A couple of friends convinced me to read this book because one of them is planning to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in a few months. Christmas made a huge error at the beginning of her odyssey, when she allowed her 14 travel companions, most of whom she had never met, to believe she was leading the group. The misunderstanding continued when she neglected to set them straight. Most of her account deals with the interpersonal relationships within her group and other people she met on the Camino. I found her attitude somewhat irritating. It appeared that she was more concerned with being accepted, and that didn't necessarily involve forming friendships.

I suspect the consultation with her psychic before heading out may have been fictional, but it gave the story a whiff of drama that was a fun touch. Apart from ripping off a fingernail, she didn't suffer any injuries beyond the expected wear and tear of walking 800 kilometres. That she finally reached the end of the walk was surprising, but it was an anticlimactic finish instead of being the grand conclusion of a pilgrimage. I hope my friend has a better time on "the Camino".

I didn't enjoy the story enough to give it any more than three stars, but as an aid to would-be pilgrims it clearly deserves more, so, four stars. ( )

An honest pilgrim on the Camino: The literature on the Camino de Santiago can be divided into three categories: 1) guidebooks, 2) memoirs, and 3)travelogues which take the middle path between the other two. Jane Christmas' book is definitely a memoir. One can get some practical advice and useful hints from it to walk the Camino but, on the whole, the book is quite skimpy on topographical and historical details. Nevertheless, Jane Christmas captures well the atmosphere of the Camino which can be sometimes exhilarating, sometimes exasperating. She also has a keen eye for the phoniness so often coming up to the surface during this 780 km-long walk:

"New Age crap about "needing the group", "bonding with our sisters", "connecting with each other's souls", and the "incredible magic of the Camino" began to piss me off. If I heard the word "awesome" one more time, I was going to scream." (pp. 127-128)

"What the Psychic..." is also well-researched and well-edited. I found in it only two questionable statements: on page 46 it says that the Camino Frances is the longest route to Santiago while this distinction belongs to the Camino de Levante, the Via de la Plata taking the second place. On page 164 Hieronymus Bosch's triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" is said to be located in Bruges, Belgium, but in fact it belongs to the Prado Museum in Madrid (the Groeninge Museum in Bruges owns his triptych "The Last Judgment", somewhat similar to the right wing of "The Garden", hence probably the confusion.)

These minor errors do not spoil at all Jane Christmas' book which I would like to highly recomment to all the past and future travellers on the Camino.

Really enjoyed this book. Going to review it at book club.