Lord of my Dance

And finally the final book of the trilogy, “The Devil and Miss Prym” is the most interesting of all. In this novel about temptation is a thought provoking parable of a community devoured by greed, cowardice and fear as it struggles with the choice between good and evil. A stranger arrives at the remote village of Viscos, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. He comes searching for the answer to a question that torments him. Are human beings, in essence good or evil? In his sophisticated plot, he shows Chantal Prym, a young, simple girl in the village, where he buried his eleven bars of gold. After showing her the gold bars, he shared his plot to proof his theory that the nature of human beings when confronted with temptation, will always fall. He explained to Chantal, “ Everybody in this village is honest, starting with you. I showed you the gold bar, which would give you the necessary financial independence to get out of the village, to trav...

“I’m alive”, thought Veronika. “Everything’s gonna start all over again. I’ll have to stay in here for a while, until they realize that I’m perfectly normal. Then they’ll let me out, and I’ll see the outside world again.” In the second book by Paulo Coelho I have been exploring, “Veronika Decides To Die” talks about a 24 year old Veronika who seems to have everything – youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life. So, one cold November morning, Veronika decides to die. She takes a handful of sleeping pills, expecting never to wake up again. But she does…in a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live. And as she thinks about her situation now that her suicide was unsuccessful, an inner monologue continues on in her head: “Since people always tend to help others-just so that they can feel they are better then they really are-they’ll give me my job back at the library. Since I only take sleeping pil...

My book review journey continues…and this time it’s a book entitled, “By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept” This is the first part in Paulo Coelho's trilogy "On the Seventh Day". The other two parts are “Veronika Decides to Die” and “The Devil and Miss Prym” . This trilogy revolve around a week in the life of seemingly ordinary people, all of whom find themselves suddenly confronted by love, death and power. Linking these stories together is Coelho’s belief that the profoundest changes take place within a short time. And while these intense changes shape the lives and decisions of the characters, they also challenge the reader, testing our strength, courage and willingness to adapt. After all the challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny. “By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept” is essentially a story about love. It also includes elements of Catholicism and particula...

I was still very hesitant about writing this post due to the delicate subject of those “Harry Potter books” and the last thing I want to do is open up a can of worms. There are still many differing viewpoints on whether Harry Potter books should be banned, burned or maybe…recycled? Or is the church overreacting about this particular series of children’s fictional books? I am not advocating that Christians should or should not read/watch Harry Potter but this is just to share my viewpoint and encounter with Harry Potter books. The first time anyone actually asked me whether I had any problems with Harry Potter was when I was applying for a job as a facilitator for a children’s development centre. Since they use Harry Potter to make things more interesting in their science experiment classes, they actually asked me if I was comfortable using him in the classes since I told them I was a Christian. That was 2 years ago…and I had to admit, I have never seen or read any Harry Potter bo...