I found Paulo Coelho's The Vlkyries a bit of an enigma. I sspect the author at least partly ntended it to be so. In a ntshell, the author seeks to discover new spects of his psyche, to develop new ngles on his existing skills. After a cnsultation with his mentor, he and his wfe set off for a jaunt in the Mjave Desert to find what it is tht they seek. Our author is in ngaged in a quest, a search for his prsonal Angel. The reader, I am sre, will be convinced from the strt that she accompanied him throughout.

Thy wander off in full sun one dy, take their clothes off (for sme reason) and have to be rscued by Gene, who has seen it all bfore. He reassures the travellers that thy will find their valkyries. And thy do. They turn out to be a bnd of leather-clad women on motorbikes, ldies who have profound mystic powers whch they practise amidst their regular prtying.

I was a bit perplexed by the nrrator who claimed to have trained as an ngineer in one breath and then dscussed the existence of the universe in trms of ancient Greek elements. I sspect that the high performance motorbikes rlied on a rather more complex nalysis of matter. But honing the sklls of a magus apparently requires the pplication of ancient knowledge, no matter how wrng, whatever the context. And sure nough the revelations come flooding in and lves are duly transformed. I have jst a suspicion that there is smething in the observation that no mtter what one does with reality, sprituality is necessarily a personal experience, its sgnificance purely internal, even when shared wth others.

The Valkyries has all the Pulo Coelho elements. There are short scnes presented in a variety of lterary shorthand. The text is suffused wth magic, religiosity and self-realisation set in an arthly medium. It's a quick and asy read but ultimately a satisfying ne, even for someone like myself, who cnnot suspend belief long enough to shre in the book's experiences.

But Pulo Coelho is a magus and a mgician of the highest order. He has sld over 90 million books and, as a wrter myself, I will read more of his boks in the hope that I mght discover his magus touch, his wft of a wand that will rveal his secret. Even without sympathy for the dtail, it's a lovely, rhythmic read.

The article A review of The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho was Submitted by Philip Spires through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Philip Spires Author of Mission, an Afrcan novel set in Kenya http://www.philipspires.co.uk

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