The Alchemist Book Review

Every time you open a new book, you open a new world. A world where possibilities are endless, where the unimagined is imagined, a world that can be anything you want it to be. That’s the beauty of books; they’re always up for interpretation. When my dad first handed me The Alchemist my mom told me it was a "stoner" book. Instead of discouraging me from reading this “stoner” book I was enthralled. Needless to say it turned out to be one of the best books I’ve ever read. We open on a scene of a young man, sixteen or seventeen, trying to use a book for a pillow. We are quickly engulfed in this young man’s thought tangent. We quickly learn that this young man is a shepherd, wandering the open fields of Andaluasia with his flock of sheep. From just the first few pages we learn so much about this young man’s life. We learn of his love for adventure, his lust for new things. We learn of his past and a little about his future. Half way into the first part our main character goes from a shepherd to a treasure hunter. Like all treasure hunters our character runs into some problems. Thieves, war, love, and settling for less than what he's worth, however, as with all heroes our hero overcomes these many set backs. The beauty of the Alchemist isn’t that this young man overcomes set backs to get what he wants, but rather it’s the manner in which he overcomes them. Instead of looking for guidance from an outside source, this young man looks within himself to find his answers to his problems. What I found to be the best part of this book wasn’t the adventures that Santiago embarked upon, or his amazing ability to bounce back from misfortune, but rather his amazing faith in himself.
Originally the book The Alchemist was published in Portuguese and translated into English, among other languages. Author Paulo Coelho has written 18 books including the Alchemist and his most recent novel The Winner Stands Alone. Before Coelho dedicated his life to literature he was a bit like Santiago, he traveled the world looking for secrets, studying oriental culture, and looking for some kind of spiritual guidance.
Since I had no preconceived sentiment regarding The Alchemist I was able to receive the author’s words without judgment. I was able to find meaning the perhaps would have otherwise been lost. I’m not going to say that every person should read The Alchemist, and I’m not going to say that it was the best book I’ve ever read. I will say that it held an inspiration that no other book I’ve read has ever held. I could tell you to pick the book up, I could help you decide whether or not it’s worth reading, but that would defeat the entire purpose of the book. One day if you happen to stumble upon The Alchemist in a book store, and you have fifteen dollars you might as well pick it up, who knows maybe you’ll find something in it that I didn’t.