El demonio y la senorita Prym (The Devil and Miss Prym) Book

This is one of those books where "this book was about ___," is not nearly as important as "this book made me think about ___." And because of the book's popularity, you probably already know what it's about anyway. If not, here's a refresher: it's about the battle between good and evil. There are angels and devils, a rogue wolf, an arms dealer, a bar wench and it all takes place in a rural community, purportedly in Brazil.

I've read some critiques of this book and one of the complaints I keep seeing over and over again are people complaining about how cliché it is to write a book about good and evil. "Give me a break, it's all been done before, gag me with a spoon, Christian guilt…, boring, stupid, bla-bla-bla…"

My reaction to those responses is difficult to put into words. Because on one hand, I agree. I'm sick of hearing about it and feeling like it's being jammed down my throat in ways that are insulting, naïve, dull, etc. But on the other hand, I feel like I'd be lying to myself if I didn't admit that the concept of an otherworldly battle between good and evil really rings my bell.

I've been thinking about this book almost non-stop for the past couple days (hence the five star review). Yesterday afternoon in the food court'I was thinking about angels and devils. Last night when we took a tour through a house that's for sale'I was thinking about good vs. evil. This morning on the bus'are humans inherently good or inherently evil? Or are we simply tempted by one or the other? Do we have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other whispering into our ears? Where did evil come from? How did it get here? It's all very interesting and it will make your head spin if you let it. I did.

The book is also relatively short so even though I'm back to work after a Christmas break that was jam-packed with reading, so don't have nearly as much time to read for pleasure, I still read this book in about two days. Not bad.