I decided to read this book because it has been on my TBR for so long and since it is a short book, I believed it would serve well for quick read.
The story follows a boy who wanted to travel the world and believed being a Shepherd would be the easiest route to achieve that dream. It is on this path her visits an old gypsy woman to interpret the consistent dreams he was having. The old woman tells him he has to travel from Spain to the pyramids of Egypt and there he will find a treasure. This book is the story of the boy’s journey across the desert to achieve his ‘personal legend and how he made it to the pyramids.
I found this book a very difficult read. Despite it’s 187 pages, I struggled to finish the book. To cut a long story short, I found the book mostly boring. My expectation was that since it was somewhat a historical novel I would enjoy learning a thing or two about the history of certain places the story was set but there was nothing much there. The narrative was somewhat flat with nothing exciting or mysterious in the experiences the boy had on his journey.
I however got the message in the end which basically teaches you that sometimes you will have to go through a lot of obstacles and experiences to achieve your dreams but if you keep your eyes on the ball, you will get to the finish line. This is all I got out of the story.
This is my second book by the author and unfortunately I have come to the conclusion that his books and writing style are not for me.
Rating: 2 Stars
Published: April 2014 by Harperone
Pages: 182
Genre: Fiction
Purchase @ www.amazon.com/the alchemist
The Author: The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage. In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time. Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and Winner Stands Alone (to be released in 2009). During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings – announced one day in advance – in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path – The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions. Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in WordPress, Myspace & Facebook. He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube and Flickr, offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers. From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution of his work.
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