The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

I'll soon wrap this one up, here goes ... Once upon a time there was a shepherd boy who followed his dreams and was guided by omens along the way. He eventually found his dream and lived happily ever after. OK, so that's the plot of the book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, taken care of. All I have to do now is give my opinion on whether I liked it or not. An easy ten peasy! Well did I? No, not really. The End. Wish everything in life was as simple as this. Must say the book has a nice orange cover, hmmm, what's this blurb on the back? 'Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of ...  Read the complete review

It was only yesterday that I wrote my last opinion, usually I would not write another one quite this quickly, but I simply had to get this one down on pixels, I was so surprised after reading this book. I was loaned a copy of this book by a friend of mine recently. I recognised the title instantly - it’s one of those books that everyone seems to talk about, but not that many have read. He was given a copy by a friend of his, recommended it to his girlfriend, who went out and bought a copy, loaned a copy to another friend, who loved it, and then passed the copy on to me. Despite all those recommendations, I still wasn’t that ...  Read the complete review

Brazillian born writer Paulo Coelho is a modern writer of rare brilliance, and this particular novel, which is his best-loved work is also one of his most popular - 20 million sales, 42 translations and a numerous amount of awards cement Coelho's status. As with his other books (although I've only read one other, prior), Coelho writes poetic life-enhancing tales, making them not only a joy to read and devour, but they also temporarily or permanently make you appreciate and live life more. Unfortunately for me, unlike 'Veronika Decides To Die' which I favour more for it's poweful contrast of darkness versus light, 'The ...  Read the complete review

'Listen to your heart. Never give up. Believe in yourself and you can do anything. Follow your destiny.' Question: What have I just paraphrased? Is it A) the script of High School Musical? B) The blurb of some generic self help book? Or is it C) The Alchemist? It's C. Of course its C, you all know what review you're looking at. But it was a bit of a trick question, because The Alchemist is not much more than a generic self-help book, and may as well be High School Musical for all the depth and realism it employs. For those who don't know, it is a novel, of sorts, by serial best-seller Paolo Coelho, weighing in at a ...  Read the complete review

"Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever." That's a pretty impressive claim, and one that is echoed by the rest of the (even more than usual) gushing praise on the back cover of The Alchemist. Coehlo's work is much-adored, and such was the level of esteem directed its way, I felt it would be tantamount to criminal neglect not to give it a go. After all, it's only a slim little fellow, so wasn't going to be heavy going, and anything that can condense such apparent quality to such an extent had to be something special. The tale acquaints us with Santiago, an Andalusian Shepherd-boy who travels ...  Read the complete review