
In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Review, you’ll learn a story of a young Spanish boy named Santiago, who travels across the Mediterranean sea and Sahara desert to find his treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. The Alchemist book was published first in Portuguese in 1988. Now, the book has sold more than 65 million copies around the globe in many languages and is an international bestseller.
The Alchemist has intriguing and highly structured story, characters and messages for humankind. It’s short but an unforgettable fictional read.
For many years I’ve heard about the writers’s quotes and this book. But I read this books a few months ago. And couldn’t put the book down until I finished it. Here is the summary of the story and The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho Review.
Story And Characters
A young Spanish sheered boy, Santiago, want to follow his dreams. He doesn’t want to be a priest just like his father in Andalusia suburbia small town of Spain. So this Andalusian shepherd sets out on a journey to follow his dream of a big treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. He starts his journey with a flock of sheep that he sells later on as he crosses mediterranean sea and Sahara desert. As he embarks his journey, he meets many people who aid to give direction to his dreams and the journey. During the journey, first he meets a gypsy woman, who teaches him the meaning of his dreams. Next he meets Salem, a self proclaimed king, who gives him two lucky stones. Then he meets crooks who steal his money to board on a ship.
Consequently he meets a businessman in hills who owns a crystal shop. And the boy works there and collects money for his trip. Then during caravan journey, major characters are the camel man and an Englishman who advises him to meet the Alchemist if he wants to find exactly where his treasure is hidden in the pyramids of Egypt. And he meets many other characters such as crooks and looters, as he travels the sea and desert to reach the pyramids in Egypt.
Most important character, in Santiago’s personal legend, is the Alchemist. Without whom his quest for the treasure, couldn’t have been complete. He tells Santiago about elixir of life. And how to convert lead into gold, find his treasure and be happy in his life. As the boy crosses the desert in a caravan and reaches an oasis, Al Fayoum, he falls in love with a desert girl Fatima. But he sacrifices his love to carry on his journey to find the treasure. And Fatima too, encourages him to meet the Alchemist to follow his journey to the pyramids. Consequently at the end of the journey he finds out the treasure he was searching for all over the world is waiting for him in his own hometown church of Andalusia where he started from.
He is glad that he followed the pursuit of his journey that made him more brave, wiser, happy and experienced. Otherwise he would have been more fearful and unhappy in his life.
when a man peruses something with his whole heart , the whole universe conspires to give it to him. Share on X
The Alchemist Themes & Messages
- Every person has their treasure waiting for them.
- Believe in your dreams
- Listen to your heart
- Be in the present
- Pay attention to the omens.
- Pay attention to nature’s messages.
- Do not give in to your fears
- Humankind and nature work in unison
- Be brave and Be an Alchemist
The Alchemist Quotes
- “making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision. “
- “when a man pursues something with his whole heart , the whole universe conspires to give it to him.”
- “intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there.”
- “if you stop listening to the omens they stop showing over time.”
- “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his personal legend. If he abandons that pursuit because it wasn’t true love…. the love that speak the Language of the World.”
- “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 dreams because every second of the search is a second encounter with God and with eternity”.
- “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
- “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
- “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
- “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, I highly recommend The Alchemist. This book is worth reading and belongs on the shelf in the library of books of both young and grownups. The plot of this novel is very interesting, intriguing and fast moving just like a real journey itself. The fable is entertaining, enlightening and inspiring. The caravan of the Sahara desert creates a real awe and spirit of the nature with animals, humans, night, day, wind and sands.
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My thoughts as I finished The Alchemist
As the writer is Brazilian and but he published in Portuguese about a Spanish boy who travels to Mediterranean, Sahara and Egypt. This thought made me think that the writer must be a well travelled person himself, as Brazil and Spain are separated by Atlantic Ocean. As I looked up and found out that Paulo Coelho is a well travelled lyricist and publicist. And has a preceding book ‘The Pilgrimage’ – an account of his travels to the famous church of Northern Spain – Santiago de Campostela. So I got answer to my many questions arising as I finished the book.
Now soon I’ll be reading The Pilgrimage after my The Alchemist Paulo Coelho Review. And soon you’ll be going to see another book review.
Let me know which book you’ll be or are reading?
If you would like to read, here is my recent review of the Book Think And Grow Rich By Napoleon Hill
