Brida is a rambling narrative with a few rhetorical and sensible dialogues - a genuine trademark of Paulo Coelho's books. It is rather lengthy and boring, especially in the initial pages. Any undetermined reader is likely to close the book for good on the grounds that the general ennui caused by this material is enough to put their time into oblivion. Needless to say, it is a bad book for first-time readers. However, hardcore philosophers (or even the pseudo-ones) may have the "resources" dissect the long paragraphs and come up with life-changing POVs and the like. But if you're not, you could do yourself a favor: choose another novel to read.

I did not love the novel, but I did not regret reading it, anyway.