January’s book review- The Alchemist, by Paul Coelho
We wanted to start the New Year in a positive tone and the book “The Alchemist” brings that. It is a story about persistence to accomplish your goals. Every New Year we start with new resolutions and often we don’t attain our goals. Life can be hard sometimes, as Mr. Coelho remarks, “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” It’s the journey what turns a dream into an achievement. Most of the time we know what we want, nevertheless we make mistakes such as listening to people who don’t understand our goals. We have to be honest with ourselves, work as hard or as smart as we can to accomplish what we are set off to do.
This book tells a story of Santiago’s mail goal. To find his treasure, but is it gold?
Mr. Coelho makes reference to “personal legends.” The way I interpret this is that each individual should live his/hers personal legend. Taking in consideration what you decide to do rather than accommodating other people’s framing of your goals. Nobody truly understands what is in your heart and what you expect to get in life. The only person who can appreciate your deepest desires is you. A good example is how the book’s main character Santiago related this to his father who wanted him to be a priest, but instead he became a shepherd because he loved to travel. It is good knowing our desires.
The author states how often young people commonly define their personal legend, but as they get older and through different life circumstances they either forget about it or give up on their dreams. The best quote from the Alchemist is “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Frequently we are in pursuit of our goals, and we make the mistake of forgetting about it, or simply we loose track of it. Ultimately we choose the easy path and become what other people expect us to be. And soon enough we are old, we feel there is no time, or no reason to accomplish our personal legend.
Another symbol that the author employs are “omens.” Omens play a big part in Santiago’s journey to the discovery of his treasure. Given my Catholic background omens are signs that we should pay attention to. However this only happens if you are in sync with the present and completely focused on your goal. During his journey Santiago meets an old man, a gypsy, a crystal merchant, an English man, and finally the alchemist. All these people play an important part in Santiago’s endeavor. Mr. Coelho shows us that every person we encounter has a purpose in the meeting. For example, when Santiago trusted a person who then robbed him- his life changed in a matter of minutes. He felt sorry for himself, he wanted to go back to the life he knew. Nonetheless he didn’t, as illustrated in this passage: “As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as adventurer in quest of his treasure.” He made his decision and continued in pursuit of his treasure.
Santiago then met the crystal shop man who only liked to dream about his dreams but never really wanted to make them true. Santiago remembered, “The king said you must always know what is that you want.” Then later he had another realization: “He still had some doubts about the decision he had made. But he was able to understand one thing: making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” The book’s message is that making the decision to pursue one’s goals is half the battle, the other half is living life at its best in pursuit of your goal.
Mr. Coelho considers a mysterious causative chain that links one thing to another. The character Santiago accomplished the objective to learn from everything that was on his path. Mr. Coelho describes the soul of the world as the principle of all things, making reference to knowing your goal forms a positive force. The entire universe conspires for you to attain your goal to live your personal legend. Another great advice from the author’s is “In his pursuit of the dream, he was being constantly subjected to tests of his persistence and courage. So he could not be hasty, nor impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would fail to see the signs and omens left by God along his path.” We must learn patience while preparing ourselves for the right moment.
Another great message from the author is “The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.” We have to improve ourselves in whatever area of expertise. If we work on concentrating all our efforts to achieve our goal the result will be imminent. Another author‘s reference is “it’s only those who are persistent, and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the Master Work.” Practice makes perfect there is no other way around it. If you invest time and effort eventually you will cash the prize. One of the best ways to learn is through action; through living your journey or your personal legend- this is the main message of the story.
“The Alchemist” conveys meaning in multiple ways, it all depends on what your life circumstances are at certain time in your life. The wisdom it offers is straightforward, best appealing to young readers. There is so much one can take from this book, that I chose the main message from the book “to achieve your goals.” Its not going to be easy but you will be better for it. As Mr. Coelho says, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” It’s best to fail than to have never tried.
There are many other possible meanings from this book depending on each individual, which makes this a great work that is recommended for people of all ages. I want to close this review with one more quote from Mr. Coelho that is very appropriate to our current time, “It is we who nourish the soul of the world, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse.”
Happy reading!
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