THE ALCHEMIST

• by Paulo Coelho
• [rated by PBS readers as #70]
• 208 pages

I’m torn writing this right after putting the book down. But then again, I also fear that in a very short time, it will evaporate and swirl away, like all the sand contained in its pages.

I feel some twinges of guilt, as I packed two small fables for this trip to Maine that I’m on – Little Prince & Alchemist. There are at least 16 books coming up on the blog that come in around 1000 pages! What am I doing

reading two small sweet ones back to back?

But you know? I was searching for transcendence. And I got it!

While the Alchemist is all about pursuing your dreams, I was aware throughout the read that this was the first time I had lived with that theme that it didn’t bug me.

As the boy hero heads to the Pyramids to find his treasure, I headed to LA to find mine. I didn’t get it and got scarred up a whole lot. I don’t feel the satisfaction described here for having done it.

The boy meets a Muslim man who doesn’t travel to Mecca in his life because then he can always dream of its splendor and never be disappointed. This is treated as sad. But oddly enough, from my vantage point, it feels like a valid way to go!

Yet, The Alchemist is a lovely fable. It feels like an at least once in a lifetime read for every living soul. It is written with a beautiful multifaceted entrance point that would include any one and every one.

I do believe and depend on many things stated in here. I gain huge amounts in my life by basing things on signs, often spoken by a casual passer by. In many ways, my book series, Ruby, is based on signs.

The hero must be a young boy because of his openness and innocence. I believe that you lose the chance for any moment of greatness if you lose your openness and innocence. May we never lose that.

And if we do, a quick reread of The Alchemist will cure it!