topics: |  fiction | brazil | fable | portuguese

The boy Santiago is a wanderer, who chooses the life of an itinerant
Andalusian shepherd over the prestige of a priesthood.  While lying under a
sycamore tree in a broken sacristy a dream - of treasure near the pyramids -
recurs to him. Aided by the mysterious "King of Salem" (Jerusalem - Jesus),
His search for this treasure leads him across the sea to Tangiers and across
the Sahara to the Alchemist, who guides him to the foothills of the
desert. Here at last, he realizes the treasure is not at the Pyramids, but
under the sycamore tree that he started from. A modern day re-telling of the
Acres of Diamonds," (Russell Conwell) which was the management bestseller of
the depression era. Paulo Coelho however makes it a superb elevating
experience. However, the adoption of this book by the management and
self-help gurus don't augur well for its longevity.

The epilogue, which spells out how he actually digs up a chest
full of treasure, might have been better omitted. - AM

QUOTES:

Since I am not wise, I had to learn other arts, such as the reading
of palms. - Gypsy Fortuneteller, p.15

When someone sees the same people every day, as happened with him at
the seminary, they wind up becoming a part of that person's life. And
then they want the person to change. If someone isn't what others want
them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear
idea of how other people should lead their lives, but no one about his
or her own. - p.16

"No one can be from many places," the boy said. "I'm a shepherd,
and I have been to many places, but I come from only one place...",
	- boy to Melchizedek, p.19

Everyone when they are young, knows what their destiny is. At that
point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.
They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they dould
like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a
mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible
for them to realize that destiny.
	- Melchizedek (king of Salem) to Santiago, p.22

[Fear of failure seems to be the greatest obstacle to happiness. As
the old crystal-seller who dreams about fulfilling Islam's fifth
obligation - to visit Mecca - tragically confesses: ]" I am afraid
that great disappointment awaits me, and so I prefer to dream".
[This translation, from an internet review of Paulo Coelho's
Alchemist, seems better than that of Alan Clarke:] "But I am afraid it
would all be a disappointment, so I prefer to dream about it." - p.57

    "If I serve tea in crystal, the shop is going to expand. And
then I'll have to change my way of life."
    "Well, isn't that good?"
    "I'm already used to the way things are... The shop is exactly the
size I always wanted it to be. I don't want to change anything,
because I don't know how to deal with change. I'm used to the way I
am. .... you are forcing me to look at wealth and at horizons I have
never known. Now that I have seen them, and now that I see how immense
my possibilities are, I'm going to feel worse than I did before you
arrived. Because I know the things I should be able to accomplish and
I don't want to do so." - p.59-60

    "Maktub," the merchant said ... "In your language, it would be
something like 'It is written.'" - p.61

... the liquid part of the Master Work was called the Elixir of Life,
and it cured all illnesses; it also kept the alchemist from growing
old. And the solid part was called the philosopher's stone. - p.84.

[They are stopped by armed tribesmen. On the alchemist they] found a
small crystal flask filled with a liquid and a yellow glass egg that
was slightly larger than a chicken's egg.
    "What are these things?" he asked.
    "That's the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of life. ...
Whoever swallows that elixir will never be sick again, and a fragment
from that stone turns any metal into gold."
    The Arabs laughed at him... they thought the answer was amusing...
    [the Alchemist says later:]
    "When you possess great treasures, and try to tell others of them,
seldom are you believed." - p.140-141

The boy wanted to take her hand. But Fatima's hands held to the
handles of her jug.

She would have to send her kisses on the wind, hoping that the wind
would touch the boy's face, and would tell him that she was alive. -
p.129

[Sometimes, the heart doesn't want to go on because] it's afraid that,
in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you've won. - p.136

The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. No heart has
ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every
second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with
eternity. - p.137

"Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their
dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist.
    "Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't
like to suffer." - p.138