The Devil and Miss Prym

Recommended read for everyone. This is my favorite author and the story is amazing. A must read.

This story is more allegorical in nature as much of his writing tends to be. A bit of a gut check probing some very real human nature challenges. One of my friends is a Hebrew scholar…. He says there are three essential questions. 1. Where do we come from? 2. What’s wrong with the world? 3. How do we fix it ? These are the essential questions being asked by Coelho here. Ponder them.

Another fine novel by Paulo Coelho. We find the struggle of temptation, between good and evil, light and darkness. A dying village is asked to choose between losing their soul or sacrificing the soul of another to provide the riches necessary to save the village. The stranger in their midst is also struggling with the same elements of his own soul, as is the protagonist, Miss Prym. Underlying all of this is a village with a history of conversion, choice and the legend of St. Savin and the conversion of Ahab. In the end, we realize that Good and Evil struggle within every soul, and we have the ability to choose. Saints can be sinners and sinners saints given circumstances - it is up to us to control and choose our fate.

The Devil and Miss Prym is one of my Most favorite books of all time. I first read it in Spanish and now got it in English to read it again. It is such a smart tale of wits. Paolo Coelho is a brilliant author! His tales keep you interested and always have some sort of life lesson to be learned from them. His books have changed my life, they are amazing and transport you to another world. Give it a read you won’t regret it.

The Devil and Miss Prym is a modern day fable regarding the inherent good or evil in humanity. In this tale, the devil comes to Georgia looking for a soul to steal... wait, that wasn't it. The devil comes to the town of Viscos with a proposition for the townsfolk. Eleven gold bars are buried in the woods and the people of Viscos are welcome to the fortune, which is sure to turn the tide for the town setting them on a trajectory to prosperity. However, the only way to obtain the fortune is to break one of the Ten Commandments: Thou Shalt Not Kill. If the people of the town kill one of their own, the devil will know that people are inherently evil. If they do not act, there just may be goodness in humanity after all. The premise of the story started out interesting, but the good v. evil bickering grew old and the prose became tired and predictable. My recommendation is to skip the book and take the gold. No moral dilemma with that recommendation at all.

This book was just like Mr. Coelho other great books. It is written wonderfully. The story is exciting and keeps you on the edge wanting more with little nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout. This is a good read and I would definitely recommend reading this book.

This book, The Devil and Miss Prym, a Novel of Temptation, was fascinating, for an elderly women saw a stranger come into town, with the devil by his side. He challenges Miss Prym, and asks her to pose a question to the whole community. She resists, but finally agrees. What happens is a wonderful story. I challenge you to read this book, and think about what you would do.

I was a big Coelho fan after reading The Alchemist, which is a simple but deep story. Coelho writes very well, or at least the translations don't lose any of his prose, but I found the story to be a bit flat and preachy. If you have seen any Hollywood movies or read fairy tales, it is no more than they can offer. It was an easy book to read and entertaining, but did not leave me enlightened.