The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho

If you've read Paulo Cohlho, you know his style, and you either love it or hate it. It often has religion, a character that is on an inner or outer journey, someone gets to do some traveling, there's an old wise person minding their own business, and some spirits and angels somewhere. Yes, I've read a few of his books.

Although they are simply written, with simple truths, and have a clear cut signature of spoon-feeding, I still enjoy them. If you like mythology and those tales old women in villages tell travelers, then you might enjoy this book. It feels as though the author tried to cram as many 'stories with a moral' as he could, into one bigger tale, from old wives tales he picked up on the road.

I was sure I knew how it was going to end, but I was surprised, and found myself invested in what was going to happen next. It's a quick read, easy to pick up and finish by the next day. It's been on my shelf for a while, because I've been traveling, and because the first time I attempted to read it I wasn't in the mood for a P. Coelho book. It got me in the end though, and I used it as a fun way to pass the time on public transit. Thanks for being slow TTC. Here are some quotes:

" Then, in the distance she heard a clap of thunder, followed by another three. On the one hand, this simply meant that rain was on the way; on the other, if the old superstitions of the village were to be believed, the sound could be interpreted as the voice of an angry God, protesting that mankind had grown indifferent to His presence. ... "A thunderclap is an entirely natural phenomenon. If God wanted to talk to man, he wouldn't use such roundabout methods." "

"I'm going to ask you a riddle: of all the days in our life, which is the one that never comes? ... Tomorrow"

"...the man decided to look up every reference he could find to hell... (everything seemed to be seen in terms of society, rather than of the individual)."