As Valkírias
It's been absolutely ages since I read this book, originally published in Portuguese as As Valkírias and translated to English by Alan R Clarke. As a consequence, I don't really remember much about it, other than I found it a bit too metaphysical for my liking. All of Coelho's books are like that to various degrees, even mega-smash-hit The Alchemist and my quirky fav Veronika Decides to Die. For some reason, I just couldn't really connect with this one.
Trying to refresh my memory as to the book's plot, I've seen a fair few people who shared my sentiment; the book strays further into abstraction and the search for meaning than his others. Of course, a great many people go in for that sort of thing, but it's not totally my cup of tea. — You win some, you lose some, even when you're one of the world's best-selling authors.
I did learn, obviously, that Coelho is Brazilian and not Portuguese, as I had thought all this time. I wasn't even really aware that his books were translations, so special kudos to the translators for doing such a fine job.
