Monday, May 21, 2012

The Devil and Miss Prym

This Coehlo book was so not something I would have picked up on my own, but it was the first book we read for our local book club. 

Quick Summary, A stranger arrives in the small village of Viscos and entices the barmaid into helping him find out if people are good or evil.  He has gold bars that will go to the town if they kill someone.

This book brings up some great questions and gives some background knowledge on key players that I don't want to delve into too much or risk giving away too much of the story lines. 

As you read, you see what people are willing to do for money.  It's also interesting to see the mob mentality take over and people just do something because everyone else is doing something.

I'm currently reading Sarah's Key (for this month's selection) and it remidned me somewhat of how silent people were when the Jews were being rounded up and taken away.  How seeminly NO ONE did anything about it.

This is Viscos.  Some people are very willing to offer up someone for the chance of a lot of money.  Yes, Viscos is a dying village with no youth, but will money bring youth to them?  Will it bring tourists? Will it curse them? Will they kill for money?

We talked at our meeting how people who loved this book read it as a philosophy style of book and those that read it as fiction were not as intrigued.  I read it as fiction and it took a bit to get into it, but I really enjoyed our conversation and talking more about it.  If I were on my own, I think I would have given up on the book and would have been missing out.

Have you read this? Have you read anything else by Paulo Coehlo?

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