Joseph Sverker's Reviews > The Alchemist
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads Author)
by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads Author)
Joseph Sverker's review
bookshelves: not-to-be-touched-with-a-barge-pole, novels-south-and-latin-america
May 20, 12
bookshelves: not-to-be-touched-with-a-barge-pole, novels-south-and-latin-america
Read in April, 2007
This is the most pointsless and meaningless read I have ever come across. I bought it on an airport because I had to wait for seven hours, but I would almost had preferred stairing at a wall instead. This book is so PC that it scares me. To me it is the equivalent of eating candy floss - a lot of pink clouds, but no substance. Or actually it is not like eating candy floss, because that at least can be associated with something fun like a fun fair, or childhood memories. Rather, it is like cracking an egg and finding out that it was nothing but a shell, and the shell then makes a splinter under your nail that keeps on annoying you that you ever came across that stupid egg.
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Comments (showing 1-2 of 2) (2 new)
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Many, many reasons. It is shallow, pretentious and tediously badly written with someone trying to be philosophical trying to dress the language up to tie in with the great myths of the past, yet fails miserably. I think Coelho tries too hard to try to communicate his very trite advice to life of becoming a pilgrim, yet, in the end, finding what you are searching for in yourself by putting the message into a story that is simply simplistic and unimaginative and not the least bit entertaining.

Any particular reason for not liking this book?
- A S