Book #83: The Alchemist

Book #83: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (translated by Alan R. Clarke)

April 12, 2014


The last couple of days have finally felt like springtime. I've been trying to get out and enjoy it with my dog. The problem is that when the weather changes, that's when I get sick. All winter long I'm totally fine, but right now I'm fighting a cold. It's not that bad; my throat hardly hurts anymore and I should be fine by Monday, just in time to go back to work. Yay.

Crashing out on the couch with my Kindle helps. This book is another that was on my ebook "wish list" for a while, and from the description, I was expecting a much longer book. It's actually a short, pleasant read. There's definitely a religiousy message about following God's path for you and communicating with God through nature, but the overall message if living life to the fullest and without fear is one that everybody can relate to.

The main character is Santiago, but after he is introduced, he is known as "the boy" throughout the rest of the book. The boy is a shepherd, and he took the job to be able to travel. A dream and the advice of two mysterious strangers sends him from his home in Spain to Egypt. I had an idea of how close Spain and Africa are from the descriptions in Don Quixote, but I was amazed to learn that it only took the boy two hours by ship to reach Egypt.

Even though the two lands are so close, with such intertwined histories, the Arab world is strange at first for the boy. After a couple of mishaps, he falls into a job as a crystal salesman, and he begins to see that things happen for a reason, and we must all make the most of the opportunities we are given, even if they seem to be accidents or inconveniences. That's one message that was powerful for me in the book. While I've envisioned my life going in a certain direction, unique opportunities have put me in unexpected but satisfying positions. Like the boy, I am ready to trust in life a bit more, and live more in the present. I feel like I have been letting opportunities pass me by in certain areas if my life, but I am ready to stop that . I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and the carpe diem tone of this book only reinforces that.

The title character shows up in the middle of the book. He, like the boy, listens to the world and watches for omens. He helps the boy travel across the desert, through the battlegrounds of warring tribesmen, to the Egyptian pyramids. The boy encounters more obstacles and lessons, but keeps his faith in his destiny. He ultimately finds his treasure in an unexpected place.

This book is uplifting, to be sure. It's like the cure for Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. If the translator was true to the spirit of Coelho's original, the book is simply written, but at times very complex. I think it would be a wonderful book to teach. I don't know that I gained anything from reading it; the lessons in the book aren't new. But they are true, and many of the boy's observations show true insight into the human spirit.