The Alchemist Book Review
Introduction:
The Alchemist is an interesting novel written by the great and popular author Paulo Coelho. This book got published in 1993.
The Alchemist follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd, namely Santiago believing in a recurring dream. The main character of this book is Santiago, Fatima, Alchemist, Gypsy Woman, and the king of Salim.
What is the Story of the Book About?
Far away in the land of Andalusia Spain lived a shepherd named Santiago. He loves travelling very much. He always takes his sheep with him whenever he goes somewhere. One day he decides to go to Tarifa where he had visited once before. It becomes dark before he reaches the village, So, he found an empty church. He decides to spend the night there and keeps his sheep in the church.
The roof has fallen long ago. He swept the floor of the church with his jacket and lay down under the tree. From there he could see the stars through the half-destroyed roof. It that night he saw the same dream which he had seen a week ago and once again he wakes up before it ended. In his sleep, he saw a dream ” A small boy is playing with his sheep and the boy takes him to the Egyptian pyramids. The boy says to him there is your treasure” boy is about to give him the exact location but he wakes up. This time he becomes worried and realizes that there is a Gypsy woman in Tarifa who can solve this mystery for him.
The next morning he went to Tarifa and meets with the Gypsy women and tells her all about his dream. The Gypsy Woman demands one-tenth of his treasure for explaining the meaning of his dream. Santiago excitedly becomes agree and she tells him you can find your treasure near the Egyptian pyramids. After that Santiago returns from there and goes into the market. There an old man approach and says to Santiago he knew all about his dream and he could help him to find his treasure. The old man says to Santiago his name is Melchizedek and he is the king of the Salim and he loves to travel. He says to Santiago he will help him when e gives him one-tenth of his sheep. The King advised him if someone decides to achieve something then the whole universe helps them. Santiago decides he will give one-tenth of his sheep.
The man tells him he has to go to Egypt and he gives to Santiago a Stone which can lead him to the natural signal.
Melchizedek sends Santiago with a ship into Africa. When Santiago reaches Tangier Morocco some people robbed him. He becomes worried because he is in such a new place where he does not know anyone. But there he sees a crystal shop and he goes there and starts working in return for his work. The shop owner gives him food. In a year the shop owner and Santiago earn a lot of money.
Once he decides he will go to his village and buy a dual amount of sheep but later he remembers the words of the old man. Then he decides to go to Egypt. On the way to Egypt, he meets an English man who is searching for Alchemist. He tells him all about Alchemist that he is an old man and he can turn the lid into gold. Santiago helps him to find The Alchemist. When they both reached near the well, there Santiago meets with a beautiful girl namely Fatima he falls in love with Fatima. Fatima gives them the exact location of the Alchemist.
When they reach there Santiago tells the Alchemist all about his dream. Santiago takes the Alchemist with him to find his treasure. When they reach Egypt at this point, Santiago and The Alchemist become parted.
Santiago starts digging into the pyramid side. Suddenly, some people reach there and they think that maybe Santiago has hidden gold there.
They start beating Santiago. But Santiago tells him about his dream and treasure, then they start laughing at him. One from them says to Santiago, I have also seen a dream about treasures which are in the destroyed Church in Spain and Shepherd is sleeping under the Sycamore tree in that church. They think that Santiago is a fool, so they laugh at him and left him alone.
Now Santiago realizes that his treasures are in Spain in the old Church where he had spent a night and Sycamore is the symbol of Egypt Therefore, he saw Egypt in his dream. Again he goes to the church and starts digging under the tree. There he found his Treasure according to his promise and he gives one-tenth of his Treasure to the Gypsy woman in Tarifa. And he decides to go back to the place where Fatima is living.
Moral of the Novel:
This book teaches us no matter what happens but we should always follow our dreams.
Lucky Rehmat