Book Review: 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho

 

After I have finished my masters, I started feeling a bit depressed and anxious during staying at my home to wait for the beginning of a new journey. Am I the only one? And then I decided to read something.Before few days I got surprised. Suddenly one courier man came to my room and said that this is your gift.I was looking at these three books and thought that who gave me this wonderful surprise. And then I came to know about that man. You know you feel very lucky when you have a friend who is a book lover. He is younger than me but is very honest, mature, intelligent, respectful, and sincere than me. He is my online friend, we came in contact through Facebook. He is a student of forensic science though he is constantly connected with the literature and that intensity attracts me a lot. He qualified UGC NET in 2020 and right now is pursuing a Ph.D. in Forensic Science from Gujarat University. He is a good poet as well.

I have a lot of good people in my life, but I will say that it's a strange time that we live in - it's easy to make friends and make connections through social media. But it's very difficult to find a friend like him. I would like to thank Deepak Mahida for his consistent support and guidance during my dissertation writing and also thank you for this precious gift.

One of my favourite lines from his Gazhal:

રસ્તા ઉપર ઊભા રહીને ક્યાં જવું? ક્યાં ના જવું? એ પણ નિયત કરવું પડે, એવો સમય આવી અને થંભી ગયો છે.

દોડુ સતત તો સૌ નસો દુઃખ્યા કરે, બેસી રહે હાથે-પગે ખાલી ચડે, એવો સમય આવી અને થંભી ગયો છે.

-દીપક મહીડા

Book Review -The Alchemist by  Paulo Coelho

About the book:

The Alchemist is Written by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho in 1988. It was initially written and published in Portuguese. It is an international bestseller and has been translated to more than 70 languages. The book is relatively short having around 160 pages only. The theme is about finding one’s destiny or purpose in life.

It is said that Dreams are meant to be followed. Everything is one thing. Moments are meant to be lived. Reading these statements evokes a rush of energy, which is what the book leaves you with at the end of the novel. The vast majority of the people in this material world are unaware of how to choose the right path at the right time. Someone is confined to his legend or his feelings. With the temporary sacrifice of our love, this book offers a new approach to fulfilling our legend or dream.

'The Alchemist' is an interesting and inspirational journey. The whole story revolves around the “Personal Legend”. The story is all about a journey of physical and spiritual change. The whole journey tells us to tackle difficulties on our way. Some barriers stop us to go onward but this story throws light on the consistency and priorities. These barriers cannot stop us if we are stuck to pursue our Personal Legend. The main focus of the story is on the sufferings of the journey and the lessons of the sufferings.

The story starts with a dream. A shepherd named Santiago has chosen his profession according to his own liking. He dreams twice about a treasure lying under the Pyramids of Egypt. And his quest for finding that treasure becomes a struggle in his life. Following the dream is good but how to follow that process or method is very important.

After reading this book the I found the following lessons that the author might want to convey to his readers:

👉Live in the present- There is a whole conversation mentioned in the novel which talks about why the desert men need to live in the present. They justify it by saying that in case they start thinking about the war in the future, they would lose sight of the requirements to be made ready to fight the war-today.The important lesson is, “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

👉Never give up– The story highlights the importance of each clue to lead us to the dream of our life. It also portrays the never-give-up attitude of the protagonist that leads him to his dream. Paulo Coelho rightly said in this book that 

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.

(The Alchemist)

👉Be passionate.

👉Be you.

👉Don’t be afraid to fail.

👉Overcome fear.

👉Follow your personal legend.

As a student of English literature and criticism let me try to apply the theory of Existentialism in this novel. Existential psychology deals with the individual’s encounters in life, both physical and psychological which lead to their transition in life that may be at times be life-changing that leads the individual to emerge, evolve and become a different individual. In simpler terms, existentialism deals with the awareness of his/her own being. It also deals with the questions, who am I? where do I come from? The most important protagonist of the novel Santiago conveys, 

“I learned the alchemist’s secrets in my travels. I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe.”

 (The Alchemist) 

As a reader somewhere we find the life of protagonist very meaningless and purposeless. But if we read deeply we come to know that he is tested of patience, intelligence, determinants, bravery, and a lot more qualities, just to make sure he deserved the treasure. In in the end, he wouldn’t just find the treasure but also be left with the best version of himself. After a long struggle, he discovers that the treasure was not just the gold but what he had of himself.

You should definitely read this book if the words of Robert Frost have ever rung true for you

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by.

And that has made all the difference."

– Robert Frost

Thank You.......