I bought this book while searching for inspirational, travel, and/or self-realization books to read before I travel to Europe for a month in search of self. From reviews, I found that this book contained all of those genres in one-- perfect.
This book was everything. While some critics say it was redundant of other books in this category, as well as shallow, I thought it was a perfect and beautiful story following a boy, with an old and wanderous soul, in search of his true meaning of life. The boy reminded me of who I've always wanted to be-- brave and enthusiastic about life. Throughout the story, several life and spiritual lessons are learned and I found that I absolutely could not put the book down.
While the desert life didn't draw the most beautiful descriptives to me (I am someone who prefers green, trees, flowers, hills, etc), the messages the desert had to tell were very inspirational.
The teeny tiny twist at the end was lovely and I was smiling so hard at the end when he found his treasure that he had been seeking throughout the whole book. SPOILER** But I didn't think it would be actual buried treasure. I thought it would be an epiphany or even death... some kind of final spiritual awakening. The very last line had my eyes nourished with joyful and excited tears as the book gave a tremendously satisfying conclusion and a happy, momentous ending.
I've never read a book within 1 day before, but this book was so wonderful and such an easy read, that I just couldn't put it down, and managed to finish it in a day.
I highly recommend The Alchemist.
“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
“We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.”
“I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”
“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”
“Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.”
-Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
