The Alchemist

2.5, It had its inspiring moments but overall was full of farce.

Surely I'm missing something here, but this short fable felt super contrived and barebones. The characters didn't feel alive, it felt like they were carrying out straightforward actions to drive home a message that feels cliché even for 1988. I think the notion of pursuing something you want relentlessly is a little outdated, as is Fatima's role as "woman who pines for the main character to return".

This wasn't bad, but the whole time I was reading this, I felt taught - and that is my least favorite feeling when reading fiction. If I want a book to teach me something outright, I'd like it to be nonfiction, thanks.

I read every book two times. For the first time, I don't judge, but only feel thing the book normally let me feel. On the second time, I judge it with the eyes and ears of my own logics.

The Alchemist is a good read indeed. I read it in English. Due to translation, some literary value must be lost, but still it is amazing.

The Storytelling is really natural to Paulo Coehlo. It is also a good inventory of middle-eastern/Arabian philosophy which is compatible with todays Sufi Philosophy.

Though I am a non-believer and most of the theories here are obsolete to me, I can't deny that it was a real pleasure to read this book.


Pardon my English, I am not a native speaker.