The Alchemist

Sorry about not blogging recently. I'm actually still coughing up whatever is still hanging out in my lungs but I'm definitely better. One of the things I was able to do very nicely while warming up the couch with Calvin and Tippy was read. I read two of my book club books back to back but I only want to talk about The Alchemist since that's the book we discussed last night at book club.

The Alchemist is an international best seller, originally written in Portuguese by the Brazilian Paulo Coelho, later translated into 67 languages, appearing in the Guiness Book of Records as the most translated book by a living author. Apparently The Alchemist is often assigned reading in high school or college (I bet my sister has read it) but none of us remembered ever having read it... strange, since this group of ladies reads voraciously.

From Powell's Books I stole this snippet of a summary: "... is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way ... the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts."

I really liked the book  in the beginning. It's all about not getting stuck doing what others expect of you and feeling free to pursue what makes you happy. As you accompany Santiago on his journey you begin to get the bug.... yeah man, maybe I should just chuck it all and seek out the true meaning of life... But as the story continues things get kind of weird and I began to wonder if I had been sold an empty dream. In the end Santiago actually gets real treasure, as in a chest full of gold coins, and I was so disappointed. I wanted the treasure to be a golden nugget of wisdom, to provide me with insight into the true pathway to happiness, to be a realization of profound proportion. A freaking chest of money? What an appalling ending - how did it become so popular?