The Alchemist

So terrible. One big jerkoff narrative about how giving in to the universe to let things happen will make your life better. Surprise: it won't, and it's an actively harmful belief.

Young boy on a Journey discovering the mysteries of life,universum and mother earth. Great book for challenging your world view.

I found myself doing a lot of eye-rolling while reading this book. I know I am cynical but I just couldn't get into it. At least it was short!

Very simple book, with a simple “follow your dreams (Personal Legend)” moral. Merely ok.

I read every book two times. For the first time, I don't judge, but only feel thing the book normally let me feel. On the second time, I judge it with the eyes and ears of my own logics.

The Alchemist is a good read indeed. I read it in English. Due to translation, some literary value must be lost, but still it is amazing.

The Storytelling is really natural to Paulo Coehlo. It is also a good inventory of middle-eastern/Arabian philosophy which is compatible with todays Sufi Philosophy.

Though I am a non-believer and most of the theories here are obsolete to me, I can't deny that it was a real pleasure to read this book.


Pardon my English, I am not a native speaker.

En este libro encontraras:
- Obviedades
- Personajes que te dicen como debes pensar
- Personajes que te dicen como debes vivir tu vida
- Fuerzas sobrenaturales (el universo) con consciencia, deseando ayudarte
- Hombres que buscan su destino y mujeres que esperan en casa
- Filosofia vacia y engañosa
- Un protagonista que dice buscar su camino pero siempre sigue ordenes del primer hombre con barba o canas que pasa por ahi
- Un libro que se toma en serio cuando realmente parece un libro de auto-ayuda para niños disfrazado muy malamente como una parabola.
- Un final de moralidad cuestionable

Posiblemente el peor libro que he leido en mi vida.
Lo unico bueno del libro es que es corto.

A quick and easy read. One of Coelho's most famous works. In the Alchemist he presents and an interesting parable that focuses on the importance of identifying and pursuing one's true and overarching purpose.

Pretentious, contrived and pretty poorly written.

I absolutely loved this book. Finished it the same day I started because I just couldn't put it down.

Liked the beginning and the end.The climax was simply superb.But somewhere in the middle the novel drags and loses traction;where it bores the reader with too much and repeated philosophy.Maybe the faults are the problems of the translation and reading it once again may prove me wrong :)

Vague spiritual jibberish with a message that can be summed up “You already have everything your heart desires.”

Started with a good story but got a little too preachy about god closer to the end.

Apparently “The Alchemist” is really popular among celebrities, according to the introduction. It's a simple story of a boy searching for his Personal Legend. The boy has chosen to forego his education for a life of travel as a shepherd. He travels back and forth across Spain with his flock to sell wool, and has recurring dreams about finding treasure in the Egyptian Pyramids. On one of his trips, he encounters an old king, who encourages him to follow the omens and find his treasure, as everyone has a Personal Legend they must fulfill. But once he sets off on his journey, he encounters many obstacles that threaten to prevent him from completing his Personal Legend, and wonders if it's worth finding the treasure and leaving the comfort of the life he knows.

Si arriva alla fine del libro e ci si sente un po' poveri, o tonti, o una strana combinazione delle due cose. Perchè il primo pensiero che viene in mente è che non sei riuscito a capire quello che hai letto, a penetrare nelle profonde conoscenze che l'autore voleva trasmettere.

Poi ci rifletti bene, riprendi in mano il libro e ti metti a leggere alcuni passaggi importanti, diciamo quei punti significativi che probabilmente non hai appreso come dovevi fare e allora comincia la vera comprensione e cioè che hai letto una trama banale, scontata, pesante, piena di concetti cristiani, mussulmani, new age, alchemici (?), con frasi ad effetto che stanno bene scritte sui muri delle case per far capire quanto sei profondo alla ragazza che abita lì davanti; e sta qui la vera comprensione: come un uomo possa arricchirsi vendendo banalità confezionate per chi si accontenta di verità alla Baci di Perugina.

Tanto di cappello a chi riesce con queste genialate a vendere milioni di libri, perché no? C'è chi ancora va dai maghi a farsi le carte o legge gli oroscopi tutte le mattine. La spiritualità però, così come i “misteri iniziatici” o l'alchimia, sono ben altre cose e per questo se uno vuole esistono libri sacri delle varie religioni e credi o i libri dei grandi filosofi del passato, le cui riflessioni sono sopravvissute ai secoli e sono reperibili ovunque e probabilmente a prezzi inferiori di questo libretto da poche pagine che viene ancora venduto a prezzo pieno in versione rilegata; bella furbata editoriale.

Questo libro finge beffardamente una profondità che non esiste al suo interno mettendo parole come cuore, amore, sogni, anima: ma questo è sufficiente?; Se volete cimentarvi con qualcosa che probabilmente può farvi interrogare su gli aspetti della vita leggete i grandi capolavori della letteratura (Tolstoy, Hugo, Dostoievskj, ecc.), che potete trovare ovunque, sono sicuramente più complicati e di difficile lettura, ma scendono davvero alle profondità per cui arriviamo a interrogarci sui significati importanti della vita.

Fornire risposte banali a cui tutti siamo già arrivati mettendole per iscritto in un libro, probabilmente non risultano più semplici ovvietà, ma profonde rivelazioni.

“Segui la tua Leggenda Personale” o “ascolta il tuo cuore”, insegui e porta a compimento i tuoi sogni, certo Coelho, perché non metterci anche un “quello che entra dalla bocca esce dal culo”?

The Alchemist was definitely not the Full Metal Alchemy (FMA) adventure I was looking for. Still, it did reveal which parts of FMA were actually alchemy folklore that I had simply never heard before.

Motivational stuff I am in least need of...
The style of the book which is so contrived, sort of over-hyped for its storytelling. Well, that is the first thing about the book which turned me off. While writing a book whose subject matter be fantasy, would you carry this sort of poetic license always in your pocket?
The style didn't click with me.
The subject matter gives me the feeling of sweet pills wrapped in cartons with deliberate inspirational illustrations over them.
Not my kind of reading.

Inspirational. Paulo Coelho is a magician with the way he weaves his story.

Another book on Audiobook.com

Quick read. I would like to read more of his books.

This book is silly. I would so much rather read a real spiritual text and learn something, or a real novel and be fully engrossed. This is a sloppy something in between. However, it did make for a great discussion at book club.

I love this book, great story full of meaning.

This is one of those books I'd heard a lot about and seen around, but I didn't pick it up until recently. The story is powerful, and it's an excellent parable/fable on how to truly live your life. Definitely a book I need to add to my collection.

Very good read!

This book is simple, maybe too simple for most people these days.. but it manages to find me just when I need its message.

Had I read this at an earlier time in my life, I would have liked it a lot more. It reminded me a lot of The Little Prince, with its traveling main character and desert setting and Big Symbolic Images and Philosophical Themes. I don't know why, but I never connected with the characters or the story.