Alchemist book review

Book Review

GENRE: FICTION (OR WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO CALL IT SPECIFICALLY AS LIFE FICTION)

AUTHOR’S ARGUMENT:
According to me, the author’s argument in this book was that all of us have our destinies written which would ultimately lead us to success but on the condition that we follow our dreams courageously and have faith in ourselves. This is what makes life an interesting journey. Following what we desire the most, through the little hints life gives to follow, will ultimately lead us to interpret the meaning of life in our own ways and surprisingly everyone will have a different story to tell at the end of this journey.

ANALYSIS:
I read this book this summer break and it was refered to me by one of my best friends, as she claimed I would love it, which I surely did. I truly cherished the idea of all of us following a pre-written destiny without even knowing it, which ultimately leads us to the success we desire. While at the same time the author conveyed that if we do not follow the signs life gives us it could lead us to get distracted from the path we were to take in our lives.

As I went along reading this novel it came to be something more than just boring holiday homework, it was more than just escaping the real world and following a character to an adventurous journey, it was an experience that got me closer to realise my purpose in life. It truly changed me in true sense as it influenced me to follow my dreams rather than just following along whatever others expect of me.

In the start, the story starts quite slow but from the point Santiago got the same dream twice, I was hooked. I was deeply inspired by the protagonist’s character development as I could relate to him a lot and all along his journey his faith in omens, his courage to leave everything behind just to follow his dream (quite literally, I might add) and him rejecting various choices which would have left him successful as he had hope that life had something even better in store for him, got me to relinquish the fact that this book was undeniably a piece of art.

Also the various quotes like, “It is the possibility of dreams coming true that makes life interesting...”and “I could turn to out to be a monster and none of them would realise it…” got me to view life in other ways. The language of the soul and Santiago’s struggle to learn it along the journey, and the lessons I learnt all along the book helped me in my own life accepting things how things are now and working with it to make the best possible outcome was the most important learning from this book.
My three favourite incidents from the book were firstly the market scene when Santiago gets robbed of all his money and his calmness and perspective towards it gets me flared up with inspiration of the old Hindi saying, “JO HOTA HAI, ACHE KE LIYE HOTA HAI” which means that everything happening in the world is God-willed and should be taken up with a good will. The second incident was of the alchemist knowing that he would be meeting someone who came in search for answers only he could help provide and then the plot twist caused it to be the protagonist instead of the Englishman who spent years trying to learn the alchemist’s ways of turning anything into gold. Lastly the ending scene of Santiago being able to sense the scent of the perfume his love, Fatima used with a message for him to return back to her, in the breeze coming all the way from Africa to him in Spain, and the closing of the book with him saying, “I am coming, Fatima.” Got me to realise that life is an endless pursuit and it can only be experienced if we follow the hints provided by the life to our dreams.
Also, the part at the end that hinted that all along the treasure he was searching for, was buried near the church which he often passed on his way to get his sheep to graze, made me ponder as to how the things we desire the most and is in our destiny is so close to us and we do not even know it, the only thing we have to do is to be able to see what life is trying to show us and follow it without looking back and having faith in ourselves and our decisions.
Filled with soul searching, discovering who you really are, realizing your purpose in life and how everything in life is interlinked with each other, I would say this book was worth reading.

The way Paulo Coelho described the shepherd boy, Santiago’s journey got me to experience the very same roller-coaster of emotions he experienced in a particular situation.