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rikuson1's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
It Was Okay 😶
-★★✮☆☆- (2.50/5.00)
My Grading Score = 50% (D+)
The Alchemist was a book that was recommended to me by a longtime friend of mine, I guess they really loved it because it was the one they recommended to me above any other book. Before I sat down and read this one, I saw that many people considered this a self-help book. Others (including this site) consider it a book that everyone should read at least once. I've read two self-help books before both by the same author and I loved the both of them, so my interest in what other self-help books were like did interest me more than anything when it came to this one. And so, my expectations were set.
I had no clue exactly what to expect from this book outside of what I heard which was "it's a self-help book" and as far as I can see (at least on this site and a small amount of video reviews of this book specifically from women which I can know why) find this book to be over-hyped and/or rubbish. But the other self-help book I read had the same level of criticism to it as well so I took that into consideration when it came to this genre, which only solidified my theory on it even more after finishing the Alchemist.
It seems that "self-help books" main purpose are to inspire the readers in ways to make them better or do something inspiring in their actual lives. Most stories have a meaningful and sometimes moral message that can be extracted from it, but you have to find it within the details of the story you're reading. Self-help books it seems (at least before I read this one) led me to believe that they are straight to the message at hand of letting the reader know what that moral message is and diving into it. The Alchemist did not follow this preconceived notion and expectation that I had coming into it.
When the book started we are introduced to a Shepard boy by the name of Santiago, who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure he sees in his dreams. I was confused at first because , as I stated, I thought I was getting a self-help book, not a quest story. I thought maybe I misunderstood what I read, and so I just followed along with the story being presented to me. Quickly and surely, I could see it everything within the short length of this story, the message at hand. Written out clearly is an understatement here as it more so bashed continuously across the readers head. The message of "follow your dreams," "your calling," or, as this book puts it, "your personal legend." I thought the wording at first was unique enough, and the message was a good one. Don't get me wrong. I did not mind the message that was present. I actually agree with most of the details behind the moral message that was presented outside of the detail that the universe will help you achieve it, I actually disagree with that part and think quite the contrary. The point is, I felt the moral message being provided was lightly dived into because it's not necessarily a moral message that has that much depth to be dived into anyway and once it's provided to the reader, what is are you left with once you've been provided that message? Everything else, this is where I think my personal issues with the book lay.
In regards to everything else outside of the message, I did not find that interesting. The character Santiago outside of a few characterization doubts within him didn't really have any conflicting aspects that really halted and made him struggle in any interesting way. When you're reading through it the narrator most of the time doesn't even refer to Santiago by his name, so to be honest by the halfway point I forgot it because he was referred as "the boy" way too much. This was most likely done intentionally because it makes sense to this entire story. It's not about Santiago, the story, the other characters, the world, none of that. They main priority was the moral message above all. It seemed like Paulo Coelho wanted to make sure that you knew what this moral message was, and if you were to remember anything from this book above anything else, it's that. So every other aspect of this book becomes merely a shadow to the light that is the message that shines so bright you might as well be looking at the sun, which funny enough is the cover image for the book.
As far as most of the criticisms that I see coming to this book, it's mainly for three I hear, which to a degree at the very least I can completely understand.
1st main criticism I hear about this book : "The moral message is one I either do not agree with or can not relate to there for I did not like this book." The first part of not agreeing with the moral message I can not debate against because disagreeing and having a reason as to why will vary person to person. But the second part where it states I can not relate to the moral message. I think it is something I can comment on. Within the book it mentions "your personal legend" like I stated earlier and additionally one of the characters lecturing this concept to the boy mentions the fact that there are people out there that never realize what their "personal legend" is and I think it is directly referring to the people who may have read this book (regardless of what age or where they are in life) did not find their "personal legend" so they can not relate to the compulsion to want to do what ever they need to do in order to realize it. I am not someone who will judge a book based off of if I'm able to relate to it in any way or not. I think it's a very emotional and flawed way to critique a book as I do not see any critical analysis being done, you're just going off if you feel you connected to the book or not and not the quality of the book at hand critically in your opinion, your feelings I care little for. But to be fair this entire site's rating system looks like it's based off how you feel about a book, nothing is good or bad it's did you like or not so it's whatever and I digress from that. The point is nonetheless if you are someone that couldn't find their calling or maybe you do not have one, I can understand this book not being one you'd like because it's the biggest piece of this book, if you can't relate to having a "personal legend" this book will most likely be a waste of your time.
2nd main criticism I hear about this book - This one is mainly from the female audience. And you probably know where this is headed. "What about Fatima, What about Fatima, What about Fatima? What about ? What about ?" The Boy meets a girl that he falls in love with at first site name Fatima who he tells about his personal legend and the fact that he wants and needs to realize it and Fatima basically to a degree states she's apart of his "Personal Legend" and he goes off to obtain his treasure coming back to her as she says she'll wait for him. Now you know in today's age this type of plot isn't going to fly or age well with a female audience because they are relating with the female of the story because they are female and not the protagonist that the story is about. Now I'm not saying they her personal legend doesn't matter because some people feel like that's what writer is saying and there for this book is misogynistic for putting the message out there that "women don't have a personal legend they got to stay put and help a man get his" which if that's what you took away from this, I disagree with you wholeheartedly. Like stated earlier, and it says in the book that "some people never find out what their personal legend is," and if you pertain this to real life, this is true. The story like I stated didn't even care to really tell us the main characters name that much pass a certain point, heck I remembered Fatima's name more instead of Santiago's but it's because of like I stated. Everything comes after the message of this story of "finding your personal message" this includes Fatima who is unfortunately for the girls that wanted to relate to the only girl in the story is implied to be someone who didn't find hers, this is an aspect that I assume applies to bother genders, respectfully, just get over it.
3nd main criticism I hear about this book - And I completely agree with this one as it's my personal biggest critique of this book. "Outside of the message, the story that is associated with it is not that good, interesting, or compelling to following." This, like I stated earlier, fundamentally is something I can bet money on that Paulo Coelho intentionally did. His main goal was to get his message out there about finding and obtaining your "personal legend no matter the cause", and he succeeded in that because how can he not with the message is spammed through the book. The problem is that everything else feels nowhere near as interesting, compelling, or fleshed out to any degree. This story I felt was not worth experiencing when the message is what really matters and can be wrapped up in a few sentences.
Verdict
I do not regret reading it. Like I stated, I understand the moral message of "finding out your personal legend and trying your very best to realize it," because how can you not take that away from it, it's spammed. I additionally and fortunately am apart of the people that has found what their personal legend is and I am working towards realizing it so to my benefit I could relate to the main moral message this book was trying to drill into my head. If you're someone who's mainly here to absorb that message and nothing else, then this book is for you. But if you're someone like me that you need more than that from a book that tried to be a hybrid of a self-help book and a mediocre quest story, then this book might not be for you. The Alchemist is not a bad book, but I wouldn't recommend it personally when you take more criteria of critiquing aspects and guidelines of what makes a book worth reading outside to me of just one aspect that may or may not even click with you if you don't have a personal legend to relate this book to
It Was Okay
-★★✮☆☆- (2.50/5.00)
My Grading Score = 50% (D+)
The Alchemist was a book that was recommended to me by a longtime friend of mine, I guess they really loved it because it was the one they recommended to me above any other book. Before I sat down and read this one, I saw that many people considered this a self-help book. Others (including this site) consider it a book that everyone should read at least once. I've read two self-help books before both by the same author and I loved the both of them, so my interest in what other self-help books were like did interest me more than anything when it came to this one. And so, my expectations were set.
I had no clue exactly what to expect from this book outside of what I heard which was "it's a self-help book" and as far as I can see (at least on this site and a small amount of video reviews of this book specifically from women which I can know why) find this book to be over-hyped and/or rubbish. But the other self-help book I read had the same level of criticism to it as well so I took that into consideration when it came to this genre, which only solidified my theory on it even more after finishing the Alchemist.
It seems that "self-help books" main purpose are to inspire the readers in ways to make them better or do something inspiring in their actual lives. Most stories have a meaningful and sometimes moral message that can be extracted from it, but you have to find it within the details of the story you're reading. Self-help books it seems (at least before I read this one) led me to believe that they are straight to the message at hand of letting the reader know what that moral message is and diving into it. The Alchemist did not follow this preconceived notion and expectation that I had coming into it.
When the book started we are introduced to a Shepard boy by the name of Santiago, who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure he sees in his dreams. I was confused at first because , as I stated, I thought I was getting a self-help book, not a quest story. I thought maybe I misunderstood what I read, and so I just followed along with the story being presented to me. Quickly and surely, I could see it everything within the short length of this story, the message at hand. Written out clearly is an understatement here as it more so bashed continuously across the readers head. The message of "follow your dreams," "your calling," or, as this book puts it, "your personal legend." I thought the wording at first was unique enough, and the message was a good one. Don't get me wrong. I did not mind the message that was present. I actually agree with most of the details behind the moral message that was presented outside of the detail that the universe will help you achieve it, I actually disagree with that part and think quite the contrary. The point is, I felt the moral message being provided was lightly dived into because it's not necessarily a moral message that has that much depth to be dived into anyway and once it's provided to the reader, what is are you left with once you've been provided that message? Everything else, this is where I think my personal issues with the book lay.
In regards to everything else outside of the message, I did not find that interesting. The character Santiago outside of a few characterization doubts within him didn't really have any conflicting aspects that really halted and made him struggle in any interesting way. When you're reading through it the narrator most of the time doesn't even refer to Santiago by his name, so to be honest by the halfway point I forgot it because he was referred as "the boy" way too much. This was most likely done intentionally because it makes sense to this entire story. It's not about Santiago, the story, the other characters, the world, none of that. They main priority was the moral message above all. It seemed like Paulo Coelho wanted to make sure that you knew what this moral message was, and if you were to remember anything from this book above anything else, it's that. So every other aspect of this book becomes merely a shadow to the light that is the message that shines so bright you might as well be looking at the sun, which funny enough is the cover image for the book.
As far as most of the criticisms that I see coming to this book, it's mainly for three I hear, which to a degree at the very least I can completely understand.
1st main criticism I hear about this book : "The moral message is one I either do not agree with or can not relate to there for I did not like this book." The first part of not agreeing with the moral message I can not debate against because disagreeing and having a reason as to why will vary person to person. But the second part where it states I can not relate to the moral message. I think it is something I can comment on. Within the book it mentions "your personal legend" like I stated earlier and additionally one of the characters lecturing this concept to the boy mentions the fact that there are people out there that never realize what their "personal legend" is and I think it is directly referring to the people who may have read this book (regardless of what age or where they are in life) did not find their "personal legend" so they can not relate to the compulsion to want to do what ever they need to do in order to realize it. I am not someone who will judge a book based off of if I'm able to relate to it in any way or not. I think it's a very emotional and flawed way to critique a book as I do not see any critical analysis being done, you're just going off if you feel you connected to the book or not and not the quality of the book at hand critically in your opinion, your feelings I care little for. But to be fair this entire site's rating system looks like it's based off how you feel about a book, nothing is good or bad it's did you like or not so it's whatever and I digress from that. The point is nonetheless if you are someone that couldn't find their calling or maybe you do not have one, I can understand this book not being one you'd like because it's the biggest piece of this book, if you can't relate to having a "personal legend" this book will most likely be a waste of your time.
2nd main criticism I hear about this book - This one is mainly from the female audience. And you probably know where this is headed. "What about Fatima, What about Fatima, What about Fatima? What about ? What about ?" The Boy meets a girl that he falls in love with at first site name Fatima who he tells about his personal legend and the fact that he wants and needs to realize it and Fatima basically to a degree states she's apart of his "Personal Legend" and he goes off to obtain his treasure coming back to her as she says she'll wait for him. Now you know in today's age this type of plot isn't going to fly or age well with a female audience because they are relating with the female of the story because they are female and not the protagonist that the story is about. Now I'm not saying they her personal legend doesn't matter because some people feel like that's what writer is saying and there for this book is misogynistic for putting the message out there that "women don't have a personal legend they got to stay put and help a man get his" which if that's what you took away from this, I disagree with you wholeheartedly. Like stated earlier, and it says in the book that "some people never find out what their personal legend is," and if you pertain this to real life, this is true. The story like I stated didn't even care to really tell us the main characters name that much pass a certain point, heck I remembered Fatima's name more instead of Santiago's but it's because of like I stated. Everything comes after the message of this story of "finding your personal message" this includes Fatima who is unfortunately for the girls that wanted to relate to the only girl in the story is implied to be someone who didn't find hers, this is an aspect that I assume applies to bother genders, respectfully, just get over it.
3nd main criticism I hear about this book - And I completely agree with this one as it's my personal biggest critique of this book. "Outside of the message, the story that is associated with it is not that good, interesting, or compelling to following." This, like I stated earlier, fundamentally is something I can bet money on that Paulo Coelho intentionally did. His main goal was to get his message out there about finding and obtaining your "personal legend no matter the cause", and he succeeded in that because how can he not with the message is spammed through the book. The problem is that everything else feels nowhere near as interesting, compelling, or fleshed out to any degree. This story I felt was not worth experiencing when the message is what really matters and can be wrapped up in a few sentences.
Verdict
I do not regret reading it. Like I stated, I understand the moral message of "finding out your personal legend and trying your very best to realize it," because how can you not take that away from it, it's spammed. I additionally and fortunately am apart of the people that has found what their personal legend is and I am working towards realizing it so to my benefit I could relate to the main moral message this book was trying to drill into my head. If you're someone who's mainly here to absorb that message and nothing else, then this book is for you. But if you're someone like me that you need more than that from a book that tried to be a hybrid of a self-help book and a mediocre quest story, then this book might not be for you. The Alchemist is not a bad book, but I wouldn't recommend it personally when you take more criteria of critiquing aspects and guidelines of what makes a book worth reading outside to me of just one aspect that may or may not even click with you if you don't have a personal legend to relate this book to
It Was Okay
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief
More...