Book Review: The Alchemist

Assalamualaikum...


Today, i finished a book titled The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

First published in Brazil in 1988 by a Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist is the most famous work by the prolific author. In 1993, it was published in English, and since then, has sold 65 million copies and has been translated into 55 other languages, making it one of the best selling book in history.

For so long, i've been thinking of doing book reviews for every book i've read, old and new. But, for some unknown reason, the idea never materialized as i kept postponing it... until today... after i finished reading this book.

'Follow our dreams.. make peace with our heart'

The theme of this book is exactly what i believe and try to practice in my life. As i follow the young hero of this book; a shepherd named Santiago, travel across Mediterranean from Spain to Egypt, looking for his destiny, i feel like he represents me and everyone who read this book in trying to achieve our own dreams in this life.
True, the path won't always easy. More often than not, we're forced to rethink of our dreams and end up.. abandon it. Especially, when it is well outside our comfort world. But one thing that we can learn from Santiago, is how we choose to perceive and face the challenge.

One of my favourite scene, sorry.. part, in the book is when Santiago just realized that he was being cheated by a thief he wrongfully thought wanted to help him. All the money he had, vanished in a blink of eyes, left him with nothing else except the clothes that he wore at the time.

At the time, he heard azan (i just feel it was nice to put it in here..), and when the market where he was at, started to empty of all the people who went to prayer, he did one thing he never did for a long time.

He wept! Really wept!! And after that, he fell asleep. When we woke up, he still feel miserable. And he started to think he was making a mistake by coming to Egypt (hmm, seems familiar? how could i not like this story?!)
But then, something crossed his mind. He can choose to become a victim in this foreign country, or he can choose to lighten up and do something to revive the hope of reaching his destiny. Of course he chose the latter and soon he was laughing his heart out. Why not? He can learn so many new things in Egypt. For example, Arabic...
At the moment, he kept thinking about one thing. A word from a wise-man he met before he made the journey.
"When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true!" This, i could say is the philosophy and the core of Coelho's writing all through The Alchemist.

One of the sweetest part is when he met his true love, Fatima, in the oasis at the middle of the desert. Oh, i love that part. Even more so when he declared to the girl, "I love you because the whole world conspired for me to come close to you..."

All in all, i strongly suggest all of you to read this book. In fact, so many well-known verses that very close to us from Al-Quran was quoted here and there in this book, make it a-feel-good-reading to everybody.
Oh, and one more thing, if in any case you can't find this book in the fiction/novel section, that's normal. Because big bookstores (MPH, Borders) put this book under self-help section...
I wonder why huh...?