From the Stacks: Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”

Genre
Fiction – A parable

Escape experience
Travel back time to your adolescent years when you had the vision to recognize your true calling and the guts to get it going – before all the negativity, detritus and emotional baggage settled as cataracts obscuring the eyes of adulthood. You have the freedom to travel the world, from the bucolic hills of Andalusia to the limitless sands and Great Pyramids of Egypt. You willingly sacrifice everything for the chance to fulfill your dream.

Read this if you’re into…
The human experience, accepting its highs and lows, its victories and set-backs, in the course of following your vision quest, your dream – whether fulfilled or unfulfilled.

Plot
Santiago, a young shepherd tending his flock in Andalusia, has a recurrent dream about finding hidden treasure at the foot of the pyramids of Egypt. Jolted from peaceful complacency, he sets off on his quest. On the way, he is aided by a fortune-telling Gypsy woman, a wise man named Melchizedek and an alchemist – all leading him to the realization that his treasure doesn’t lie hidden under the Great Pyramids, or anywhere else in the world, but resides deep within himself.

Pace: Reading this is like walking in a pair of…
Your most comfortable shoes, those shoes that fit you best and make you feel your best. Perhaps they’re chic and trendy Manolos, Choos or Louboutins; or down-to-earth Birkenstocks, Clarks or Mephistos; or the latest Nikes or some really cool Glaglas – whatever they are, they reflect who you are.

Cast of characters
Santiago – a young Andalusian shepherd with a thirst for travel and a dream of finding the treasure of a lifetime

Books by Paulo Coelho

• The Alchemist – On wisdom 
• The Fifth Mountain – On faith 
• Warrior of the Light – On courage 
• By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept – On forgiveness 
• Veronika Decides to Die – On redemption 
• Eleven Minutes – On love 
• The Valkyries – On hope 
• The Devil and Miss Prym – On temptation 
• The Zahir – On obsession 

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• Isabel Allende - The Stories of Eva Luna 
• Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love 
• Laura Fraser - All Over the Map 
• Gabriel García Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude 
• Antoine de Saint-Exupery - Wind, Sand and Stars