My Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
Publisher - Harper CollinsGenre - Philosophy/Fiction
Publishing year - 1988
Language - English
ISBN - 978-81-7223-498-0
Pages - 161
Book Review -
A Fable About Following Your Dream
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho writes The Alchemist. It is a story about a shepherd named Santiago, who dreamed of some treasure hidden near the Great Pyramids of Egypt. He lives in Spain but has always wanted to see the world, and this dream allows him to do that.
He was helped by an older man who told him to follow the omens, and he did. He left Spain and reached the Arab, where he learned different life skills and lessons. Just when he is accustomed to his new life, he realizes why he started his journey in the first place and that it's time to move on.
In the desert, he met an alchemist who chaperoned him further toward attaining his goal. He also met the love of his life and learned the meaning of genuine devotion. All the people he met and the situations he faced made him wiser, stronger, and more intellectual. But did he find the treasure? Or was it merely a reference to a pearl of significant wisdom about life?
The story is fast-paced and straight to the point. Paulo Coelho didn't lecture anything; instead, he just wrote a story and left it to the readers to emanate meaning according to their state of mind.
My takeaways from the book are -
1. Life is an endless loop.
2. Never forget where you came from.
3. Dare to follow your goals into the unknown.
4. Be ready to learn new things.
5. Everything happens for a reason, even if you're not able to comprehend it at that time.
I recommend this book to beginner-level readers.
One of Paulo Coelho's best work to date
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