The Alchemist
Van Lupardi 10/23
FYPO Book Review
The Alchemist The Alchemist is an adventuristic novel written by Paulo Coelho that takes place in both Europe and Africa. Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian author who published this book in 1988. The original language the novel was written in was Portuguese; the book became a best seller internationally and was then translated into seventy different languages. The main character is Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd who has a dream under a sycamore tree which leads him to his great adventure. Santiago is a brave shepherd who is destined to find a great treasure. The story begins with him sleeping under a sycamore tree near a church. He has a dream which is indescribable until Santiago goes to …show more content…
a dream interpreter. Santiago finally understands what his dream was, a child holding his hands in Egypt, telling him exactly where a treasure is buried. This was just the beginning. Santiago sells his flock of sheep and adventures to Egypt. Along the way, he meets an Englishman who is studying alchemy and wishes to find the philosopher’s stone and the Elixir of life. Santiago also meets a 200-year-old alchemist who is very mysterious and wears black clothing and rides a white horse. The Alchemist is very powerful, and it is later revealed that he has both the philosopher’s stone which can transform lead into gold, and the elixir of life, which can cure any illness. Eventually the Englishman leaves the group and it is just Santiago and The Alchemist riding a caravan to the pyramids of Egypt.
Along the way, they encounter dangerous tribes that wish to kill them for their belongings, but The Alchemist gives them all their gold and promises that Santiago is a powerful sorcerer that can change into wind in three days. Santiago had no idea what to do. On the third day however, a storm converges at the tribe’s camp and Santiago hides inside the middle of the storm which crosses through the camp and spits out Santiago to the other side, baffling the tribesmen. They then get all their belongings back and head to the pyramids together. Halfway there The Alchemist stops and shows Santiago the power of the philosopher’s stone by turning a piece of lead into gold which is given to Santiago. Now alone, Santiago finally gets to the pyramids and starts digging, only to be jumped by two men who wrestle with him. Santiago tells them his story about a dream and treasure being buried there and the two men think that he has nothing of worth so they leave him alone. Before the men leave, one of them tells Santiago about a dream that he has about treasure buried under a sycamore tree: the same sycamore tree that Santiago started at. Santiago then realizes this and travels all the way back to Andalucía to find the treasure under the
tree. This book was one of my favourite reads because I have a passion for adventure and this book is like a dream of an adventure that I could have. I have read this book in the past and it was nostalgic to read it again, remembering the small moments where peril struck and where the plot twists turned into solutions. The third-person book creates a very personal relation with the reader because it entices the reader to adventure. Santiago is someone who is not afraid to chase his dreams, he sold his flock of sheep which is all he had at the time, just to go chase a dream which he did not even understand in the first place. By using fiction and great story-telling skills, Paulo Coelho did a phenomenal job writing this book.
FYPO Book Review
The Alchemist The Alchemist is an adventuristic novel written by Paulo Coelho that takes place in both Europe and Africa. Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian author who published this book in 1988. The original language the novel was written in was Portuguese; the book became a best seller internationally and was then translated into seventy different languages. The main character is Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd who has a dream under a sycamore tree which leads him to his great adventure. Santiago is a brave shepherd who is destined to find a great treasure. The story begins with him sleeping under a sycamore tree near a church. He has a dream which is indescribable until Santiago goes to …show more content…
a dream interpreter. Santiago finally understands what his dream was, a child holding his hands in Egypt, telling him exactly where a treasure is buried. This was just the beginning. Santiago sells his flock of sheep and adventures to Egypt. Along the way, he meets an Englishman who is studying alchemy and wishes to find the philosopher’s stone and the Elixir of life. Santiago also meets a 200-year-old alchemist who is very mysterious and wears black clothing and rides a white horse. The Alchemist is very powerful, and it is later revealed that he has both the philosopher’s stone which can transform lead into gold, and the elixir of life, which can cure any illness. Eventually the Englishman leaves the group and it is just Santiago and The Alchemist riding a caravan to the pyramids of Egypt.
Along the way, they encounter dangerous tribes that wish to kill them for their belongings, but The Alchemist gives them all their gold and promises that Santiago is a powerful sorcerer that can change into wind in three days. Santiago had no idea what to do. On the third day however, a storm converges at the tribe’s camp and Santiago hides inside the middle of the storm which crosses through the camp and spits out Santiago to the other side, baffling the tribesmen. They then get all their belongings back and head to the pyramids together. Halfway there The Alchemist stops and shows Santiago the power of the philosopher’s stone by turning a piece of lead into gold which is given to Santiago. Now alone, Santiago finally gets to the pyramids and starts digging, only to be jumped by two men who wrestle with him. Santiago tells them his story about a dream and treasure being buried there and the two men think that he has nothing of worth so they leave him alone. Before the men leave, one of them tells Santiago about a dream that he has about treasure buried under a sycamore tree: the same sycamore tree that Santiago started at. Santiago then realizes this and travels all the way back to Andalucía to find the treasure under the
tree. This book was one of my favourite reads because I have a passion for adventure and this book is like a dream of an adventure that I could have. I have read this book in the past and it was nostalgic to read it again, remembering the small moments where peril struck and where the plot twists turned into solutions. The third-person book creates a very personal relation with the reader because it entices the reader to adventure. Santiago is someone who is not afraid to chase his dreams, he sold his flock of sheep which is all he had at the time, just to go chase a dream which he did not even understand in the first place. By using fiction and great story-telling skills, Paulo Coelho did a phenomenal job writing this book.