The Devil and Miss Prym by Paolo Coelho

Not for me....

I can't understand how this book is so popular and a "national bestseller." I'm hoping it is due to the fact that The Alchemist was such a wonderful book that others (like myself) eagerly await another hit by this writer. However, after having read three other books by Mr. Coelho since The Alchemist, I'm finally throwing in the towel because I just don't think they're anything more than ok. Sure, they have all been centered on larger issues of morality, life, and the tough questions we find ourselves asking (such as whether man inherently good or evil, as this book tries to examine). But they have all, this one most of all, seemed too trite to me, considering the weight of their underlying themes. While I appreciate how Mr. Coelho tries to explore interesting and difficult questions, I found this novel in particular undreadable and didn't care enough to find out what the townspeople did at the end of the book...I simply stopped reading.