The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
was/is one of those trendy books everyone, and I do mean everyone, was reading
back in the 1990’s -- only I never read it, until now. As is my usual habit, I read some reviews of the
book after I finished it. What I discovered was that
some 50,000 reviews of The Alchemist have been written, which underscores just
how big of an international best seller it has been.
Many of the reviews insisted on
categorizing it as a “self-help” book because of its “pursue your dream” message. While I’m okay with that, I think it might
be a bit simplistic – call it a related collection of philosophy essays, with more than a few religious undertones, and
you get my vote.
The book follows the adventures
of a shepherd boy living in Andalusia.
He has a vivid dream which repeats itself. When he goes to a Gypsy for help in interpreting
the dream, the adventures begin: he
sells his sheep and follows his dream.
It’s a fun story that includes traveling across the Sahara
Desert from Morocco to the Pyramids. It
includes tribal warfare, love, lots of hard work with business success, robbery
and mysticism of the natural environment.
It includes shepherds, Gypsies, bakers, kings, crystal merchants, an
Englishman, and caravans.
While it’s not an original plot,
it is a beautifully written version of it.
The 25th Anniversary
edition of the book, which is what I read, contains an introduction by the author
that is interesting when placed in the context of the book. Apparently when it was first written it did not sell many
copies, but Coelho never gave up on his Personal Legend of being a major
author.
Recommendation: Make some tea,
grab an afghan and pull up a chair.
Enjoy.
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