FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

THE ALCHEMIST

by Paulo Coelho

(HarperSanFrancisco)

Reader Appeal: All Ages

Genre: Fiction / Fable

The Alchemist might possibly be one of the biggest, bestselling literary phenomenon you've never heard of. First published in Brazil, it was translated into English in 1993. In the ensuing years its been translated into over 50 languages and has sold over 20 million (yes, million!) copies. So what's all the fuss about?

Well, for starters this book is one of wonder and amazement that takes you back in time and into the adventure of a lifetime involving a shepherd boy, a king, and many more interesting characters.

The Alchemist is a very creative book which is centered around a shepherd named Santiago who is in search of his Personal Legend. He learns of this through a man that he meets in a village when his is going to buy some supplies for his journeys through the fields as a shepherd. This man claims to be a Melchizedek, the king of Salem, and is someone of great mystery to Santiago. This “king” tells Santiago about Personal Legends and makes him an offer on some of his sheep. After some thought, Santiago accepts and starts off toward Egypt because that is where his dreams have indicated he will find great treasure. That begins his journey to find his Personal Legend.

Almost immediately after he sets off, Santiago is robbed while in a foreign land. Santiago then decides that before he can continue he needs to earn some money. To do this he starts to work for a very unsuccessful merchant who has a shop on top of a mountain. This merchant sells crystal cups and merchandise. After some bargaining he agrees to take on Santiago and, over time, the shop becomes very popular and starts earning much more money. During this period, Santiago slowly learns the language of the people in this strange land and earns enough money from the crystal merchant to continue his journey.

Santiago next joins a caravan and goes with them through the desert. As they travel, they stop at an oasis. The members of the caravan are told that they can’t leave because there is war going on all around them and the oasis is the only safe place to stay. So they stay for a time, and the war rages on around them but never close enough to do any harm. As the days pass, Santiago meets a girl with whom he falls in love. He also meets an alchemist who knows of Santiago’s journey. Santiago and the Alchemist sneak out one night and the shepherd boy is forced to leave his love behind with a promise that he will return for her one day.

After some time into the journey with the Alchemist, both are captured by one of the armies. They say they are magicians and the leader of the army forces them to show a demonstration of their power. This demonstration is that Santiago is to turn himself into wind. Will he succeed in turning himself into wind and find his Personal Legend? That is for you to find out.

I found this fable to be a wonderful story that was really fun to read. One of its strengths is that it is very imaginative and does not drag as the story develops. It is also fun to read because there are a lot of thrills, mysteries, and adventures. There is one part where Santiago is in the oasis and sees an omen and he believes that the oasis will be attacked. He tells the leaders of the oasis what he saw and they agree to arm the men in the camps. If are attacked by the next night, then they will win and praise Santiago. But if there is no attack, then Santiago will be killed. The tension that ensues is very gripping and must be read to fully understand the anxious feelings that keep hold of you until you find out how it turns out. It is also very interesting when Santiago is talking to the “king” because, although he gives plenty of evidence and stories about himself, the reader is never fully left with the knowledge of whether or not Melchizedek is who he claims to be. Another of my favorite parts is the adventure Santiago pursues when trying to become the wind, because he must talk to many elements including the wind and sun. This book really gets its strength from the superb imagination of Paulo Coelho.

There were some things that were not as great about this book though. For example, there is a lot of mention of gods but never of the one true God. There are also several other times that the characters listen to or believe in other things such as omens. Omens are common things that people see and apply spiritual significance to, like a bird killing a snake while walking to war. This person might then believe he would win or lose depending on which side (left or right) of the person the snake was killed on. These are very foolish things to put faith in, so that wasn’t a strong point for me. Also many characters believed that they could talk to their heart and that it can see all things, including the future. That kind of eastern mysticism was a distraction for me because it takes away from the real God here and now. But once I was able to look past the pseudo-spiritual errors, I was able to enjoy very much the imagination and story Coelho tells in The Alchemist.

Overall this is a very good book. I would recommend it to almost anyone because it is fun and adventurous, but also deals with seriousness and adversity of life. I think that some younger children might not like it as much because they might not necessarily understand it all. But even so, I would still tell most people to read this book - and to talk about it with each other afterward.

FAMILYFANS RATING:  B+

 --TN