The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads author)

book data

88,636 ratings, 3.73 average rating, 9,462 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		32%
4		29%
3		22%
2		9%
1		5%

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published

May 1st 2006 (first published 1988) by HarperCollins

binding

Paperback, 197 pages

characters

Santiago

setting

Czech Republic

isbn

0061122416 (isbn13: 9780061122415)

description

My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky."Tell your heart...more

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08/22/07

Sarah rated it:

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: people trying to find themselves

I feel like everyone LOVES this book, but I was kind of underwhelmed. I know that translation affects the quality of writing, but I could not get into this writing style. At all. I felt like it was totally affected and contrived. He was going for this "fable/parable" style, but it seemed to fail miserably. The parable-like quality was totally contrived, and I thought the "moral" was pretty stupid.

Moral: everything you want and need is close to home. Take ch...more

Like this review? yes (29 people liked it)

6 comments

11/10/08

Jonathan rated it:

I've got your Personal Legend right here, Paolo Coelho. This may be the first book I've ever read that was so bad it actually made me angry at the author. If I ever run into Paolo Coelho, I hope I'll beat him down to the ground and take the inflation adjusted equivalent of the 13.95 I paid for this worthless rag out of his wallet. If you want to read something sort of thoughtful on the whole "follow your dreams" theme, the author's short introduction is actually better than the book...more

Like this review? yes (19 people liked it)

4 comments

03/23/07

Kali rated it:

Everyone (save one guy) said I would love this book. Three of my four roommates have their own copies. That one guy was right. Now this may be because he planted that seed of discontent, or it may be because this was the least creative and most redundant book I've read in a while. It answered the question, what happens when you put The Hero With a Thousand Faces, The Bible and 1001 Arabian Nights in a blender? That said, I didn't hate it. Two of the central themes (which were hammered in over an...more Everyone (save one guy) said I would love this book. Three of my four roommates have their own copies. That one guy was right. Now this may be because he planted that seed of discontent, or it may be because this was the least creative and most redundant book I've read in a while. It answered the question, what happens when you put The Hero With a Thousand Faces, The Bible and 1001 Arabian Nights in a blender? That said, I didn't hate it. Two of the central themes (which were hammered in over and over again) are two of my favorite world views - ones I hold very dear to my heart. I understand that everyone has their own path and if it takes this silly little book to realize these two important messages, I'm just happy the reader finally discovered these truths. A) As the far more prolific writer Joseph Campbell says, Follow Your Bliss and B) As the far more prolific writer Ralph Waldo Emerson says, Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. (See the pattern.) To explain my aversion to the third nail in the coffin of stolen redundancy, I will tell you story. I have a small collection of fortunes from fortune cookies. (I have always been in the habit of collecting good omens.) To make the list, a fortune must convey a good message when applied to life and even better when the requisite "Dirty Fortune Cookie Ending" is added. During my freshman year of college, I got the fortune "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also . . . . . between the sheets." Hilarious, right?! Sex, love, treasure, oh the glorious metaphors. Fast forward two years, when I discover that my hilarious fortune is actually A BIBLICAL QUOTE! Straight out the OT. Well, I was shocked and appalled. I was being proselytized to by a cookie! Now, I realize that this is my own issue, but I don't want a bible-thumping cookie or 200 year old Alchemist ramming the OT down my throat. To anyone thinking about reading this book, I have given you the two things that need be learned from it. Now go read some Joseph Campbell.(less)

Like this review? yes (15 people liked it)

2 comments

08/13/07

Christopher rated it:

I really disliked this book. I dislike it in the way that I dislike a great deal of modern self help books. Their basic message is that if you want something to happen, you need to want it as hard as you can, without caring about anything else, not allowing yourself to doubt it, or let criticisms will get in the way then it will happen.
I disagree with this notion, not only because it is false, but because it is bad.
Just because we desire something, does not make it good. This idea of...more I really disliked this book. I dislike it in the way that I dislike a great deal of modern self help books. Their basic message is that if you want something to happen, you need to want it as hard as you can, without caring about anything else, not allowing yourself to doubt it, or let criticisms will get in the way then it will happen.
I disagree with this notion, not only because it is false, but because it is bad.
Just because we desire something, does not make it good. This idea of 'following your heart' is often wrong. Who are we to be the arbiters of truth? Why should our hearts be sources of information that go beyond logic, doubt and reasoning? Haven't we all desired things that have turned out to not be in our best interest, or to be harmful to others? Andrew Jackson was a man known to have a lot of integrity. He was always 'true' to himself and followed his heart. Andrew Jackson is the man who initiated the 'Trail of Tears'. Moving Native Americans from their homes and into reservations.
Next, this idea of not letting ourselves doubt or consider doubts. This is a terrible and dishonest way to live. If we don't consider doubts, and entertain them often, then we are deliberately blinding ourselves. Deliberately making ourselves ignorant. If someone doesn't give serious consideration to the idea that they may be wrong. Give serious thought to why they believe what they do, and that perhaps those who doubt them may be correct, then they are behaving in a dangerous and dishonest way.
Not giving heed to the concerns doubts and criticisms of others is something I believe is a major fault in modern society. Often, people fail to recognize the needs of the group and the community. We place so much emphasis on the needs and rights of the individual. This causes people to focus so much on themselves to the detriment of others around them. At times, it can be beneficial to go against the group, but one should first give serious consideration to the groups concerns.

According to Ideas like the Alchemist, groups like, the Westboro Baptist Church,(godhatesfags.com) should be seen as American heroes. These are people who take a totally irrational stance, and stick to it as hard as they can in complete defiance to the views of everyone around them.
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Like this review? yes (15 people liked it)

1 comment

09/27/07

Nefik rated it:

bookshelves: philosophy, spirituality

recommends it for: optimists, cynics and dreamers

In her review, Ioana wrote:

...."The language is quite simple, which can be beautiful (read: Herman Hesse); however it comes off as quite redundant and sermonic. Every other sentence contains at least one reference to either "The Soul of the World", or "The Personal Legend", or "Follow Your Heart" with a big fat capital H. By the end of the novel I am skimming most passages.

The characters are flat (I didn't really "feel" them, w...more

Like this review? yes (15 people liked it)

4 comments

03/23/07

Ed rated it:

recommends it for: Cheesy people

I was told by someone who recommended this to me because I mentioned my love for The Little Prince ...but seriously, anyone that thinks these two are even in the same league is mistaking simplicity for profundity. Sure. Both are simplistic stories about emotional and literal "bildungsroman" but while The Little Prince is deft, clever, enormously profound without being even the slightest bit heavy-handed...The Alchemist is exactly the opposite. It's clumsy, over-wrought, and not just ...more

Like this review? yes (11 people liked it)

3 comments

12/16/07

Michelle rated it:

Read in December, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

While this book made some points that I agreed with (all things in the universe are one; a person is happiest when living in the present moment, rather than the past or future; even things that seem like detours in your quest toward achieving your goals can be rich opportunities for learning) I just couldn't buy a lot of it. For instance, I disagreed with the idea that your experience along the way shouldn't cause you to change your basic course. What's accumulated wisdom and experience for, i...more While this book made some points that I agreed with (all things in the universe are one; a person is happiest when living in the present moment, rather than the past or future; even things that seem like detours in your quest toward achieving your goals can be rich opportunities for learning) I just couldn't buy a lot of it. For instance, I disagreed with the idea that your experience along the way shouldn't cause you to change your basic course. What's accumulated wisdom and experience for, if not to cause us to live differently (often with very different goals, aspirations, and fundamental beliefs) than we did when we were younger?

I also couldn't buy the notion that your "Personal Legend" is made manifest to you in no uncertain terms when you are a child and you should never deviate from it. I dreamed of doing a hundred different things at various times during my childhood. More than one of those aspirations (psychiatrist, teacher, stay-at-home mom, sociologist) at one time or another during my youth seemed, without question, like the path I should follow. As I get dangerously close to middle age, I'm finding that I'm really happy as a horticulturist and constantly learning and doing new things within that field. I feel no regret at not having pursued those other paths.

Also, I was left with the impression that the "Personal Legend" of the main female character in the story was to send kisses on the wind and wait for the safe return of her man. I thought the book made an important point: that true love shouldn't keep you from fulfilling those aspirations that are truly important to you. But that should, obviously, be true for both partners. I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and assume that he didn't focus much on Fatima's goals and dreams because that's not whose story he was telling. I'm hoping that, though she takes time out of her day to think of her love and pray for his safe return, she's spending more of her time pursuing dreams of her own.(less)

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

1 comment

03/20/07

Andrew rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2007

recommends it for: the desperate

The Alchemist has been translated into like a million languages, and it feels like it. Bland sentences, simple story telling and zero nuance. It's a quaint parable about a shepherd who bucks the current course of his life - shepherding - to go in search of his Personal Legend (Coehlo's caps, and phrase). Coehlo's got a point, and he's going to drive it through your eyeball until he's absolutely sure you've got it.

If you ignore much of the language of the book, this is a paper-thin re...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

2 comments

05/06/07

Eleanor rated it:

bookshelves: never-finished

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: religious zealots

I picked up this book in an airport between flights, it's been pretty hyped up and was obviously the most-purchased book from the store. Even the girl on the plane next to me, obviously not an english-speaker, took great efforts to tell me that she loved this book.

The book's protagonist is an adolescent shepherd and reads as if it were written by one. Coelho abandons all subtlety, capitalizing the phrase "Personal Legend" and using it every other page in a story that ha...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

1 comment

09/22/07

Mae Dagre rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in December, 2007

Utter drivel. The book was badly written, righteous, condescending, preachy, and worst of all, the ending was morally questionable. All the fables and stories are stolen from elsewhere, religious ideas and spirituality are badly mixed, and everything is so obvious.

The book harps on about tapping into the Soul of the World, the Language of the World, about your one true path and other nonsense. The basic idea is that if you really want something and "listen to your heart", t...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

6 comments

07/26/07

yudhipurwanto rated it:

Satu-satunya buku di dunia dimana saya memiliki 4 versinya, versi Indonesia bajakan, versi Indonesia legal, versi bahasa Inggris dan versi bahasa Spanyol. Dan konsekuensinya, buku ini menjadi salah satu karya tulis yang beberapa kali saya baca. Salah duanya kumpulan berita kemenangan AC Milan dlm kompetisi Liga Champion 2007 

Juga menjadi salah satu buku dimana saya pernah menghitung berapa jumlah katanya, menghitung berapa kali pengulangan kata-katanya, mencari dimana ada kata-kat...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

7 comments

12/26/07

Don rated it:

Read in December, 2007

I simply could not finish this book. I got halfway through it only to wind up on goodreads.com to see what others thought. I simply felt guilty panning a book that has received such global acclaim; more than that, I felt lame and inadequate.

Well, it turns out that my sentiments were echoed. I basically felt I was reading an overblown parable and that the same lessons were being spelled out again and again. It was like the 16th verse of a hymn.

Throughout my life I have per...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

2 comments

09/27/07

SF SQRL rated it:

(review of isbn 0722532938)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in October, 2007

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull meets Lawrence of Arabia.

At least it was short.

Like this review? yes (11 people liked it)

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08/26/08

Patrick rated it:

bookshelves: books-read-in-2008

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Patrick by: Sarah Otto

Timing is everything. If I'd read 'The Alchemist' four years ago, I'm sure I would have loved it. It deals in big, bold pronouncements of 'follow your dreams' et cetera et cetera, and it certainly makes you think about your own life and the pursuit of your own "Personal Legend" if you will. But maybe I'm older and more cynical now, or maybe it's not cynicism so much as just seeing a reality that isn't so mystical and black and white as Paulo Coelho's, but in any event, I just wasn't bu...more Timing is everything. If I'd read 'The Alchemist' four years ago, I'm sure I would have loved it. It deals in big, bold pronouncements of 'follow your dreams' et cetera et cetera, and it certainly makes you think about your own life and the pursuit of your own "Personal Legend" if you will. But maybe I'm older and more cynical now, or maybe it's not cynicism so much as just seeing a reality that isn't so mystical and black and white as Paulo Coelho's, but in any event, I just wasn't buying what 'The Alchemist' was selling.

It's a good, quick read, I'll give it that. I enjoyed myself, and I definitely thought a little bit about my own life in the process, which I appreciate from my literature. And while I was more or less with it for a while, I just couldn't stay on board with an ending that left me saying, "that's it? Really?" Be forewarned, there will be spoilers after this point. The whole book Santiago is in pursuit of his "Personal Legend", which he is told is a great treasure found in the pyramids of Egypt. Along the way he befriends many people and makes a great sum of money, while also meeting a beautiful young woman who agrees to more or less be his life-partner, Romeo and Juliet-style (which is stupid in and of itself, but more on that later). It is at this point that he determines he has achieved a greater treasure than any he had ever dreamed of, and would go no further. Beautiful. Cue the music and themes of recognizing treasure in all its forms. Santiago has a wonderful, fulfilling life laid out before him, and would most likely die a happy man by the side of his lovely wife and adoring children, all while living comfortably as village counselor of a beautiful desert oasis. Sounds pretty nice, no?

Well, that's where the book lost it's footing. Santiago is urged, coerced even, into continuing to follow his "Personal Legend", leaving behind his "love" (who, it should be mentioned is a "woman of the desert" and so is completely fine being abandoned by her "love" and will simply wait and wait and wait for him, whether he ever returns or not) traversing the desert and (bizarrely) evading a hostile army along the way by turning himself into the wind (it makes about as much sense as it sounds). In the end though, Coelho reveals to us that Santiago does, indeed, reach his "Personal Legend" in a two and a half page epilogue, where it is shoddily revealed that Santiago's long-sought after treasure is...treasure. Literally. Buried treasure. A box in the sand filled with gold coins and diamonds and jewelry and crowns, and all the other cliche treasure images you can think up. What the hell?

So what message are we supposed to take from this book then? Money is the most important thing in the world? Women are objects meant to be seen and valued for their beauty, there to serve you and wait around forever while you go on wild goose chases across continents in search of money?

Obviously I'm being facetious, and Coelho intended to say that one should follow their dreams no matter what, even if it transcends a nice, content life, so long as you are in pursuit of a life that would be even greater than you can ever imagine, sacrificing what is good now for what can be great later. But he did so in an extremely simplistic way, and the revelation of the Santiago's treasure being literally treasure was a major disappointment.

The thing was, despite his simplicity, the book had a nice message going for a while. If Fatima was Santiago's treasure, that I could have gotten behind, even if it shows a good deal of contempt for the role of women in relationships (beauty being the most important factor in deciding on a mate, as Santiago is struck by her beauty and immediately professes his love; Fatima more or less acquiesces immediately and pledges herself to Santiago no matter what, even if he must travel the desert forever in selfish pursuit of his own dreams, with no regard for her), because that is something intangible that is meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of financial standing. But then Coelho basically goes on to say that that is just a roadblock in the way of real achievement, and that one should selfishly pursue their own dreams with no regard for those closest to them.

How a book can go on and on talking about seeing the everyday symbols and omens in life and taking heed of them, presumably leaving metaphors for life all along the way, and then have what was presumably the biggest metaphor of them all, Santiago's treasure, turn out not to be a metaphor at all, but just money? To me, that summed up everything. I suppose Coelho realizes this, as he begins the book with a brief fable about Narcissus falling into the river because he loved staring at his reflection, and the river's disappointment in this, as the river loved gazing into Narcissus's eyes and seeing the reflection of itself. This is a horrible little story implying that everyone is obsessed only with themselves, a sad, empty little thought that Coelho spends 167 pages endorsing wholeheartedly, under the guise of following your dreams.

I understand that other people love this book and find it inspiring, and I think I would have felt the same way years ago, when I was just out of college and it appeared I had my whole life ahead of me and a lifetime to live it. I'm older now, and I've found someone who I consider to be a real treasure, and while I still have dreams, I'm not willing to sacrifice the happiness that this life brings me every day in a single-minded pursuit of something that I want for selfish reasons (fame, fortune, etc.). If I was Santiago, I would have never left Fatima in the first place if she truly made me happy, as Santiago claimed she did. Perhaps that makes me a coward in Coelho's eyes, not unlike the Crystal merchant from the story. But it'd also make me not the sad Englishman, whose single-minded pursuit of his "personal legend" had cost him all his money, friends, and family and left him alone in an oasis burning lead in a tent in the vain hopes it will turn to gold.

I guess what I'm trying to say in this long-winded review, is that this book is all about being selfish and doing what you think will make you happy, regardless of everything else. I can see why that appeals to people, especially those who want to show the doubters and find their own treasure beneath a sycamore tree, but it's sad, in a way. We live in a culture where everyone wants selfish things like fame or money or power, just to satisfy some gaping hole in their own souls, ignoring the real problems that lead to these compulsions in the first place. To me, this book feeds and even encourages that misplaced ideal, and that's a shame.(less)

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

3 comments

06/07/08

Amit rated it:

Read in June, 2008

recommended to Amit by: i dont even know her name

There are too many things one can learn from “The Alchemist”. Its all about following your dream and about taking the risk of following your dreams, which is actually so difficult to do and there are very few people in this world who actually do, I mean risk it all, just to follow your heart and your dream. Beauty is, the author is so right in saying that when u decide to follow your dreams the entire universe conspires in your favour which he called as the “beginners luck” and we all ha...more There are too many things one can learn from “The Alchemist”. Its all about following your dream and about taking the risk of following your dreams, which is actually so difficult to do and there are very few people in this world who actually do, I mean risk it all, just to follow your heart and your dream. Beauty is, the author is so right in saying that when u decide to follow your dreams the entire universe conspires in your favour which he called as the “beginners luck” and we all have been witness to this beginners luck at one or other point in our lives. Also, he talks about a stage in our journey towards realizing our dreams, where everything just goes haywire and there is everything working against us and it almost takes us to the brink of abandoning everything and just getting back to what was so familiar and comfortable (i.e. our usual daily life which we get used to) this is actually the time when we are being tested for one last time and it means also that we are really close to our objective. The example given was really great and yes nothing new but we forget simple things in our life like "the darkest hour of the night is just before the dawn". It is actually true that so many of us just leave the struggle when it gets really tough and the chips are really low, whereas actually we were so close to the objective, if only we would have had a little more patience we would have been there. In one of the episodes he talks about death, yes the fact we always forget, the only reality about our life, it is a constant which is not going to change rest everything is uncertain. There are a lot of us who either think that it happens to others and then there are others, who are so busy running after the materials that they don’t have time to think about anything, leave alone death. Yes, and those who do think about death, mostly fear it, some fear death because of the physical pain attached to it (such people actually fear the pain rather than the death, I am one of them) and there are some who think they do not want to die because its not time yet for them to go. Ironically but true, this decision about timings has thankfully not been left to us. So, how do we get over the fear of death or make it our friend, a companion? And not waste our beautiful life worrying about dying all the time. One of the possible solutions lies in this book, it reads "if i have to fight, it will be just as good a day to die as any other". Yes very much right, one would never know when he or she wakes up in the morning that if it was the last day of his or her life and in fact, that day would not be any different from all the other days already spent. So, why not take everyday as the last day of our lives and live it up. Frankly speaking i really know what i am talking about, because I am in a profession which involves a lot of risk and death doesn’t have to look for reasons, it can just spring up from any bush in form of a small little piece of metal called a bullet coming out of the darkness of the night or just a deafening sound from under a culvert that I cross everyday. Here, everyday can be the last day of my life, every meal can be my last, every call to my wife can be the last time I would hear her sweet and loving voice and the kids… Anyways, so what I personally follow is, everyday when I wake up or every time when I move out on an operation, I say to myself "what a beautiful day to die" and there on, I just do what I have to and what I have been taught in all these years in the army and go through all the motions and concentrate on the job at hand rather than worrying about my death and I am really at peace with the fear of death. Another beautiful thought which I came across about death was in the novel by the author called "Confessions of a pilgrim". I derived from it that death can be visualized as a beautiful person who is always sitting besides us, so close to us that it travels with us wherever we go and it also accompanies us to our bed. Its a beautiful companion, a faithful companion, the only one who will never be unfaithful to us, rest all the companions are just lesser mortals and have been unfaithful at one point or other. Death always stays with us and actually speaking that’s the only companion who would accompany us all through our lives right from the moment we acquired some shape in our mother’s womb to the moment when we would get the vision of that white light and that feeling of lightness when we would finally leave this body also sometimes expressed as "VASTRA" (clothes) in the Indian mythology. As per the Indian mythology, the soul never dies, it is indestructible, it only changes a body just like we change clothes. Our soul is a part of God and it goes back to him. We can find the mention of the mighty soul of ours around the last portion of 'The Alchemist' where the shepherd realizes that ultimately it his own soul which is the “hand that wrote all” and his own soul was the part of soul of God. I firmly believe that there is no fiction involved in this story of the shepherd, but this is a true expression of mysteries and realities of our life, which we never pause to discover. There is massage that this book wants to convey to us!!! I have never been into writing anything ever in my life, yes not even a personal dairy, but since the time I actually started writing which was just a month back, I realized that if we just write our thoughts as they occur, the resultant has a touch of mystery, because what we wrote with all our heart and soul, sometimes tends to surprise us. We tend to learn from what we ourselves wrote. We never realized that we had so much inside us and we don’t know from where, it all came. “The hand that wrote all”, yes I think its our soul that speaks out, the soul we never recognized, the one we never knew, the one which is part of soul of God…. …All religions have over all the years have preached a man “Know thyself, you will find God”, “look within yourself u will find all the answers”, these words are so common but how many of us actually are ready to pause and give it a try. It may sound crazy, may be the book has a effect that may appear really crazy but I am sure there are some people who would identify with me. May be when Paulo Coelho wrote this book his soul was revealing itself and that’s why some of us can identify with it because our souls are the part of same soul of God, just like his is. May be these lines of his novel were written by the “Hand that wrote all……………”

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12/03/07

Emily rated it:

bookshelves: historical-fiction, i-own-it, what-i-read-in-2008

Read in January, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I decided, both in an effort to alleviate boredom at work and to keep me on task with the whole reading thing, to write reviews of all of the books that I finish. People tend to think that I read all these great books, so this is either an opportunity for people to realize that I read too much chick lit or to pass along some great titles.

The first book, cause it was the last one I finished, is The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo.

I read this book for one reason only. I'm goi...more

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04/20/08

nanto rated it:

bookshelves: a-must-read-book-for-me, langut-bersama-secangkir-kopi, nant-s-book, novel

Selesai membacanya buku yang saya punya sepertinya akan memiliki bentuk baru. Di tiap lembarnya ada lipatan. Teknik penanda jejak baca yang memudahkan untuk merefer ke halaman yang menarik tetapi dengan resiko menurunkan penampilan buku. Thx to Mr. Dj untuk tips ini.

Garis merah dari pembacaan saya atas buku Coelho yang satu ini adalah kekuatan hati sebagai salah satu fakultas pengetahuan manusia. Namun kali ini, hati bukanlah semata sebuah bentuk filsafat verbal atau analitik yang ke...more Selesai membacanya buku yang saya punya sepertinya akan memiliki bentuk baru. Di tiap lembarnya ada lipatan. Teknik penanda jejak baca yang memudahkan untuk merefer ke halaman yang menarik tetapi dengan resiko menurunkan penampilan buku. Thx to Mr. Dj untuk tips ini.

Garis merah dari pembacaan saya atas buku Coelho yang satu ini adalah kekuatan hati sebagai salah satu fakultas pengetahuan manusia. Namun kali ini, hati bukanlah semata sebuah bentuk filsafat verbal atau analitik yang kerap muncul dalam filsafat Barat. Yang menjadi modal utama bukan lagi rasio, yang ingin menganalisis segalanya karena "ada hal-hal yang tidak perlu dipertanyakan supaya kau tidak melarikan diri dari takdirmu" (hal. 55, edisi Indonesia). Hati yang memperkenalkan pada "Bahasa Antusiasme, bahasa orang yang berhasil dalam pekerjaannya yang dia lakukan dengan penuh cinta dan tujuan, juga sebagai bagian dari pencarian akan sesuatu yang diyakininnya dan dihasratinya" (hal. 81). Hati pulalah yang membuat kita peka akan firasat, yang selama ini dikenal oleh rasio sebagai keberuntungan dan kebetulan.

Gambaran filsafat analitik dan pengguna hati ada dalam karakter si orang Inggris yang dominan membaca buku dan si anak lelaki yang berkembang dengan pengalaman dan kepekaan atas firasatnya dan kebetulan yang ada di sekitarnya. Saya teringat akan ungkapan yang konon diungkapkan oleh T.S. Eliot menyatakan, "You have to read much, but not just many books." Selain juga ucapan yang konon dinyatakan oleh al Ghozali kepada filusuf, "filusuf adalah kaum yang melihat bintang dan membicarakannya, sementara kaum sufi adalah kaum yang melihat bintang dan kemudian membangun alat untuk mencapainya." (sumber lupa karena bacanya pas jaman kuliah euy!) Pada ungkapan T.S Eliot ditekankan peluasan bacaan dari sekedar teks menjadi juga alam luas. Sedangkan al Ghozali menekankan pada aksi dari pada sekedar berkutat pada analisa.

Aih aih jadi malu...

Pencarian si anak lelaki belum-belum sudah dihadapkan pada kemalangan. Sesampainya di Tangier, si anak lelaki hanyalah seperti orang-orang pada umumnya, matanya hanya melihat apa yang hendak dilihat, bukan apa yang sebenarnya terjadi. Begitulah yang ia katakan pada dirinya sendiri setelah tidak bisa membedakan mana pencuri dan mana orang yang memberi peringatan. Sehingga ketika si anak lelaki tengah bingung seusai kemalangan karena uangnya dicuri, ia dihadapkan pada pilihan: menganggap dirinya anak malang korban pencuri, atau petualang yang hendak mencari harta karun (hal. 56). Pilihannya jatuh pada yang terakhir yang kemudian memperkenalkan dirinya kepada pedagang kristal, luasnya padang pasir, oasis dan piramida. Kemalangan yang kemudian mampu dialihkan menjadi keberuntngan. Begitulah yang dilakukan si anak lelaki, menikmati setiap keberuntungannya. Karena bila tidak, "setiap berkah yang tidak kita hiraukan, berubah menjadi kutukan" (hal. 75).

Begitulah latihan si anak lelaki dengan hatinya, karena hatipun dapat berkhianat. Di tengah pencariannya dia terus menerka harta karun apa yang bakal didapatkannya, karena "Setiap pencarian dimulai dengan keberuntungan bagi si pemula. Dan setiap pencarian diakhiri dengan ujian berat bagi si pemenang" (hal. 170).

Meski tidak sepenuhnya sepakat dan mudeng dengan spiritualisme dan "bahasa universal" (terkesan seperti chaos theory gak sih?) yang dikemukakan dalam buku Coelho ini, saya menyukainya dan sepakat juga dengan review lain yang mengatakan pesan Coelho mirip dengan pesan buku The Secret. Pesan besar itu memang kembali kepada pesan Raja Salem kepadanya, "kalau kau sungguh-sungguh menginginkan sesuatu, seisi jagat raya akan bersatu padu untuk membantumu."(less)

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

9 comments

05/20/08

Alexis Taines rated it:

Look, I realize many of you loved this book, so be warned, because this isn't a recreant review. Two stars is generous. I found this thinly veiled self-help book to be simplistic in form, prose, and plot. The only thing to celebrate about the book is the conclusion, because that means you're officially free of it. Harsh? Eh, remember, I reviewed for Kirkus, who never fail to bring the snark. I would even recommend it to someone I thought would enjoy it - like my Mom, or someone with a proclivity...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

2 comments

06/10/08

Wendy rated it:

Read in June, 2008

It is one thing to read a great book and be inspired. It is an entirely different thing for the author to throw it in your face..."You will be inspired, you will be inspired..." I felt like I was bombarded with heavy handed one liners ever other paragraph. If you haven't started this book, don't bother. I will give it enough credit to say it was better than the Nanny Diaries. Although anything would be a better read than that horrid excuse for a book... Sorry, still mad at myself at wa...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

3 comments

08/19/08

Spamiola Kikita rated it:

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Spamiola Kikita by: a friend
recommends it for: everyone

"when you really want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"

This book has crossed the buondires of books, and has taken a life of its own, creating a movement all around the globe.

Santiago's journey and spiritual quest, the people he meets, the dreams he has, the omens he encounters, and the nature he speaks to, are all things that we can relate to..things that we've either forgotten about or simply dismissed as childhood fan...more

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

1 comment

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""This is why alchemy exists," the boy said. "So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold. That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."" More quotes...