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"The Alchemist" is the kind of book people press into each other's hands. A friend gives it to you during a hard year, or you find a worn copy on a shelf and finish it in an afternoon. It is short, the language is plain, and it asks one question with unusual directness: what would happen if you actually went after the thing you keep dreaming about?
That directness is both the book's charm and the reason some readers find it too simple. My advice is to read it the way it was written, as a fable rather than a realistic novel. Here is an introduction to the author, the opening of the story, and what makes it worth your time, without spoilers for the second half or the ending.
The author and the book's unlikely start
Paulo Coelho de Souza was born on 24 August 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Before he was known as a novelist, he worked as a songwriter, writing lyrics for Brazilian artists including Elis Regina, Rita Lee and Raul Seixas.
In 1986 he walked the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage route across northwestern Spain, an experience he later described as a spiritual turning point. His account of that journey, "The Pilgrimage," came out in 1987. He then wrote "O Alquimista," published in Brazil in 1988. Coelho has said he wrote it in only two weeks, because the story was already written in his soul.
The book's early life was far from triumphant. A small Brazilian publisher printed just 900 copies and decided not to reprint it. Only after Coelho moved to a bigger publishing house and released his next book, "Brida," did "The Alchemist" start to find readers. An English translation followed in the early 1990s, published by HarperCollins, and the book went on to become an international bestseller. For a story about refusing to give up on a dream, it is a fitting history.
Where the story begins
Santiago is a young shepherd in Andalusia, in the south of Spain, who tends a flock of sheep. He keeps having the same dream: that a treasure is waiting for him near the Egyptian pyramids.
Troubled by the dream, he visits a fortune-teller who claims to interpret dreams. Soon afterward he meets a mysterious old man who calls himself the king of Salem. The old man urges Santiago to sell his sheep, travel to Egypt, and pursue his "Personal Legend," the book's own term for the thing a person is meant to do with their life.
Giving up the only life he knows is not a small step. Santiago sells the sheep and crosses the sea to Tangier, in North Africa. What he finds there, and who the alchemist of the title turns out to be, is where I will stop.
What makes it worth reading
The book works because it does not pretend to be anything other than a parable. The style is closer to a folk tale than to a modern novel. Events move quickly, descriptions are brief, and each episode points toward a larger idea about fear, desire and the choices that shape a life. If you expect realistic psychology, you may be frustrated. If you read it as a story told around a fire, it opens up.
It is also a book that changes depending on when you read it. A student unsure about the future, someone considering a career change, and a retiree looking back on a long working life will each underline different sentences. That is one reason so many readers return to it years later and find it has become a different book.
Finally, the journey itself is a pleasure. Santiago learns from the people he meets along the way, and following him across unfamiliar places has the easy momentum of a good travel story. You keep asking yourself, "What would I do in his place?"
Who should read it
- Anyone standing at a crossroads, whether it is a new job, a move, or a decision they keep postponing
- Readers who want a meaningful book but do not have time for a long one
- People looking for a gift that says something words alone might not
A note on editions
"The Alchemist" was written in Portuguese, so every English edition is a translation. The English translation was published by HarperCollins, and a 25th Anniversary Edition has also appeared. Japanese readers know it as "アルケミスト 夢を旅した少年," translated by Hiroya and Akiko Yamakawa and available as a Kadokawa paperback since February 1997.
If the moment Santiago decides to sell his sheep makes your own heart beat a little faster, this book was probably written for you.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "The Alchemist (novel)" (original title, year and country of first publication, English publication, opening plot, the two-week writing period, 25th Anniversary Edition) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alchemist_(novel)
- Wikipedia, "Paulo Coelho" (full name, date and place of birth, songwriting career, 1986 pilgrimage, first print run of 900 copies, HarperCollins publication) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho
- KADOKAWA, "アルケミスト 夢を旅した少年" (Japanese paperback edition, translators and release date) https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/product/199999275001/