false 865 0061122416 9780061122415 112393 9675 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255578190m/865.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/865.The_Alchemist 566 Paulo Coelho 178684 17165 1 0 false Wed Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 18 21:01:57 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 19 10:38:32 -0800 2008 1
I don’t mind the tale. Oh, it’s contrived, certainly. But, the short little narrative is reasonably entertaining with it’s adventurous romp. The boy encounters some personal calamity, and waivers on whether to continue his Personal Legend. He meets others variously failing and succeeding on their own Personal Legend. He meets a terribly uninteresting love in the desert. He meets other mostly uninteresting characters, too. And, in the end, he finds his treasure after learning some accept-it-on-faith lesson about wisdom and patience (or something).

The tale is inscrutable. It’s exactly the kind of book that, when faced with criticism, can be answered with something nonsensical like “Well, then you just aren’t pursuing your Personal Legend.”

I can’t say the book didn’t make me think about what I’d like to accomplish in life. For that, I give it credit. I can say that the book reminded me that one of the things I want to accomplish in life is not to succeed by attributing success to interpreting omens set before me by supernatural agency!

Originally posted at my blog, www.riverwords.net.]]>