The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho > Reviews (29)

"Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever."

That's a pretty impressive claim, and one that is echoed by the rest of the gushing praise on the back cover of The Alchemist. Coehlo's work is much-adored, and such was the level of esteem directed its way, I felt it would be tantamount to criminal neglect not to give it a go. After all, it's only a slim little fellow, so wasn't going to be heavy going, and anything that can condense such apparent quality to such an extent had to be something special.

The tale acquaints us with Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd-boy who travels with his sheep around the country, and, as we meet him, is currently looking forward to returning to the village where he met a merchant's daughter a year ago, hoping no-one else has since asked for her hand. However, stopping at Tarifa, he meets a Gyspy woman who reads dreams, and imparts that which has been running through his head: A child is playing with his flock, who have no fear of him ~ he acknowledges Santiago, and suddenly whisks the shepherd away to the Egyptian Pyramids, where he tells him he will find his treasure.

The gypsy tells him that he must follow his dreams, and agrees to take one tenth of any treasure that Santiago might find, and our hero sets off to cross the sea to Tangiers. A King aids him, taking part of his flock, and from here, he journeys over to Africa and across the continent, coming across a host of people who help him along his way, imparting various gems of knowledge and insight. A Merchant, with whom he works to gain enough money to continue his journey, an Englishman, searching for the Alchemist (who possesses the secrets to gaining the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone, and acts as Santiago's spiritual guide), and a woman of the desert, to become the love of his life.

This is certainly not an original and innovative structure being dealt with here - boy goes on treasure hunt, comes to village, meets character, leaves, comes to city, meets character, leaves ...

As such, the basic plot and characters (other than Santiago) are simply vehicles for the real tale being told - the people our boy meets contribute little in terms of interesting personalities to the book, and there are no substantial deviations from the routine procession from point A to point B in the storyline, save for a minor twist at the end.

Having said that, this is not the focus of the novel - the characters are deliberately vague and unimposing, so as to allow the philosophical musings and life lessons to come through unhindered. Although this can feel a bit awkward and forced, when an individual who has barely been introduced launches straight into intellectual debate on "The Soul of the World", or complex issues of Alchemy, it does focus attention on Coelho's key points.

When he meets up with the Alchemist, Santiago learns to communicate with this soul, that which runs through everything that has been created, becoming able to speak the language of the world through listening to his heart.

If such ideas appear overly syrupy and cliched to you, this isn't likely to be a book you appreciate, for there is little else here but such lessons.

"Remember ... the world is only the visible aspect of God. And that alchemy does is to bring spiritual perfection into contact with the material place."

Coelho's writing is smooth and liquid; it runs off the page at a fair old rate, and you should be able to slip through it in a couple of hours. He's not a superb writer, though - he often resorts to telling, rather than showing, the reader the emotions of the characters, especially those minor ones; tacking "he said, frustrated," or such like onto the end of a fairly unremarkable portion of dialogue.

Personally, I couldn't quite see this as a life-changing work; it is thought-provoking at times, and deals with some nice concepts relating to pursuing your dreams, recognising and believing in signs and ways to change your life. However, these ideas exist in little more than a fable - the story itself is relatively weak, and remains in the memory for a suprisingly small period. Although I was rather taken with the book the first time around, I soon forgot most of what I had read. By all means read - you'll likely enjoy, but don't expect to come out of it a changed person.