The Alchemist book review

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Alan R. Clarke, James Noel Smith
Published by HarperOne on April 15, 2014
Pages: 182
Goodreads

Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and soul-stirring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.
Illustration: Jim Tierney

I have to say I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but this book wasn’t it. The Alchemist was a book that has been sat on my shelf for such a long time but I never got around to read it. I will say that I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind to read and get the most out of this book, that being said I’m still not sure what the point of the story was. There were definitely moments where there were lessons to be learnt but overall I thought that the story was underwhelming and hard to follow. I was hoping to have some sort of enlightenment by the end of it but that just didn’t happen.

The main character in The Alchemist was Santiago and it follows his journey from being a shepherd to travelling the world to try and find the treasure at the Egyptian Pyramids. I have to say I didn’t connect with him at all, and I think that was the main reason I didn’t get everything I wanted out of the story. I just didn’t care about him or his reasons for going on the journey and I also thought there was a lot of fluffy language that didn’t really need to be a part of the story. I struggled with him as a character and I didn’t think there was anything that made him particularly interesting. One character I was interested in was The Alchemist, but I don’t think we got enough time with him or learnt enough about him to really impact on my enjoyment of the story. I do think if the characters had been better then I might have enjoyed this book more than I did.

I think the only best bit for me was the time spent working in the crystal shop, it was the only time throughout this entire book that I connected with him as a person. I also loved the idea that this young boy was able use his skills to revamp a business, as someone who works in marketing I really loved that aspect. But as for the rest of it, I thought a lot was glazed over and there was definitely missed opportunities for growth and the setting.

I think for me the worst bits of The Alchemist all stem around the fact that I’m not sure what the book was trying to do or to teach me. I saw that there were some obvious lessons throughout but for me they were all seemingly obvious and ones that you wouldn’t necessarily need to read an entire book to understand. I also think the way this book was told was overly complicated and it lacks accessibility, as though it was trying to hard to be an esteemed piece of fiction rather than a good piece of fiction.

I have to say this is a no for me. I wasn’t a huge fan and although I could probably get more from the story if I reread it, I really don’t have the time, motivation or inclination to do that so I think I will be unhauling this one and finally getting it off my shelf.

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!