Date of Completion: 02/12/20
‘The Alchemist’ is a book I would recommend all young adults read whilst transitioning to becoming full-fledged “adults”. I would also recommend it to anyone going through a mid, quarter, or any stage, life crisis as it might help with finding your place in the world.
The secrets of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon.
In my opinion, this book starts off really strong! I deeply enjoyed the simple yet impactful nature of the initial aspect of the tale shared by Paulo Coelho. Even when reading the prologue, which was engaging and insightful, I found myself asking how he knew all about my life and fears!
It could be that people’s impression of the book whilst reading it vary depending on the phase of life they are in. However, this book was definitely a case of right time, right message for me. That being said, I do feel like it reaches a point where its impactfulness fades. The tale quickly becomes far more abstract and unfortunately, the relatability of the book quickly declines. At this point, I found myself questioning if the first half was simply a fluke or if the second half was lost in the translation.
When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes.
Regardless, I think it is important to take some time after reading this book to reflect on its contents especially before discussing it with someone else. This is because ‘The Alchemist’ inspires thought and deep introspection into one’s life and I think it is very crucial that this is done before taking on the ideas of others.
Overall, this book leans towards average to me; hence the 3.5 stars. While I do recommend reading it, I would not be surprised if you gave up on towards the end.
To see other books I would recommend reading in your twenties, click here to check out the full article.
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