The Alchemist: A book review
By: Jessica Mcaleer
Tags: The Alchemist, Book Review

The Alchemist: A book review

A lone Shepard, A crystal merchant, a king, an alchemist yet a tale that would supposedly change your life?

Now I’ve heard many tales about The Alchemist. Through word of mouth, I hear it is a classic and one of the best books to have been written in the 20th century. However you check the 'Good Reads' reviews on the book and see the startling amount of people expressing their deep hate for the book, saying that it is 'stupid' and 'doesn’t make sense’. Regardless of the rather opposing positive or negative views on the book, I decided to read it, having not read a book in a long time.

Immediately, upon reading the first few words, I thought to myself, do I really want to read this? I am a lover of fantasy books and get bored quite easily. I saw something about a Shepard or a gypsy or something and wasn’t sure if this was something I was willing to invest my time reading. However I stuck through and was positively rewarded. The first 16 pages, I pondered the life of this Shepard more deeply than I pondered the life of anyone before. I absolutely love the way the book illustrates the details of life, allowing us to fully envision the world around us in a way we haven’t before. I will note however that the book kind of skips around a little bit and I am left to wonder what this little part has to do with the actual book. I also saw how many pages the book had and wondered if the book would truly dive deep into its story, considering how little pages there were.

As the story progressed, I was brought through a rollercoaster of emotions. I felt it was absurd to completely give up everything you have and will ever do just because this old man tells you to do something. But I also believed in my heart that sometimes it was the right thing to do. Still, in a real life situation, this would have been a preposterous thing to do. I admire the boy for it though, not everybody would have the courage give up their entire life and life savings.

I am a little rusty on what exactly happened in the book which is concerning as I had finished it today, spending about a day to finish the entire book. I do remember the part with the king before he sold all his sheep. I like the way the author, through the king advises us on omens that will supposedly lead the boy all the way to his 'treasure’. It invited the audience to watch out for these omens, breaking the fourth wall and connecting with the readers.

It is after the crystal merchant and the meeting with the apprentice where things get interesting. The boy is travelling through the desert and here, he learns many things about the world. The writing is so deep here, it ponders the world and the way in which the world works unlike anything I have ever before. I can see the wisdom of the author flowing through his words. It is not a normal person who could spout such wisdom. The book doesn’t just teach the character lessons, it teaches the reader lessons. The author himself says that he put himself in the book, the book is for him and that’s what truly makes the book so spiritual and heartfelt. It’s connected at the root. This isn’t some shallow book that some author that didn’t care wrote. No, this story is so beautiful in its construction and so heartfelt and deep. Please keep in mind, I am not religious. I do not believe in a god nor any of that stuff but I can appreciate the spiritual way in which this book reflects on yourself and god. I am afraid I don’t make much sense here but the way the book talks about listening to your heart and the earth like they are some superhuman thing, makes me feel at one with the world. The book really makes you rethink everything and quoting something I read in a tik tok, it’s something you can read at multiple stages of your life and learn something new each time.

The book was written and published in 1988 by Paulo Coelho, a Brazillian author, the book was originally written in Portuguese. Some say that the book got lost somewhere in translation but I think its essence is right there. I truly appreciate the beauty in the serenity of the book. It goes deep and makes you appreciate the world around you, makes you connect to your roots more. It truly moves you. I sat there multiple times in the book thinking about certain quotes and pondering their complete genius. I could never think about life so deeply and put it into words so beautiful however the author does it beautifully.

'There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.'

‘ The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.’

‘Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity'

Read these quotes from the book and tell me they aren’t works of genius. I feel it true and it takes an extraordinary eye to be able to conjure something so deep and wise.

However as the book ends, I am left feeling as though the ending wasn’t truly satisfactory. I completely agree with how the way to achieve your dream is to fight for it and you will learn through acting upon it but to find out that the treasure *spoiler alert* wasn’t actually at the pyramids and in fact at the church was slightly disappointing yet slightly smart. The whole book was leading up to this one moment, through all the tests of strength and courage and wisdom and when the moment came, dissapointment floods through you when the boy finds no treasure at the pyramids of Egypt. I also don’t like it ends with him finding and the treasure and being like 'Cool, onto the next thing’. The treasure didn’t seem worth all the hype, I understand the point was for him to learn everything he did along the way however I am slightly dissappointed at his reaction. I was expecting something massive, something that would change his life forever. It was a bit anticlimactic I have to say.

Overall, I believe the book is a pretty great read, it’s quite short but is definitely quite complex, detailed and deep in those 79 pages. I have short term memory loss at this point and don’t remember much but I think it was really good, not my favourite book but was a great read nonetheless.

-Jess