Alchemist

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Average customer rating 3.7 (22 comments)

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A very inspiring and positive book, it actually gives me hope that the things that I aspire for will in the end I would achieve if only I strive hard and don't lose hope until I get it. Sometimes the detours and the problems that we face now were later on in our life will make sense and when you remember that moment especially if you had overcome it you will know that you are thankful for that to happen because in the end you would learn something from it.

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Potentially Didactic The Alchemist can be either intuitive or didactic depending on one’s mindset going into the novel. It has the potential to teach what some may call valuable lessons, and others preaching to the point of annoyance. If readers approach the book with a firm scientific understanding of the world, this novel won't appeal to them as much as those who are open to new ideas, because they won’t be able to relate to the majority of Coelho’s thoughts. Since The Alchemist circulates many different religious viewpoints, it will seem very didactic to those who try to apply all Coelho’s ideas to their own lives. This is the kind of book that is overwhelming if taken in as a whole, so readers must understand that not every concept will be relatable. It would be unfair to negatively label the book based on those ideas that are unrelatable, because The Alchemist has so many valuable lessons that every reader can take away at least something. For some, however, there is only a small portion they can connect to (which often results in dislike of the novel). One may agree with Coelho’s concept that God placed every living thing on the earth to fulfill it’s personal legend and reject the idea of Santiago conversing with the sun, while others believe the opposite. For this reason, there is no way to determine how much someone will take away from this book prior to reading it. Reading the back or hearing about it from another won’t have any impact, as there are too many ideas to summarize in this novel. One just has to pick it up, and see how much they learn.

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In a world of literature based on spirituality, religion, and quests for self-betterment, there is one book that takes all of these concepts and beats them all to a bloody pulp. That book is Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. The Alchemist is obnoxious, preachy, and full of bad lessons for the reader while being posed as “good” lessons. The story begins with a shepherd boy, Santiago, who, after having a dream of treasure in the pyramids twice, decides to act literally on his dreams and go search for treasure. Instead of planning out this venture, Santiago sells all of his sheep, talks to a magical king, and sets off to the pyramids with nothing but some money and the idea that he should treat everything as an omen, and to follow them. The prospect of acting literally on dreams is so unrealistic that the possibility of it being a relatable story is whisked away in the first few pages. Santiago’s quest takes him through many trials, such as being stolen from several times and trying to turn into the wind. Santiago tells himself that he will make his own decisions despite relying almost entirely on Paulo Coelho’s religion sandwich of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and even his own philosophy. Coelho’s proposes the thought that everything in the world has a soul, which forms the Soul of the World through a hierarchal soul-tower. Santiago’s reliance on his religion is so great that he bets his life on it several times, one occasion based entirely on seeing some birds fight. Santiago is told that everyone has a Personal Legend, which is essentially a destiny that people don’t realize and can choose to follow. It is, however, the only thing that will make them happy. Santiago’s Personal Legend, as he is told, is to find treasure in the pyramids. He is also told that the whole world will conspire to assist to him in achieving his goal. This is not evident, as it seems everything works against him (he is stolen from, beaten, and put in generally risky situations). Santiago is also told that coincidence does not exist, which explains why he sees everything as an omen (flying birds, snakes in a hole) and to be noticed and treated like something important in his life. The worst parts of the book are not even in the story, but the pretentiousness of Paulo Coelho. This book creates his own religion (a Coelho Cult, if you will), through the binding of other religions. Coelho makes attempts to be philosophical with the quote (by the alchemist) “Everything that happens once can never happen again, but something that happens twice will surely happen a third time”. If something were to happen once, it would never happen again. For something to happen twice (and, evidently, a third time), it would defy the previous statement. Coelho’s own philosophy is a paradox. In short, the book is most likely more enjoyed by those of spiritual belief or religious than those without.

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I thought that The Alchemist was a very insightful novel. Paulo Coelho included many useful life lessons to show to the readers and gave them a chance to examine their own lives and how they live them. The books' simplicity makes it great for all ages and it being so simple makes it so easy to interpret and understand. It is chalked-full of valuable life lessons and ideas that every human being should know or at least be aware of; from listening to your heart and following your dreams, to being one with the world and at peace with what is around you. So many ideas from a variety of religions and faiths have been tossed at you and all you need to do it read the book. Coelho could not have done a better job piecing together hundreds of ideas from so many religions to show how really similar we all are. He has done the human race a huge favor by showing us that no matter who or what we believe in, even if its nothing, that together we still all are very similar and can achieve anything if we work together. The Alchemist has a mix of different levels of realistic qualities throughout the novel. At some points the book almost becomes boring, however when the tension starts to build and events become exciting, it definitely makes this a worth while read. I personally didn't love this book however I still think that it is a good book. It was written well and for a large variety of audiences and will be an inspirational book for years to come.

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An Imperfect Gem The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho won’t change your life dramatically, but it will make you pause for a moment to consider the world. On the surface, it’s a simple fable about a shepherd who chooses to follow his dreams. If you can look deeper into the book, though, you begin to understand people’s fascination with it. The choice of whether or not to delve further into it is yours, but if you do, be prepared for a novel that you won’t soon forget. The lessons The Alchemist teaches are ones most of us have known since we could tie our shoes--listen to your heart, work hard and reap the rewards, and most importantly, follow your dreams. Coelho has a way of sharing his philosophies without shoving them down your throat. Were there things I didn’t agree with? Sure. But I still thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It’s nice to take a step back and reflect on the basics. I stopped several times just to absorb what I had read. I was frequently touched by Coelho’s simple but whimsical words. The main character, Santiago, learns and grows so much through his journey, that you can’t help but feel like you grew a little bit alongside him. However, no book is without its flaws--The Alchemist is no exception. It’s not an artful masterpiece. The characters aren’t complex enigmas. The language is blunt and Coelho’s lessons are clearly outlined parables. The plot is mediocre and offers few surprises along the way. But through these imperfections is still a small gem. Imperfect or not, this book can remind us of the important things that your average day rarely does. If you want a book to touch you in a way that most can’t, I suggest picking up a copy of The Alchemist to see what you think of it for yourself.

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The Alchemist is a good attempt to teach life lessons but can lose the reader quickly. Paulo Coelho uses the few characters that are relevant in the book to demonstrate following dreams and taking risks but those risks were sometimes un-realistic and result in a poor reading experience. While on the journey with Santiago, you can find yourself rooting for the shepherd and connecting with his struggles. It is easy to become skeptical of the boy’s decisions. Several times in the story, the boy cites “The Omens” as his gut feeling when making substantial life decisions without considering the possible consequences or giving them much thought at all. The story soon becomes un-believable and begins to just feel like a fairy tale. The life lessons and meaning seem to get lost and the story leaves you wondering if the boy really does have magical powers. I started to lose the ability to relate with the boy and the story at about that point. During the journey, the boy is told to “Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it comes from the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there.” It is easy to get lost when the boy is talking to himself or to different parts of the Soul of the World. It can sometimes feel like this magical force is more developed than any of the other characters in the story, especially the two women. That under development really takes away from the feelings or relativity to any of the other characters other than Santiago. Overall, The Alchemist is an entertaining story full of life lessons when the boy is repeatedly told to listen to his heart and follow his dreams. The reader can find themselves lost in the story at times and then skeptical on the next page. But at the end of the day, it is a flawed attempt to teach many life lessons in a short story of a boy in the desert.

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This “novel” was repetitive and degrading to women. The main theme of the book was that the journey, not the destination is the important part. This lesson was stressed many times throughout the book. Although this is an important lesson, having several people teach this to the main character and several stories within the story with this moral may have been a bit of overkill. Any reader could glean this speck of knowledge without so much as a second glance at the words or any thought about the book and meaning at all. Most of the story was completely straight forward including some parts which made women seem weak and helpless. About halfway through the book the main character, Santiago, falls in love with a girl living the town he is passing through. When Santiago is talking to the girl about not wanting to leave to finish his “personal legend,” she tells him that he should go and that she understands that men must leave. She tells him she will await his return and that, being a “desert woman”, it is what she must do. Later, after Santiago tells the girl that he is leaving and she begins to cry, he asks her why she is crying. She replies, “I’m a woman of the desert, but above all I’m a woman.” This reply makes it seem as though women are powerless creatures who cannot help but cry. This remains consistent throughout the “novel.” This “novel” could have easily been condensed into a short story. Although there is a message in it, the way the message shown makes it sound as though this story could have been written to children and not the adults it was shot towards. It seems as though the author simply forgot who his audience was. All of these notes considered, it would be a good book to read to a child. However, if you want to find a book to read that commands higher order thinking or you want to find a story that has women who actually seem like humans right along-side the men, then I recommend searching elsewhere.

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I have heard many opinions of this book good and bad. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is about a young man trying to accomplish his personal legend, or his goal, as he undergoes a long and eventful journey. This book has won many prestigious awards and has much international acclaim and I thought that it was worth giving a shot. It took a little bit of time to learn to apply the morals to my own life and I had to remind myself that this story is a fable. If one is not a fan of fantasy stories this book is not for them but personally I learned a lot of good values from the book. The characters that the boy meet and the events that they experience bring about a lot of inspiration and motivation. The book really stresses the importance and greatness of having extreme goals and achieving them. As a teenager I enjoyed reading the book because I could easily relate to the age and mind of the main character. I could apply my goals to the efforts that he put into his. Paulo Coelho did an excellent job depicting scenes and getting messages and mood across clearly one example being, “I’ve crossed these sands many times-- But the desert is so huge, and the horizons so distant, that they make a person feel small, and as if he should remain silent.” This is one example of where the author provokes thoughts from the reader. All in all I recommend this book not just because is well known but because the message is clear and the journey is interesting. It was inspirational and motivating for me and will be for anyone who reads it.

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Definitely a Fable, but with Good Intentions “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho was a little too much like hearing stories of Santa Claus as a kid. The story tells of a boy who goes on a journey to find his treasure and learns many useful facts about life along the way. These lessons were taken from many religions and philosophies, and teachings that we have all learned growing up. These ideas were very unrealistic at times and hard to follow. As a child, it is satisfying to hear that Santa will reward good behavior with presents on Christmas morning; reading “The Alchemist” was the same way. Much of the focus was on how the journey is more important than the treasure at the end, and all the world will conspire to help you achieve your dreams. I liked toying with the ideas of the Soul of the World and omens. However, these concepts, like Santa, are hard to fathom in reality. This makes it a challenging book to focus on and pull true meaning out of. Coelho enlightens readers with philosophies about following your heart and living your dreams, and you will be rewarded with your treasures. It was too overloaded and complex on these ideas though. It was just not my cup of tea. This novel was such a mixture of religions and so unfocused that it became boring and repetitive, especially toward the end. However, with so many different philosophies and ideas included, anyone could pick out parts that they remember and take to heart. The thought that the treasure hunt is greater than the treasure was proven by the end of the book, which was annoyingly insufficient (unlike the rest of the plot). Overall, “The Alchemist” had thoughtful philosophies and an excessive amount of fantasy. Coelho had good intentions with his novel but it was too jumbled and did not do him justice.

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The mysteries and life lessons in The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, are what make this book incredible. Not only are there mysteries around every corner, the book itself is a mystery. You have to read between the lines to uncover the hidden messages that come with every section of the book. You have to dig deeper in order to realize the importance of the book and why you should to read it. Santiago, the main character, takes a journey to find his treasure that he keeps dreaming about. He encounters some people along the way that become great friends and guide Santiago closer to his treasure. He learns so many important things along this journey that make him a stronger and more intelligent human being. Through each section in the book is a hidden message that also guides Santiago closer to his treasure. By investigating each section, you unmask the true message and what it means or symbolizes. I feel like one of the most important and helpful lessons in the book is one said by a camel driver Santiago meets. He said, “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 apart of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now” (85). The camel driver means that if you focus on right now and don’t worry about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow, you’ll be alright. You don’t need to worry about anything else except the moment you are living right now. I believe the journey itself is Santiago’s treasure. The book helped me to understand- as everyone should- that it doesn’t matter about how much money you own or the clothes you wear, it’s about the friendships and knowledge you gain throughout life and on your journey that produce the real treasure. Because of that journey Santiago chooses to take is what makes the book mysterious yet incredible.

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When I first started reading Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, I thought it was the most inspiring book I’d ever read. I loved the messages Coelho used and the spiritual metaphors he constantly connect to real life. However, after a certain point it became very repetitive, and I felt that the same messages were being restated over and over again. I still found the book fascinating, but the constant preaching of morals and values started to irritate me. For example, the term “Personal Legend” was first introduced on page 21. As interesting and important a topic as it was, the idea that one must always be striving for it was repeated consistently until page 163. This became frustrating to me about halfway through the novel. Granted, it is an important part of the book, but it was used repeatedly as if we were small children who didn’t listen the first 15 times. The book had me completely spiritually enticed up until page 140 when the alchemist stated that Santiago “could destroy [the] camp just with the force of the wind”. The morals and messages expressed seemed relatively realistic until we found out that the boy had to become the wind. Usually I love fantasy fiction book, but this passage didn’t fit in with the overall mood of the story, simply because The Alchemist is not a fantasy fiction novel. The things I believe about The Alchemist are just on man’s opinion. The book was excellently written other than these things I have displayed, and has the power to create a permanent effect on the reader.

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The Alchemist- while juxtaposed in many aspects, it depends heavily on the impression of its audience. To a soul seeking wanderer, or an adolescent new to real world conflicts, this book would appear as motivational and optimistic. It promotes the simple motif that bases the entire book- “When you really want something, to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true.” It inspires similar individuals to whole-heartedly dedicating themselves to their personal dream. I do appreciate the flexibility the readers age could be, but I personally am not a blank canvas searching for inspirations to paint my life with. The universal religion Coelho creates offensively combines quotes from the Koran, Bible, and ideas form mythology and Budhism, as if the author was trying to appeal to all, yet attempting to only speak for them as an individual religion. It excuses Santiago’s naivety to believe the mythical “Soul of the World”, is accurate! The realism also lacks, as simple and unrealistic ideas such as speaking to spirits and incessant talk of fate propel Santiago to his perfect world materialized treasure. The book for its concept is fair in quality, but the repetitious redundancies are too simple to personally connect with.

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The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, is a simplistically written novel with a good storyline that is ruined by the didactic teachings of the author, and the inconstancy of the genre and main message. One of the first problems of The Alchemist is that it was translated from Portuguese into English; this created a simplistic tone to the writing and a few points that may be confusing to the reader. Although, this doesn’t take away from the overall impression of the book, it can be annoying. The book starts out with a realistic tone about a shepherd boy following his dreams, but that quickly turns into a totally unrealistic climax with the main character talking to inanimate objects. This change of genre totally ruined The Alchemist for me, but if you are looking for a fantasy story then this is the book for you. When I was reading The Alchemist I couldn’t avoid the omnipresent morals that engulfed the storyline. An example of one of these quotes is said when the King of Salem tells the boy that “To realize one’s own destiny is a person’s only real obligation”. The presence of so many themes like the one above takes away from the quality, and the readability of The Alchemist. There are a few good messages, but they are so diluted by the numerous bad ones that they lost some of their impact. But the book wasn’t all bad, it made me think about my life and made me ask myself “am I fore filling my destiny, and living my life to the fullest. Infrequently one of the lessons reached out and made total sense to me, but they weren’t life altering or anything, they were just deep enough to make me stop and think. Overall, I thought it was a just-above-average book. Meaning that I liked it, and it made a small impression on me, but I won’t be rereading it any time soon.

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The Alchemist is a very inconsistent book that provokes deep thought. The Alchemist leads you on a young Sheppard's journey. Which turns into a testament of self-betterment. Though the strong religious tones contradict the boys self-betterment process, distracting the reader from some of the main points of the book. The main character cuts all ties with his homeland and heads off in pursuit of treasure. Along the way learning "life lessons" from a 200 year old alchemist he coincidentally met along the way. The alchemist teaches the boy lessons of true purpose and higher living. However the lessons seem to be the personal philosophy or doctrine of the author. This book provides a slow paced conflicted view of a world in which everyone taps into their own personal power or the magic inside them. It encourages readers to stop whatever it is that they are doing in life and blindly pursue dreams. Which displays a lack of discipline in the main character that can be traced back to the author. The Alchemist promises adventure and treasure but lack the reality that would allow the modern reader to connect with it (the book) on an everyday level. Although it provokes deep thought on several aspects of life. For example happiness the boy learns though stories and teachings from the King of Salem that true happiness is the ability to enjoy the world to your fullest capability. All the while remembering personal obligations and responsibilities. In short the book is a highly conflicted and at times confusing read.

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This book is great for readers wanting to learn what it means to have a choice and make a risk. Author Paulo Coehlo captures the whimsy of a world with difficulty and hardships, but shows us that there's still hope. I loved this book and couldn't put it down!

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Great book,makes you think about life and life lessons.

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Coelho took threads of the various religions at the time (sometime after the invention of the printing press and before modern day) and braided them together beautifully. Santiago gains wisdom from nearly everything he interacts with throughout the story �" the people, his sheep, the desert, and the wind. For those of you who listen to the audio version: Jeremy Irons has been one of my favorite actors for some time, and one of the reasons is because of his voice. I have always found his voice intense and somewhat mysterious; he was an excellent choice for this novel. What I liked: Adventure; magic; a story about personal growth; sheep; pyramids; Jeremy Irons. What I disliked: There are only 3 women in this book, all with small roles, 2 of which have the role of Romantic Interest; none of the ladies have a Personal Legend to fulfill.

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One of the most inspiring books I've ever read. Every page will fill you with a greater ambition to follow your dreams, or your "Personal Legend." A wonderful book for young and old, because it's never too late to learn to listen to your heart.

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Adventurous and inspiring.

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Great book to read or listen to. I listened to it, which I think added to the folk storyteller feel of it. It is so cram packed with deep thoughts, engaging stories, questions of faith, and memorable "stick in your mind" quotes. I want to own this book. It's one of my favorites, ever.

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In traveling alongside Santiago, the protagonist in pursuit of personal treasure, my college students and I have a greater appreciation of the power within we all possess when we view the glass as half full. A small sampling of many resonant reminders throughout Coelho's credo: --To realize one's Personal Legend is a perons's only real obligation. All things are one. --When each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises. --Santiago realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure. --When you can't go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward. --There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. --When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.

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This book is a marvellous write up ...about the tryst with the destiny..about chasing the dream...and the courage to transcend all the barriers to realise that dream. This book reiterate one very well known but still not so popular belief that those who have faith on God and on themselves can get whatever they desire. This book is very engrossing...could not stop myself once i started reading it....was so eager n impaitient to know that will Santiago pursue his dream after so many imediments....but the boy was having fire for his desire ..so nothing could have stop him...a superb book on chasing a dream to turn it into destiny.