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| The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho |
Book title:
The Alchemist
Author:
Paulo Coelho
Genre:
Literary fiction
First
published: 1988
177 pages
My rating:
5/5
“Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.”
An Andalusian shepherd boy Santiago has a recurring dream about finding a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. A Romani woman and a mysterious old man convince him to follow his dream, and the boy embarks on a journey across the Sahara Desert.
The Alchemist is Paulo Coelho’s second novel, originally published in Portuguese in 1988. The English translation is by Alan R. Clarke. This was a short but impactful read. I almost want to reread it immediately and annotate it, which I almost never do to a book.
The story itself is simple and straightforward. This is a tale of self-discovery where we and the boy learn about the importance of listening to your heart, recognizing opportunity, and following your dreams. As such, The Alchemist reads almost like a self-help book. Now, I don’t usually read self-help, but the novel format made the material less preachy and more easily digestible, and the lessons in the book resonated with me.
If I have one criticism for this book, it’s the thinness of the female characters—or rather, a female character, since Fatima is practically the only female character in the book if we don’t count the short scenes with the Romani fortune-teller and a nameless merchant’s daughter. Fatima and the merchant’s daughter never emerge as individuals and serve only as hindrances to the boy’s quest for the treasure and thus fulfilling his destiny.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book immensely, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone. Five stars, no questions about it.
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