Review: Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist
The Alchemist is one of the bestselling novels in history. No mean feat for a novel written in Portuguese and published in 1988. The Alchemist seems to be garnering more than its fair share of media scrutiny in recent months, due to a big-budget Hollywood adaptation in the pipeline. When I happened across a copy while cleaning my room, I thought it would be worth a read. My impressions are as follows.
The Alchemist tells the tale of a young Spanish shepherd named Santiago. One night, he has a dream about a faraway treasure. He consults a gypsy, who tells him to go the Pyramids at Giza. Santiago is, however, reluctant to give up his simple shepherding life. But a chance meeting with a King cements the idea in his head. At the behest of the King, he buys a ticket to Tangiers and embarks upon the journey of a lifetime.
The story revolves around the idea that every individual possesses a ‘Personal Legend’ that they must aspire to. According to the King, “It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is”. Santiago, therefore, must learn the language of the universe to decipher the signs left for him and realise his predestined potential.
While the philosophy will undoubtedly resonate with all but the most jaded of readers, perhaps the most attractive thing about The Alchemist is its simplicity. Coelho’s minimalism permeates all aspects of the text and give the fable a haunting, dreamlike quality. His sparse, lyrical language evokes powerful emotions while the simple story draws you ever in. The effect is quite literally breathtaking.
Although this liberating philosophy and Coelho’s remarkable writing style combine to make The Alchemist an excellent read, the book is by no means perfect. Many readers will find the philosophy Coelho expounds to be less than satisfactory for a book which has gained such praise. While it is a children’s fable at heart, The Alchemist is held together by a reliance on supernatural events. This wouldn’t be such an issue, but for one amazing example of deus ex machina near the climax of the novel. This single event torpedoes all the previous subtlety throughout the book and lays Coelho’s real ‘philosophy’ out in the open. And it is decidedly underwhelming. It seems that Coelho is trying to impart the idea that should you have a problem in your life, simply wait for a sign from God. Then do what the Big Fella says and everything will be turn out just peachy. The End.
The Alchemist, then, is not the book people say it is. It admittedly does show glimmers of brilliance, but even Coelho’s incredible writing is not enough to carry a book which ultimately has so little behind it. A crying shame, considering it could have been so much more had Coelho seen fit to drop the ridiculous religious undertones.
- Jordan
*I might be missing something because I am a super-jaded misanthrope, or something like that. If anyone has any other views, please, comment away! Reviews are subjective, and I am more than happy to be proven wrong.