Simple and inspiring. Review on The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

The alchemist is a magical fable about following our dreams. it tells us that we all have dreams, which we musn't shy away from or hesitate to follow them. when we take the initiative we have the 'beginners luck' on our side. when we really want something, the whole universe conspires to help us achieve it.

as we come closer to our goals, the path becomes more and more difficult and onlky the most courageous and those having a lot of will power reach their destiny.....this is because the universe tests us on everything we learn in our quest. but we must have faith and never give up on our dreams and always be positive. we must follow the 'omens' or the signs og God which guide us on our journey. at thje same time, we must trust our instincts and make our own decisions. we must follow our heart because it is there where our dreams actually lie.

the author, paulo coelho, beautifully passes on the message trough the story of a boy named santiago, an andalusion shepherd, who loves to travel, and has a couple of dreams about a treasure lying in the egyptian pyramids. he gets his dream interpreted and decides to follow it, which involves a lot of travel.

on his way to the pyramids, he meets many people and learns things he had never imagined he would. he, however comes across many obstacles abstructing his quest. he also meets the love of his life 'fatima' who tells him not to give up on his journey and go further.

on occassions, he also faces possible death, but he doesnot panic and has no regrets (before meeting fatima his love) and thinks that he had already seen and achieved many more things than any other ordinary shepherd of his age would have.towards his final journey an alchemist helps him reach the pyramids.

the book is philosophical and written in a very simple manner. it exudes positive vibrations and teaches us many things amongst which some are so simple and straight-forward and important, which we tend to ignore in our daily lives....

but there is something towards the end I didnt like or maybe I failed to understand. when the boy is on his final journey towards the pyramids, and is facing death along with the alchemist, due to tribal wars,........the alchemist buys time for three days by offering whatever gold they had....thats ok,

but

1) why does he promise that santiago would turn himself into the wind......instead of himself?(he knew how to do it)

2) after saying santiago would do it, did he really believe he could do it, because it seemed almost impossible.

that portion of the book, however was a bit slow, a litlle boring and not that easy to believe....

but the end is really good...(relating to the actual treasure) . on the whole, its a very inspiring book, which I think we all must read atleast once in our lives(its very small and extremely readable). there are some excellent sentences in the book...out of those a few inspiring ones.......

a) dreams are the language of God.

b) its the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.

c) many a times its the fear of failure that stops us from pursuing our dream.

d) the darkest hour of the night comes just before dawn.