Book Review: The Alchemist

The Alchemist 

Author: Paulo Coelho 

Publisher: HarperCollins

The Alchemist is a great masterpiece of Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese, the book has been translated to 70 languages and is the most translated book of a living author. 

Insights and Thoughts:

"All of the universe will conspire for you to achieve your Personal Legend."

The book is very inspiring in a way that it propels you to keep on reaching your dreams, embark on your own journey to find whatever it is you are looking for. Some things might hold you back just like in the Shepherd's situation where he is torn between looking after his flock of sheep and marrying the merchant's daughter or to travel to Egypt where a treasure is waiting for him to discover and attain. 

The Shepherd is all of us. We are just like him who knows what we want to have and what we want to be. There might be instances where we begin to lose hope but there will always something to keep us going. As it is stated in the book, all the universe will conspire for us to achieve our Personal Legends. The book dismisses the notion that people should go where fate takes them. We shall decide our own fate, we shall create our own fate, we shall attain our personal legends -- no matter what the cost, because at the end, if we don't give up, something great is waiting for us.

Symbolism:

Three Gold Coins: In the story, Santiago's father gave him three gold coins to help him start his journey, these represent what you need before you can attain your dreams: knowledge, effort, and time.

Sycamore Tree: The trees in the church represent Egypt where sycamore trees are from and where the treasure is located.

Desert: The desert represents the hardships and obstacles between us and our dreams. We just need to believe that we can overcome it and then we will not be far from what we wish to achieve.

Oasis: The oasis is a symbol of life and hope amidst crisis.

Thieves: The thieves are representations that reaching our dreams isn't easy. But we should not give up that easily, like Santiago whom after being robbed still felt a sense of achievement that he is on the right path, he is following his dreams. 

The Alchemist is a must read for those who are looking for an inspiration, for dreamers, for those who are confused on what they want, or for those who just want a short yet satisfying read.