THE PILGRIMAGE

Paulo Coelho walks the Camino de Santiago in Spain, seeking a sword with which to fulfill an initiation into an old religious society. Along the way, he is guided by a perspicacious man called Petrus and meets many mysterious characters, some devilish, others magical. Narrator Sean Runnette recounts Coehlo's odd anecdotes and interesting insights with a flat voice, which he attempts to modify somewhat when quoting the motley cast of characters. But they all sound uniform in Runette's rendering. Overall, Runnette interprets Coelho's first-person narrative with little imagination, as if the best way to make this implausible story more believable is to sound dispassionate. R.L.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2009]