Book Review: Adventures on the Camino de Santiago

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Julie Maggi

Edizioni dei cammini

Rome 2016

A sharp vein of self-irony runs through every page, a "model of perfect machinery" through which to express freely and without taking herself too seriously her experience on the Way.

A "spiritual" journey, far removed from any religious doctrine or belief, the Way of St. James becomes almost an adventure that fills her with renewed energy in the face of the unknown. And so she asks herself whether it is possible to "carry with you into everyday life this drive to keep going, despite everything" and with it "this openness to the world".

Because if there is one thing you learn about Julie, it is her desire to meet people, to open herself to the world through them, driven by curiosity and a love of what is different.

Friendship becomes a central theme in the book and in her experience as a pilgrim, just as Matteo becomes her inseparable companion, one of the few constants throughout the entire journey.

Physical pain and the difficulty of walking with serenity will cause her more than a few moments of crisis, but the help found along the Way and the strength she rediscovers within herself allow her to continue to the end.

What shapes her Way of St. James are not the churches, palaces, or villages she passes through, but the memories linked to them, the scents, the people she meets, the emotions she experiences.

And there is no shortage of intimate questioning about why she is on the pilgrimage, a question to which she will find an answer only once she returns home.

Halfway through, however, among the many reflections that emerge, one thought stands out above all others, capturing her vision of the Way: "This journey is like the water of a river that flows and mingles. Each of us is a drop in this river. Together we mix our strengths, our energies, our struggles. In the end, the reason that drove the person beside me to set out becomes mine, and mine becomes theirs."

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