The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Being an avid reader made me read a number of books in 2021. I preferably read the geo-politics, history and spy books, to be specific, but I swapped my genre for The Alchemist on the recommendation by a friend. This is a hell of a gem itself as it leads you to explore the purpose of your life and more of finding your destiny.
Paulo Coelho is a renowned writer born and brought up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in a middle-class family with a dream of becoming an engineer. Still, Paulo made his life decision and became a writer. In the beginning, he travelled like a hippie. He was also tortured and held by the Brazilian Police for writing subversive lyrics for a band.
He is a Catholic believer and has written over a number of books such as The Pilgrimage, Diary of Magus, An Encounter with Angles etc. are some of his prominent writings.
Paulo Coelho is one of the prominent writers known in the world. His meticulous findings over the human psyche are commendable, and the way he portrayed human beings finding their virtue in this material world is spellbinding. The Alchemist (1993) was originally published in Portuguese, which later on translated into more than 70 languages globally, making it a best seller across the world. It’s a short narrative of merely 167 pages which one can finish in one sitting.
What I personally liked about the book was the narrative and the form of storytelling. The way Paulo portrayed the struggles and dilemma of Santiago, a shepherd boy, who loves the flock yet befuddled with their confined existence of the sheep’s existence. He seems disappointed to see their gullible nature of seeking merely food and water and disinterest in the beauty of sunset and greenery around them.
Santiago hails from a low-income family with a meagre source of income where his parents work to death to earn two ends meet. They have an abode in the mesmerizing Andalucía, but for them, it’s merely a place to hide their bodies. On the other hand, Santiago is fascinated with the outer world as he read and longed to travel beyond Andalucía.
Santiago went to the market for the trade of his flock. He sold some sheep where he met with a king and a gypsy woman who tell him about the treasure buried in the pyramids of Egypt to which he believes them and set his sail to Egypt without giving a head to anything coming to him.
He got robbed of his savings on his voyage and had to survive with difficulty but surprisingly, he didn’t give up on his dream of finding the treasure and continue his journey without fail; on the contrary, he apprehends a greater feeling of self-belief and confidence of knowing the right track.
“When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve It.” he made it the thought of his life and dug deeper into the purpose of his life.
There is a slew of self-help books in the world that often state the same thing with different compositions of words. What makes The Alchemist stand out among those is the approach of Paulo and his take on following one’s belief and the form of love. Paulo clearly renounces the idea of romantic love; however, he says that romantic love is important, but what’s more important is the love for your dreams, and it’s your duty.
In a nutshell, “Universe is always there to help you to chase your dreams unless you decide to renounce.”
