Jul 11, 2004 06:33 PM
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(Updated Sep 22, 2004 02:26 PM)
?When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it??The Alchemist.
If it is to be it is up to me. I guess this easily sums up the entire plot of the book. The Alchemist however is more than just a simple fable. In its simplicity it has decoded the most sophisticated facts of the human life. Alchemist is about finding ones destiny and walking towards it. It is about achieving success, no matter what. It is about the human capability. The power of human-will and the role of fate in it. (Fortune favors the brave). The book specifically highlights the importance of destiny in our lives. It stresses the fact that how if we are able to read the signs can we reach our ultimate destination.
Though written in a simple fashion, Alchemists draws our attention because of its deals a powerful plot. It covers the journey of Santiago, a simple shepherd boy. Deep down inside him he wants to live like a free bird. He knows that in freedom lies his ultimate destiny. He knows that there is more to life than his present. He travels all across the world after having chance encounters of the spiritual kind. After initial apprehensions he submits himself to destiny and starts walking towards his ultimate path.
The Alchemists thus starts as a young boys journey from his hometown in Spain to the sands of the desert. He is running after an unknown treasure. The contents and the value of treasure are not known to him It is enough for him to know that once he attains the same, his life shall change forever. He thus keeps on traveling. There were times when Santiago was not sure whether the path he had chosen was at all correct. Inspite many setbacks he continued on his journey braving all things.
The book also highlights the importance of coincidence. Santiago understands that all coincidences have a hidden purpose, he only has to decode them. Since this is a short book we come towards the end very fast. The end however would not be apt to relate. Santiago really discovers the treasure. It is a must read book.
After reading this book one would definitely feel energized and free. It will compel us to think on a different plane. All of us normally think of following a particular plan or path. We ignore the various coincidences and the hints that fate provides us. Alchemist will just open our eyes to this light.It is a book which can be enjoyed and once you pick it up, it is almost certain you shall put it down once the last page has been read. I would also say that this book though very simple has hidden meanings. It compels us to explore and find meaning and joy in even the most mundane parts of life... but don't let get me wrong... it's not a self-help book as much as it is a beautiful and poetic journey of one persons life that everyone can relate to. Don?t miss it.
While I covered this book sometime back I was always reminded of a poem by Rudyard Kipling. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, I took the one less traveled and that has made all the difference. Certainly a part of Alchemist also hints that life always gives us two options. Everything boils down to whether we take the road less traveled or??.
I end my review with the Publishers note:
Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho's charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.
The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.
The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams.
