- Paulo Coelho
I read this little piece of awesomeness a few months ago but for some sad reason I am only now getting around to blogging about it. I remember enough about it to tell you I would rather blog about it a little late than not at all. Years in the future when I am looking at this site and remembering all the books that I read, or books that other people read that I should have read, I will be pleased to stumble across the memory of this novel.
The Alchemist is not just a riveting story with vast depth and creativity, it also has a very loud theme of inspiration and destiny.
"To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation."
I actually thought the person who shared this book with me just wanted me to enjoy a good read, but now thinking about everything, they were probably trying to wet my thirst to dream and strive.
Here's an insight to the novel from the 20th anniversary version of the book that I have:
Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts."
Reading that little preliminary again helps me to remember in better detail what happened in the novel and with those memories return a surge of pleasant emotions.
As a lifelong Christian I've been gravely invested and familiarized with stories containing characters, settings, and events that I could never relate to in a practical way. I am at a disadvantage in identifying with them because of the thousands of years between myself and the Bible stories. There are thousands of miles between where I have resided my whole life and the parts of the world written about in the Good Book, places I have never visited. In the Bible I read about shepherds, fishermen, kings, merchants, donkeys, deserts, famines, droughts, and travelling by foot. I on the other hand have always lived in a huge metropolitan city that is almost virgin to earthquakes and hurricanes, and I am exposed to ever advancing technology with cars, airplanes, cell phones, and computers.
The Alchemist brought to life certain Bible stories in such an intimate way, it aloud me to experience a world beyond my horizon. Coelho does not just plainly tell Bible stories in The Alchemist, he penned the novel to take place within the demographics, geography, culture, way of life, history, and population that relate to the Bible. For that I am very grateful, as well as very motivated to read this book again now even though I just read it a couple months ago.
I highly recommend this novel, for way more reasons than I have mentioned, but I am not trying to convince anyone to read it, I just want to remember it.
"People say strange things, the boy thought. Sometimes it's better to be with the sheep, who don't say anything. And better still to be alone with one's books. They tell their incredible stories at the time when you want to hear them. But when you're talking to people, they say some things that are so strange that you don't know how to continue the conversation."
P.s. The Alchemist has a really feel good, climatic ending.
I am anxious to read Coelho's other books. Have you read any?
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