفسه.
كيف أن المرء حين يصادف "نصفه الآخر" يعرفه من بريق عينيه ..
كيف أن المرء يمكنه أن يصادف في طريقه أكثر من " نصف آخر " .. رغم أن الأمر يشكّل مشكلة.
كيف أن الله أودع في كل واحد منا "موهبة" لكي يساهم بها في بناء العالم .
كيف أن الحياة بدأت بالخطيئة "خطيئة آدم وحواء" وأن المرء لا يجب أن يخجل من كونه مخطئاً .
كيف أنه يجب اتباع الطريق الذي نختاره بإيمان قويّ.
كيف أن الإمتلاك ليس ضرورياً في الحب لأن الوردة تكون أجمل حين ننظر إليها في الحديقة دون أن نقطفها لنحصل عليها لأننا حين نفعل ذلك سنقتلها ونمنعها من أن تسعدنا على الدوام ..

وتعلّمت الصّبر في بداية ونهاية المطاف، ذلكَ أنني قرأت معظم صفحاتها ال 284 في مقعد أو واقفة في حافلة النقل العمومي التي تنقلني صباح مساء من مقرّ الدراسة إلى البيت ..
هذا يعني أني لم أخصص لها وقتاً كما أفعل مع باقي الكتب..
نصف ساعة أحياناً في الطريق أو بضع دقائق على مقعد انتظار في الشارع كانت تكفي لتغيير سلوكات النّفس وإرسال رسالة لمجتمع بأكمله مفادها أن الثقافة سلوك قبل أن تكون كتابات ومجرد أفكار حيالية .

اقرؤوا في كل مكان كي تتعلموا الحياة .

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this little story, but I enjoyed "The Witch of Portobello" (my first Coelho read) more. However, I think people are looking for a bit too much out of this book. It's a good little tale, and I enjoyed a few of the lines from it/quotes. I think Señor Coelho is simply asking us to reflect. Not every book is a wirlwind, instead a book can be a bit like looking out over a still lake with time to think. As a goodreads friend Harley pointed out, in the prologue Señor Coelho gives the reader pause to think , "are you a planter or a builder?" Surely that question is worthy of a moment of reflection as are several other thoughts that arise in this book and I'm sure in most of Señor Coelho's writings. Other topics that surface to reflect upon are, finding one's soul mate, finding the right path on a spiritual journey, and the existance of past lives are to name a few. One of the quotes from this book I enjoyed was, "There was a time when people accepted magical expereiences as natural. There were no priests then, and no one went chasing after the secrets of the occult (p. 22)." This is true, so many people are always seeking rather then surrendering to accept what naturally occurs. "Brida" isn't an earth shaker, but then it's not it's job to shake the earth, that's our job.

[Chanelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can somebody please tell me what this book was about?! I consider myself a pretty savvy reader, but I didn't get this at all. I loved the Alchemist and this has much of the same philosophical insights and phrases you want to savor . . . ("Nothing is wrong all the time, even a stopped clock is right twice a day"). But I couldn't tell you what the meaning of this book was. Girl is on spiritual path to find her Gift. Meets the Magus in the forest who is her soul mate but they don't end up together. Meets a Witch in the city and wants to become one. Get naked and drunk at the witches' initiation party. There's something significant about a field, and there's alot of talk about the Tradition of the Sun and the Tradition of the Moon, although I never figured out what that was. I kept plugging through the book, hoping for some AHA! moment at the end like the Alchemist, where everything comes full circle, but this was very anti-climatic and I closed the book saying HUH?!?!?

[Avani ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Umm, I failed to understand the point of this story?

[Bassant Elsawy · Rating 5 out of 5]

أحيانا أخسر أشياء فقط لإني أخاف أن أفقدها !

*~~*~~*


لكل شخص منا مكمل و رفيق لروحه
و لكن ماذا إن لم يكتب لنا الكمال
و إن وجد الشريك !!

[Nom Deplume · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and had trouble putting it down very good read.

[Keyo Çalî · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again one of the books that I don't understand
is it about love? magic? philosophy of life? I don't know and I really don't care
but the atmosphere of the book was great and magical
sometimes it was like a meditation for me
by the way, I don't like the author

[Max · Rating 1 out of 5]

Entrüstung folgt.

Hier nun die Entrüstung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emtTc...

[ياسمين Thabet · Rating 1 out of 5]

من اسوء الامور التي تحدث حين يشتهر كاتب معين برواية معينة من المفترض انها الذروة التي وصل لها ادبيا وفكريا

فتتم ترجمتها لسبعتلاف لغة وكذلك بقية اعماله....فيتم بذل مجهود لا فائدة له في ترجمة اعمال لا تستحق....ببساطة لان شهرة الكاتب وعمله الناجح لا يعني بالضرورة ان كل اعماله على نفس المستوى وان كلها تستحق مجهود ترجمتها

بل ان هناك العديد والعديد من الاعمال التي كانت تستحق ان تترجم اولى بكثير من هذا العمل الفاشل

هو العامل الثالث الذي اقرأه لباولو كويلو قرأت له الخيميائي وفيرونكا تقرر ان تموت والروايتان اثارا اعجابي لكن هذه الرواية فشل ذريع من كل ناحية
لو انها كانت اول عمل لكاتب مبتدئ لقلت له ان يعتزل الكتابة....او على الاقل لخفت ان اقرأ له مجددا...

ليست مشكلة العمل هي الترجمة الرديئة فقط...ياليت كانت هذه هي المشكلة فانا اعرف كيف افرق بين تلقي العمل وافكاره بعيدا عن اللغة والاسلوب لكن المشكلة في رواية بريدا والتي من اول عنوانها حتى اخر كلمة فيها بالبلدي كدة مفيهاش حاجة صح

البطولة في الرواية مقسمة بين بريدا وويكا معلمتها ومعلمها المجوسي ولورنس...اربع شخصيات...وموضوع رئيسي يدورون في فلكه...فلم يكن مفهوما بالنسبة لي تسمية الرواية على اسم احد الابطال لان الرواية ليست بطولتها المطلقة
لكن ما علينا

لا بأس ان تناول كاتب ما محتوى تافه او فكره مكررة بالنسبة لي ان كان قد تناولها بشكل جديد ومشوق...لكن المشكلة ان الفكرة مكررة لا جديد فيها...توأم الروح علم الحياة والاسرار والسحر وغيرها...تناولها الكاتب في روايته بشكل جعلها تبدو كلام اطفال فارغ

مع ان الموضوع يمكن ان يتناول بشكل اقوى واكثر عمقا ولكن لا ادري لماذا اختار الكاتب هذه الطريقة الفجة في التفاهة في تناول الموضوع
الفصول غير مترابطة اطلاقا وترتيب الاحداث يجعلك تشعر ان الرواية كاملة عبارة عن فوضى عارمة وكأن الكاتب كتبها على فترات طويلة متباعدة ليس فيها اي نوع من انواع التماسك

لم يكن هناك وصف للشخصيات...الشخصيات كانت تشبه الدمى باسماء فقط ليس هناك اي فرق بينهم وليس هناك تصور واضح لملامحهم....ليس هناك وصف
للاماكن....الرواية تدور كاملة في ايرلندا وعاصمتها دوبلن...وهي دولة غنية بالاشياء التي يمكن وصفها....لو كان الكاتب قد حذف اسم الدولة وكتب اي دولة لما شعر القارئ بفرق ببساطة لان الكاتب لم يضع اي لمسة في الرواية تخص المكان لتجعلنا نشعر بمعنى اختياره لهذه الدولة بالذات في الاحداث


النهاية التي جعلت مرارتي على وشك الانفجار...الحوار المتوقع جدا والذي تشعر انه كله مأخوذ من مسلسل قد شاهدته ملايين المرات

احداث كثيرة غير مبررة وردود افعال في مواقف كثيرة غير مناسبة اصلا للشخصيات وغير منطقية

الحقيقة رواية سيئة بكل المقاييس وبالرغم انها 260 صفحة فقط تعتبر ليست كبيرة اشعرتني ان الايام والساعات لا تمر


نادمة جدا على قراءتي لها

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet little story. In some ways, it reminds me of the kinds of stories one finds in the Bible and the Zohar. Such stories aren't stories in terms of the classic ideas of plots, but serve to illustrate spiritual points. I see Brida in that way. The plot is a very thin scaffold on which to hang a series of philosophical and spiritual ideas. From the point of view of fiction, this is less than satisfactory. From the point of view of philosophy, the style is certainly one that's tried and true. I read the book more as a spiritual essay than as a novel.

[أميــــرة · Rating 4 out of 5]

"كيف يمكنني أن أعرف 'نصفي الآخر' ؟ "


هل لو أتيحت لك الفرصة أن تعرف نصفك الآخر - إذا قابلته - عن طريق علامة جسدية معينة أو ثمة ضوء مميز ينبعث من عينيه ستوافق ؟

لا تتسرع في القبول .. ربما ندمت !

هناك أشخاص إذا امتلكانهم فقدناهم .. فهم أروع في البعد .. و تملكنا لهم يخلق خوفنا من فقدهم .. ويخلق دائرة مفرغة من العذاب النفسي .. فنشقى في قربهم أكثر من بعدهم ..


سعيدة بنهاية الرواية على تلك الشاكلة .. لقد أحببت الفيزياء لأجله !

[Archit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brida canvases a beautiful story about an Irish girl, her quest, relationships, love, magic and knowledge about it.

This book is not for everyone but those who happened to read it in the right times in their lives, will appreciate its beauty more.
Although I have finished reading the book, but its magic and charm will remain with me.

[Rana⚡]

I was stupid af to start Brida🤦3 months ago i started alchemist and hated every word in it nevertheless,i decided to start another book by him,to give him another chance.It was a long story why i chose Brida especially but yeah here i am,and its been A MONTH since ive started it and i finally decided to DNF it at like 60%.

Here's what i understood from the book:
•Theres this whiny young lady called Brida who wants to learn magic
•a man called the magus who's twice her age but when he saw her "he knew that he'd met his soul mate"
•A witch called Wicca who i cant even remember what was the importance of her

Anyway that's just my opinion,and i know that many people do like him but for me if one day i decide by a miracle to give Paulo Coelho a third chance,someone please slap me in the face.

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paulo Coelho came highly recommended, so I'm going to give him another chance, but this book really didn't live up to my expectations. It's supposed to be spiritually enlightening, but I just found it annoying. For starters, the main character is too much of a Mary-Sue. She's beautiful, we're she's presented as critical (though we don't notice much of this), she has a gift, everyone thinks she's oh-so special. Although this book often states that a spiritual search is for everyone, at the same time it implies that such things are limited to those who are young, beautiful, gifted, energetic and enthusiastic.

Second, there were lots of mistakes in this book. I didn't find the picture presented of Ireland to be at all convincing, at times I was left wondering wheter Coelho had done any research at all. Also, there was that HUGE historical error of pretending that the witches burnt at the stake were actually wiccans. This sort of new age inaccuracy makes the entire book unconvincing - for if he mixes in these errors, which other errors that I don't know about have also been mixed in?

Third, the whole spiritual aspect was underdeveloped, even though it was the main theme of the book. Nothing was ever really explained, it was all just so bland and vague.

Fourth, the whole idea of Love as the only way to give life meaning annoyed me. Especially the idea that we're supposed to look for the other half of our soul, and that all other loves are meaningless... and the idea that souls always split into a male and female half. How lovely for gay people. *rolls eyes*

Well. End of rant. Did this book have any redeaming features? Well, it was easy to read, offered a few interesting insights, and eh... well, no, can't really think of anything else. All in all, quite a disappointment. Still, like I said, I'll give Coelho another chance.

[Noor Tareq · Rating 2 out of 5]

اعتقد ان باولو حاول ايصال فكرة انه بالحب و الايمان يحيا الانسان، لكن لا اعتقد انه نجح بايصال هذه الفكرة.

بريدا فتاة كانت تفتقد الى الجانب الروحي في حياتها، و كانت تبحث عن إيمانها، لم تفتقد للحب يوماً، لكنها لم تعرف معنى ان تحب شخصا بكل عيوبه و حسناته و هذا هو توأم الروح.
اعتقد ان تجربتها الروحية و انتقالها الذهني لم تسعف باولو في التعبير عن ايمانه الراسخ و حبه للكون و خالقه، كما استطاع التعببر عنها في روايته الخيميائي.
و ربنا فكرة تناسخ الارواح التي تؤمن بها بعض الاديان، هي فكرة غير واقعية بنظري، فمن مات و دفن لن ترجع روحه للحياة من خلال جسد اخر، فما فائدة الحساب و الجنة و النار اذن؟!
فلسوف تتاح لكل روح التكفير عن ذنبها في حياتها الأولى في حيوات اخرى.

حبنا للكون و خالقه، و ربما لشخص يمثل لنا الكون، ايماننا الراسخ بالله و بمبادئنا و قيمنا هو ما يعطي لحياتنا معناها، و من خلالهما سنصل الى غاية الله من خلقنا، و هو اعمار هذا الكون، ربما في زمننا هذا يسود الالم و الظلم و القهر و القتل، لكنني علي قناعة بان السلام و الحب سيغمر كل المظلومين و المقهورين في هذا الكون.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved this book to pieces when I was a teen ,16 or so. At the time it felt very eye opening and fascinating to read about Brida. I've been meaning to give this another revisit to see if I still feel the same and whole I can see why I felt the way I did back then. I have definitely grown out my "Paulo Coelho phase"