The Alchemist
No , I didn’t read this book recently.
I read it during the final year of my college and ‘I DIDN”T LIKE IT’. At that time, two of my wingmates had read this book and appreciated it highly. So much so that I remember going in search for it from room to room in our wing and finally managing to borrow it for a few hours.
However, when I finished reading it, I didn’t quite understand why everyone was lavishing hyperbolic praises on the book. To me, the idea in the book which the author was trying to convey appeared hazy and unclear. The twisted plot which finally led to the ‘follow-your-dreams’ concept didn’t seem to be appealing. Reading it was like walking along a foggy path , not able to see anything and yet believing that in the end , as if by a miracle , the fog will clear up and bright sunshine will soon follow(enlightment!) just because everyone who has walked along this path has said so.
Remember the days when we tried to solve problems while preparing for competitive exams. At the time, we would appreciate a problem if it was complex and our teachers would painstakingly give us a two page solution that only a few of us could have comprehended. And yet such problems never turned out in exams which would test us with fundamental problems having simple, elegant solutions. My point here is that there is a tendency amongst most of us to appreciate what is hard to understand even though it might or might not be important/relevant to the context or even if there is a simpler way to look at things. This book felt to me like a similar two-page-solution problem to which most of us were in awe at.
If I have to recommend an alternative to reading this book, I’d rather say Richard Bach’s ‘Jonathan Livingstone Seagull’ which has a clear plot with a similar yet more clear message to convey or Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’ which is more towards the realistic side with a easy-to-understand message.
However, even with all my rantings, I am aware that I might be missing out something that has made me not to appreciate this book. And thus, keeping an open mind, I invite you to explain my missing pie if you are one of those who likes and understands ‘The Alchemist’.
Rohit said,
January 11, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I have read The Zahir by the same author.. couldn’t comprehend the overall picture in both the books.. but I believe the essence of his writing lies in parts of the writing, that are build around the situation. So the story as a whole may be irrelevant, the process isn’t.
saturdaysun said,
January 11, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Hmm , I see the point you are making that Coelho’s writing is relevant or portrays essence in parts … Coming to think of it, yes, it does.
However, from my perspective , the whole beauty of writing emerges out the best when the author at the end of the story is able to put his point across by tying each and every thread(in the story) into one single, coherent , unified logical stream. That to me is writing at its very best.