The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

[Scheherazade]

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I have read The Alchemist against the advice of some of my Forum friends (sorry, Crisaor and AP) because it is one of the books listed in Big Read. I should have known better.

Santiago, a young shepherd, leaves his home to go to Egypt to find a buried treasure after having a dream about it. During his journey, he meets unusual people and learns a lot about the world and himself. He becomes rich, powerful and falls in love but at the end, he realises that he needs to follow his dreams to be able to find peace and contentment.

This might be classified as a 'feel-good' book but it is so full of cliches that it simply leaves the reader (me, in this case) feeling bored and worse. Both the story line and language lack originality and are banal.

It was said on the book cover that it would "change people's lives". The only way, I believe, this book could change people's lives would be by putting them off reading for the rest of their lives.

2/10 KitKats!

[Lote-Tree]

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I have read The Alchemist against the advice of some of my Forum friends (sorry, Crisaor and AP) because it is one of the books listed in Big Read. I should have known better.

Santiago, a young shepherd, leaves his home to go to Egypt to find a buried treasure after having a dream about it. During his journey, he meets unusual people and learns a lot about the world and himself. He becomes rich, powerful and falls in love but at the end, he realises that he needs to follow his dreams to be able to find peace and contentment.

This might be classified as a 'feel-good' book but it is so full of cliches that it simply leaves the reader (me, in this case) feeling bored and worse. Both the story line and language lack originality and banal. It was said on the book cover that it would "change people's lives". The only way, I believe, this book could change people's lives would be by putting them off reading for the rest of their lives.

2/10 KitKats!

The book is trash. It misses the point that Love is everything and rest is egotism! :D It is neither intellecutal or profoundly emotional. It is something that anyone could have written including myself!

[Nossa]

I've just finished reading this book last night..and I agree, the book is good for a five year old or so. I felt, throughout the entire book, that I've been simply lectured. I mean, if you wanna tell people words of advice, don't just go ahead and put it in a silly context!! And all the crap about The Soul of The World and these things...this book is a waste of money and time if you ask me.
And I agree with Lote, I can write a book like that, when I feel bored. It reminded me of the childish fairy tales they used to tell us before we go to bed. Even those are more amusing.

[manolia]

I hated the book :sick:
On second thoughts i have read at least 4 Coehlo books and i didn't like any of them

[Lote-Tree]

I hated the book :sick:
On second thoughts i have read at least 4 Coehlo book and i didn't like any of them

I think Alchemist is enough for me!!!! :D

[manolia]

Yeah, you think well. I thought giving him a second, third, fourth chance (since i know many people who like his books)..but i guess his style of writing doesn't appeal to me ;) .

[Virgil]

It is simple. I don't see how it became so popular. But I guess certain things just click with people. I would give it a 4/10. I like feel good stories.

[Nossa]

I don't think it's 'popular', I think that only its selling rates were good. I bet all the people who read this book and hated it, just got the impression that it's a great book, cuz of its status in the bestseller category.
I agree that The Alchemist is enough Coelho for one person. I heard people saying that they read it once and twice and even thrice, and it's just amazing that someone can bear up with such a boring book.

[Mark F.]

I hated it. It's a lame attempt at a philosophic tale. A friend offered me the book, saying it changed his life. Never figured that one out, heh.

[JCamilo]

I know why. And I must say that everyone is luck that you read translated copies because Paulo Coelho portuguese is ridiculous. If you ever want to read anything from Brazilian literature please get some Guimaraes Rosa, Carlos Drummond, Malba Tahan, Cecilia Meireles, Graciliano Ramos, Machado de Assis, Gonçalves Dias, Castro Alves, Jose de Alencar, Nelson Rodrigues, Jose Lins do Rego, Rachel de Queiroz... they do not shame the brazilian literature like this pretencious writer and mage...
Anyways, it is popular because it is self-help. Made to be forgotten. you feel good, you smile, you forgot it. It is like a lolipop. Leveling down the literature just like the rest of the best-sellers culture does. And I have the theory that the translators have improved his work also...

Anyways, once, this Paulo Coelho to protect himself from the critics that his work have no big literary merit said "I could do complicated books like Joyce if I wanted, I just don't"... Some say, better hear this than be deaf. Then I remember Homer was supposed to be blind, so I better be deaf.

[Nossa]

Actually, it's the part concerning the 'feel good' is what I'm wondering about. I didn't feel anything, except for boredom. This book, however, has ONE good side...it can help you pretty well on a night when you can't sleep.

[manolia]

And I have the theory that the translators have improved his work also...


:lol: :lol: :lol:


This book, however, has ONE good side...it can help you pretty well on a night when you can't sleep.

:lol: Indeed! I have read it on a sleepless night :lol:

[Virgil]

Perhaps I was being too generous with 4/10. :lol: :lol:

[Nossa]

You ARE Virgil. I'd give it like a half out of ten...for the ink and the papers it's published on!

[vheissu]

I tried reading the Alchemist a few years back, but it's one of those books that I couldn't see the point in finishing....and I couldn't understand why so many people were buying it and praising it for being a novelty!

[B-Mental]

Here I go against the grain. I enjoyed the book immensely. It was simple, but unfortunately there are themes which are left untouched in many pieces of literature. Spirituality and its strong link to nature, the interpretation of the world around you, and intuition. I think that I would put this book on a level with On The Road by Kerouac. I furthermore anticipate more comments that disagree.

PS I read this book out of curiousity, if you aren't curious then don't read it.

[Scheherazade]

I think that I would put this book on a level with On The Road by Kerouac. Oh, that explains so much! :p

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27563

(Nice to see you back, BM! :))

[Nossa]

I've been meaning to read The Road for sometime now...is it the same as The Alchemist?!

[Mark F.]

Not at all.

[JCamilo]

Here I go against the grain. I enjoyed the book immensely. It was simple, but unfortunately there are themes which are left untouched in many pieces of literature. Spirituality and its strong link to nature, the interpretation of the world around you, and intuition. I think that I would put this book on a level with On The Road by Kerouac. I furthermore anticipate more comments that disagree.

Never Read On the Road, but spirituality, link to nature, interpretation of the world around you, intuition ? I guess those are some of the most usual themes treated by literature. In excess. In fact, one of the bad things about Paulo Coelho is how he is near plagiarism copy/pasting entire parts of other books like 1001 nights.
In fact, when he started his blog in a famous server here, all the antecipation was so dull, because he just copy/pasted without credit a story there...

[Ana Lovejoy]

And I have the theory that the translators have improved his work also...

I have this theory also. :lol: I always think about buying one translation just to check it, but hell, to check it includes read this book again, argh.

Well, Scheherazade sent me to this thread so I'll make the question to packersfan here (I hope he reads this thread). He said here (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showpost.php?p=480094&postcount=298):


i first thought it was awful because i was forced to read it in school (any book i'm forced to read is a terrible book for me at the time)-but then i read it again and saw the beauty of a book like that )

And then I've asked:


Now I'm really curious. Could you please say where are you from? I'm really surprised, especially because here in Brazil the only time I 'had to' read Coelho was when my Literary Theory teacher asked us to read "in order to understand why people love so much Coelho's works".

I'm quite curious, really. In fact, I could never understand how Paulo Coelho could be so famous outside his own country (well, at least comparing to other Brazilian writers).

[packersfan]

7/10

I was first forced to read it in school and hated it. But then when I had nothing to read one day, I picked it up again and really enjoyed it. It's a great story about a journey of a boy, which is exactly what life is, a journey, and it has universal lessons as well.

[Etienne]

Ok my opinion, it's just some kid new-age self-help book with absolutely no depth, also the whole thing just seem like a pile of deus ex machinas forming a very bad story. It's a kid's book, and a bad one too as good kid books will be good reads to adult readers as well, this one is not. It seems that everyone around me who read it "liked it so much" and think it is very deep... but STOP IT'S NOT DEEP AT ALL! In fact it's the most superficial books I've read! It just has the pretension of saying it's deep...

[packersfan]

To me, its the kind of book which you have to read more than once to get the full depth out of it. It's truly a beautiful book if you try to analyze it. It's that kind of book that if you don't want to read it, you won't enjoy it and you won't get the meaning of it.

[JCamilo]

I have this theory also. :lol: I always think about buying one translation just to check it, but hell, to check it includes read this book again, argh.

Fact is, among my friends I often joke about a project that is translating The Alchemist to Portuguese. :D
That sounds so much like Pierre Menard but since it is almost impossible to do anything worst than that book, I have no fear of producing a better product.
Trully, it would just sound like the originals he copied , destroyed of depth and all else...



I'm quite curious, really. In fact, I could never understand how Paulo Coelho could be so famous outside his own country (well, at least comparing to other Brazilian writers).

My other question to him would be what he really means. In one post he tell us:

"It's a great story about a journey of a boy, which is exactly what life is, a journey, and it has universal lessons as well."

Then he claims that it is a book that needs various readings to get in his deepth... but well, That is, even in the words of Paulo Coelho, that exactly meaning of the book. It is plain and dully obvious, everyone get it (in fact, the easy way to read this book and understanding it explains a little his popular appeal)... How come???
If people knew that Paulo Coelho have origem in exoteric magazines such as Planeta here in Brazil and his popularity is only due the "mystic appeal" , some short of now forgotten Losang Rampa or the not so international Chico Xavier...

[aabbcc]

From my - limited to a few works only - experiences with Coelho, I cannot say much positive about his opus. In fact, even to use a rather 'serious' word such as opus in context of such a... literary wannabe? ... seems rather laughable to me.
A 'wannabe' - perfect words to describe things usually come to you when you least expect them - is precisely what Coelho is. Quite a pretentious one, if I may add.

The Alchemist seemed to me as one of those books which are result of somebody wanting to write a book whose contents and themes do not fully come from the author's innermost but, rather, are more or less skillfully 'adapted' from other sources, mixed and combined, to produce a rather legible, rather average work, one of the kind late preteens and early teens would stumble upon in libraries and find to be 'cool' whilst in age of searching for that 'something', for some 'sense' of life or whatnot when hit by puberty (though even to those I would give authors like Hesse, or philosophy chrestomathiae (:D) way before I'd even think of offering Coelho somebody), but still too young and in lack of education that would open some other gates to them, of some other literature, which deals with similar and the same problematics in much more serious and skillfull way (and, in the end, of greater artistic value). And as such, it certainly has its place in the huge cauldron of pretty much everything which is printed today. Such books also must exist, like it or not. In the same way those silly and low quality children's crime series, read by kids in early years of elementary schools must exist.

However, I view it to be the way that those books are simply a stage to be overcome in one's literary development - and, to be honest, one of the earlier stages. I do not find it strange when kids hit by puberty think Coelho is literary incarnation of God (despite, in literary sense, his utterly simplistic style), nor do I find it particularly worrying (it is stage most go through and, hopefully, leave few years later), but when his books become bestsellers loved by huge masses of generally older audience, which should by some logic have overcome that phase, then... is the world going crazy? Or are we in such a terrible lack of sense in our age that we seek for it in the 'cheap' books such as this one, which present the sort of quick-self-fix of your emotional problems, whose vague would-be 'spiritual' topics, wrapped in rather 'standable' and distictly interesting theme (which is still in its essence predictable and cliché)? What else would explain this work to be an international bestseller?
I truly think his works are mediocre trash. At best. :lol:

I also do not think the book would become any better if I 'analysed' it (or attempted to - what is there to analyse?! Nothing I have not seen or read before, in much better versions though.), it is one of those books for which from the first second I knew were not really my thing, and after only little experience figured they were not at all.

No offense to any of Coelho's fans. I realise that one can get emotionally attached to pretty much everything, for a plethora of reasons, so I also - at least theoretically - get that Coelho's works, even though pointless trash to me, might actually mean something to somebody else, and it is not my intention to insult those people. Just presenting my opinion, from the 'rational' me, since the book failed to interact in any way with the 'emotional' me. ;)
Best wishes to all.

[Etienne]

To me, its the kind of book which you have to read more than once to get the full depth out of it. It's truly a beautiful book if you try to analyze it. It's that kind of book that if you don't want to read it, you won't enjoy it and you won't get the meaning of it.

What? But he just gives you everything away in the book, don't start telling me I have not understood the book, come on. What hidden meaning is there to understand in that book, exactly?

Anastasija, you wrote exactly what I had in mind about that book.

"However, I view it to be the way that those books are simply a stage to be overcome in one's literary development - and, to be honest, one of the earlier stages."

Yes, the problem is that at the time I read this book I was right in my russian literature phase and I had just read a couple of Dostoevsky's, War and peace, Resurrection and Anna Karenina by Tolstoy... so you can understand my disappointment?

[Taliesin]

We are now curious.
We haven't read this one. People say that it is probably a waste of time. Haven't read Coelho ourselves so we can't really tell, but we tend to believe that this is probably true. But you see, there is a certain appeal in very bad movies or very bad books - they are sometimes quite good to watch on Sunday mornings feeling dizzy and perhaps having a headache (we don't usually drink much and don't therefore have hangovers but one can still be dizzy from lack of sleep) - so there is a sort of lure in it.
Same thing with Eragon. Everyone We know who have read it say that it is rubbish - which makes us curious - and we actually make a mental note to read it in some time when we have more free time and have no important books on the schedule, although this time tends to go into some mystical faraway future, being alike to the note on our wall: "I'll start studying tomorrow".

So, is this a really bad book or merely a mediocre one?


Because you have to admit that really bad books are somewhat appealing.

[Etienne]

Bah... just read it yourself, it's not very long, but you will be warned. I personally would call it mediocre when aimed at a certain type of audience, but very bad when read by educated people.

[manolia]

If by "bad movies" you mean...let's say Ed Wood movies and you are looking for an analogy in that book..then no. It is mediocre ;)

[JCamilo]

Mediocre and worst because it sucks down other sources sometimes not changeing a word as something original.

Anyways Anastasija, I think and you found out since you commented about older people still reading it... Coelho does not provide a start in the reading development. In my opinions, people who are stuck with him are reading something to be forgotten (the reading experience) and keep the easy message (Life is a journey to achive your dreams or something as similar that can be read in a chinese coockie). Coelho simple do not provide to the reader material for development, no literary device, skill ,technique to make the reader ready for the other works. (not even vocabulary, since it is well know his ridiculous use of portuguese, he writes in portuguese worst than I write english... seriously drunk). A good evidence is that Coelho have now almost 30 years of success and no literary movement or significant reading habits were developed in Brazil.
Sure, he won't damage people which reading habits are already being developed by several other experiences, but where there is none? Just like using an umbrella under water.

[B-Mental]

I'm sorry people don't like this and base it on his writing ability...maybe you should base it on what he writes about. He is writing about mysticism and religion...faith, confidence, a familiarty with nature. I think a lot of people bash him for something in the book they never pick up on. What is the alchemy he is talking about.

A well learned "alchemist" is encountered in the story. This alchemist is symbolically those people who seek knowledge or enlightenment in a manner that is incorrect to the simple attunement of one with nature. I think its overly simple to enable some to understand what he is writing about. I have a problem with some of his other books in that he makes grand assumptions that to me have flaws.

[Scheherazade]

I'm sorry people don't like this and base it on his writing ability...maybe you should base it on what he writes about. I believe that greatness of a book should be measured not by its subject matter but how that subject matter is dealt with by the author.

Coelho, in my opinion, fails to do justice to the subjects he aims to deal with... and badly so.

[B-Mental]

The worst thing is this is the better book.

[JCamilo]

Not mentioning that the quality of the writer is something important when talking about books... his subjects suchs. You can be happy if you follow your dream or your inner self or anything as such. Self-help. That is why he is unpleasant. For good sakes, he went to the World Cup Annoucement and said : Brazil is the greatest football team when they do not think they are the greatest. What does this mean ??? We are the greatest because we Won most than anyone else! It is ridiculous (and considering how self-help discuss of our last coach costed us a team in the last world cup)... Mickey Mouse have more depth than him.

[aabbcc]

Anyways Anastasija, I think and you found out since you commented about older people still reading it... Coelho does not provide a start in the reading development. In my opinions, people who are stuck with him are reading something to be forgotten (the reading experience) and keep the easy message (Life is a journey to achive your dreams or something as similar that can be read in a chinese coockie). Coelho simple do not provide to the reader material for development, no literary device, skill ,technique to make the reader ready for the other works. (not even vocabulary, since it is well know his ridiculous use of portuguese, he writes in portuguese worst than I write english... seriously drunk). A good evidence is that Coelho have now almost 30 years of success and no literary movement or significant reading habits were developed in Brazil.
Sure, he won't damage people which reading habits are already being developed by several other experiences, but where there is none? Just like using an umbrella under water.
I agree with you.
I did not say that Coelho is a phase one must go through in one's "reading development", I just commented on how I find it normal that a group of particular age, especially if without very laudable literary education behind them at that point, finds Coelho to suit their needs. I am not that young any more, but I still remember pretty clearly what I was like when I was 13 - it was only four years ago - and I know that people of that age, add or remove a couple of years, often seek for 'meaningful' and 'spiritual' literature, and authors such as Coelho tend to be liked by them because they are simplistic, superficial, but on that superficie there are tracks of what they seek for, and they are usually not ready to turn towards 'serious' literature, so they end up reading these wannabes, and are usually nicely out of that phase in a year or a few. That is not to say that anyone who tries Coelho in that age will like him - I thought he was a trash when I was 12, I think he is a trash now when I am 17, and I probably always will find him a trash; I myself in those years found consolation needed in a completely different set of authors (Hesse, Mann, Pessoa and Baudelaire were predominately my thing back then :D).

I also do not think that Coelho should be used to get people reading - God forbid. :D I think you misinterpret that part of my post (but nevermind if you did, I hope you get my point now :)). I simply think that people at certain phase tend to get attached to such books, on their own, and if anything, I do not think it should be encouraged in any way. The idea of, say, teaching Coelho at school, or including him in any kind of literary canon alongside the actual literature, seems rather laughable to me.
I also do not think that Coelho provides any 'base' to later build on, nor that it is significant phase, nor that his writing can be described any better than superficial blabbering of a ten-year-old who went on chatting about 'big topics of life'. I just think it is normal people fall for such pointless trash, especially if young, and especially, regardless of age, if they in general do not read books that are much better than this, in both cases not getting what is so wannabe about Coelho.

Again, even despite the significant lack of literary value in Coelho, I can understand that for reasons that elude me people can get emotionally attached to his works, so no offense towards those intended.

[JCamilo]

Oh, no. I wasn't thinking you argued this. You can imagine, this conversation truly started a long time ago, several times with several others :D
I know, Coelho appeals is the simplistic spiritualism of his work. He just used several other literatures (arabian, Borges, budhist) that have a world of possibilities and resumed it to one simple, happy, likeable truth. (hence, self-help). I understand why people like it and despite the hammer I use when I am writing those critics, I think they are absolutely free to do it and Coelho and earn his money.
Anyways, if we consider how Coelho hold down people, we can imagine why, when people age, they keep reading him. It is short of a dead end, if you do not learn to ride a bike ,you will keep walking. I also always raise my eyebrown when I heard "better be reading him than reading nothing"...
I also remember my 13 years reading habits, a long ago. There was tons of Arthur Clarke, Agatha Christie, Stephen King (all of them considerable better than Coelho), comic books but there was also Dante, Homer or Cervantes. I really hope that those who read Coelho do not ready also "Who stolen my cheese" or similars...

[bunker_70]

Someone recently advised me to read this book. I was planning on reading it soon. I think I will read it anyway just to see why its so bad :). Anyway thanks for the warning ^^

[karo]

I loved The Alchemist. Thought it was magic. But then, I am a simple soul. I still enjoy fairy tales, but I do draw the line at Mickey Mouse ;)

[Etienne]

I loved The Alchemist. Thought it was magic. But then, I am a simple soul. I still enjoy fairy tales, but I do draw the line at Mickey Mouse ;)

I think Mickey Mouse is much better honestly. He's funnier, and on a philosophical level they're about the same level (which means quite low!)... and at least Mickey Mouse doesn't have the pretension, almost pedantic, of the cereal box "philosophy" The Alchemist has.

[JCamilo]

I think Karo is just being nice and humurous about one of my rants. :)
Anyways, I prefer Bugsy Bunny ;)

[dust0fnations]

My College lit. teacher has assigned an explication essay for this novel and the majority of my class is enamored by what a "life changing piece of literature" they find this novel to be. Meanwhile im scratching my head that so many feel it has so much philosophical weight when Coelho flat out explains the meaning behind every single literary device he's thrown in. I understand that it's supposed to be simplistic like a fable but for some reason it does seem like a glorified self help book to me. Im not familiar with all of Coelho's work but this novel seems like he wrote it with a need to enrich his own life by writing a novel with a strong universal message(I use that term loosely). If your at the stage where your hungry for a non transient "mystical journey of enlightenment" kind of deal, Siddhartha is 10x better than The Alchemist in my opinion. I can see why people would like it and I dont believe its because their not strong readers. Some people apreciate simplicity and whose to say they are wrong. I'd give this novel more brownie points If Coelho didnt outright say what the deeper messages were since you can see them plain as day anyway.

[bazarov]

That book is really really bad; no way I'll touch Coelho again.

[blazeofglory]

I have read this book recently and I like this book immensely particularly there is a line something like ' if you want something intensely the whole universe conspire you to have it' or something like that I can not recall exactly.

I like the story. It is something spiritual and I got completely absorbed and lost in a world that was presented in his book.

[JCamilo]

It is really not surprising that you liked it, Blazeglory...

[blazeofglory]

It is really not surprising that you liked it, Blazeglory...

Why JCamilo? The reason you take my liking it for granted?

[JCamilo]

Because the style of the threads you like to open.

[Etienne]

Why didn't I vote it a nightmare? I think I thought it could be some kind of gateway for teenagers... but objectively, it is really just a nightmare. I remember I asked at a gas station in a foreign country where I could find a second hans bookstore to sell that book, and the guy seeing it said: Oh! I loved that book! (and then with some pride in his eyes) He's a portugese author. I just nodded, couldn't think of anything nice to say at that point. Good thing that store was close enough, and that the book was given to me, I managed to buy half a good book with it, which is more than it's worth anyway.

[Nipponnay]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in disliking this book (is hate too strong a word...? Maybe not!). I didn't like a single thing about it, apart from the fact it was quite a short story. Imagine if it was longer! It doesn't bear thinking about!!

[OrphanPip]

I've read The Alchemist and Veronika Decides to Die and found both to be mediocre. At least VDtD was a bit more entertaining even though it was equally cliche. The Alchemist just bored me to tears and it was incredibly pretentious, I really can't understand the popularity of this work. It's all Bill Clinton's fault.

[prendrelemick]

I've read a couple of his books on the reccomendation of my daughter. I found them ok but not great. She liked them, she liked the situations and the dilemmas he forged- although thought that his resolution was often too simplistic.
The "revelations" of life and spirituality he shows us are really only common sense and are generally a bit of a let down. There seems to me to be no substance in his message.

[Kidijs]

@prendrelemick : I feel the same way about this book! Furthermore, it left a bad aftertaste -really- I had to stuff the goddamn book in a very dark corner of my conscience.

[Brad Coelho]

I hated the book :sick:
On second thoughts i have read at least 4 Coehlo books and i didn't like any of them

Be nice & spell our last name right at least! Kidding...no relation (it is a fairly common Portuguese last name, of the Johnson or Anderson variety). I love your hommage to Twin Peaks in the signature by the way! I just finished re-watching season 2 on dvd w/ my wife...David Lynch's quirky characters, coupled w/ his demonic small town undercarriage, is one of my favorite combinations on screen. Good to see Laura Palmer gettin' a little love here!

[gomari]

didn't like it at all

[blazeofglory]

Because the style of the threads you like to open.

This is the small-mindedness of you. Of course you may take a liking to something and I to another for interests and likings are diverse and taking everyone into the mold of something you like is bigotry for there are diverse and different interests and you must not be critical about others interests. I is totally personal and such narrow attitudes keep you distant from the rest. This world is too big and someone out there may take interest in all that you abhor

[King Mob]

This is the small-mindedness of you. Of course you may take a liking to something and I to another for interests and likings are diverse and taking everyone into the mold of something you like is bigotry for there are diverse and different interests and you must not be critical about others interests. I is totally personal and such narrow attitudes keep you distant from the rest. This world is too big and someone out there may take interest in all that you abhor

I don't want to say any certainties, just wondering aloud here. Sometimes I think like you and say "well, it's okay if people like what i think is the awfulest trash, because i'm not anyone to say what's good". But then again, sometimes, like now, feel that TASTE has a limit. Beyond that limit, that may be a very blurred line, you can't continue talking about art.
I take for granted that all of us love literature. And i would like to think that all of us aim for the better understanding and beauty-gathering of complex works. That is what makes a good piece of art: complexity.

I believe that taste is trained. And that there is some kind of objective quality in any given book. And our task, as taste trainees, is to feel with our subjectivity that objective quality of what we read, and ever increase our demands.

Alejandro Dolina, an argentinian musician and writer, once said something about music that can be applied to all arts. ART is between offense and boredom. When a work is too simple, our minds or souls feel offended; an offense to our intelligence. When a work is by far too complex, it risks entering into total chaos, and when we can't make any single pattern or harmony we are bored and leave it. ART then lies in between. Some works are closer to one extreme, some to the other.

This idea echoes Aristotle's. ART is in the right medium between Apollo and Dyonisos, between RATIONALITY and PASSION. Too rational, we don't feel anything; too passional, no complex form.

Note that the MESSAGE is something that is not talked about in good art. Art must raise questions, not give answers. Quoting Todorov, Truth must be the horizon, not the starting point. When an author comes with his hands full of answers, i doubt he is an artist. But note also that this horizon is at the never reached end of an asymptote curve. "the imminence of a revelation, that doesn't come is, maybe, the esthetic event" -Jorge Luis Borges, The Wall and the Books (in my silly translation)

Personally I haven't read Coelho, but from what i've gathered from people whose knowledge of art i trust and admire, it seems to me that his works' rationality and craft is far too simple. And as regards passion, i get the image that he doesn't even gets close to the true and more complex human passions, he just skims the surface paraphrasing different religions. And also it seems he's got the answers, which I seriously doubt.

And here endeth my wond'rings. I think that i got carried away. Sorry.

[JCamilo]

The problem is that I did not criticized his for liking it. I said I expect he to like it because his preference of themes. If he thinks that is offensive (there is not judgment of vallue there. It is similar to say that someone who likes Richard Dawkins will post a lot about in discussion related to the creationism x evolution threads, etc) is because he is the one making vallue judgments of what his liking means.

[hoope]

Review on :
Alchemist for Paulo Coelho

http://bookwormz2010.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/the-alchemist2.jpg



It is said that his books have touched the hearts of people everywhere, and so it is !!

The Alchemist , one of the most inspiring books ever . A book that teaches you how to cling on your dreams , on what you believe in , until you make it true. It simple says " Don't stop moving forward for nothing is impossible. "

The Alchemist , is written by the great Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho . It is a story of a young shepherd named Santiago that dreams one day about finding a treasure in the Egypt's Pyramids . He meets and old king which shows him the way towards his treasure and tells him how he should follow his Personal Legend and to not be afraid of what days behold for him . The young boy knew nothing best than his flock and now he had to give them away, all that he built and worked for all these years ; thus , start a mysterious journey to nowhere but a dream .
Therefore, he did ! , he sold his sheep, travelled to Africa and started his journey . In pursuing his dream he goes through many incidents from being robbed by a thief in Tangier , working in a crystal shop and meeting the Alchemist but most of all he meets his love, Fatima in the mid of the desert.

This book is a must- read and you will come to know that if you do not follow and find you Personal Legend in you life ; you are probably living aimlessly . People are always afraid of changing but it is the change, the step, which means a lot in your life.

It's a book about hope , dreams , faith and most of all courage to pursue your path.

It teaches us how to trust our hearts and that when we move towards our dreams the world always wants us to find it and helps us to make it come true.

Regards ,

Hoope

[hoope]

I believe that greatness of a book should be measured not by its subject matter but how that subject matter is dealt with by the author.

Coelho, in my opinion, fails to do justice to the subjects he aims to deal with... and badly so.

I agree to some point on how great books should be measure.. but you can't deny that the subject of the books plays a great role in attracting readers regardless on how it was written !
And the number of the readers is also a measuring scale .

[manarius]

This book was just mind-numbingly bad. Even the main character is poorly developed and has no personality. The rest of the characters are worse. His descriptions are bland. I realize that the book is intended to be simplistic in nature, which is fine, but it was so poorly executed that the book just turned out boring and cliche.

Apparently all it takes to sell millions of copies of a book these days is to say, "Follow your heart, and all your dreams will come true", over and over with no substance in between. Maybe I should become an author...

[hoope]

:eek6:
This book was just mind-numbingly bad. Even the main character is poorly developed and has no personality. The rest of the characters are worse. His descriptions are bland. I realize that the book is intended to be simplistic in nature, which is fine, but it was so poorly executed that the book just turned out boring and cliche.

Apparently all it takes to sell millions of copies of a book these days is to say, "Follow your heart, and all your dreams will come true", over and over with no substance in between. Maybe I should become an author...

:eek6: Whatevaaa ! I respect your point of view .. but aint there anything good about the book .. ..
What's wrong with "Follow your heart, and all your dreams will come true"???

[manarius]

:eek6:

:eek6: Whatevaaa ! I respect your point of view .. but aint there anything good about the book .. ..
What's wrong with "Follow your heart, and all your dreams will come true"???

There's nothing wrong with that. It is pretty cliche but that's not necessarily a problem. The problem is that that's all the book was. One big (crappy) motivational speech. Like I mentioned before, the characters are thinner than paper, and the prose is unimaginative and bland. The overarching message was fine, but even a delicious, succulent piece of filet mignon is unappetizing if it's covered in horse manure (the story itself).

That last analogy may be a little harsh, but I liked the sound of it :D. At any rate, I am not particularly fond of the book, and suffice it to say that I don't think I'll be reading any of the author's other works anytime soon.

[Olga4real]

For me reading this book was like licking a nice ice-cream, sweet and lovely but you still feel hungry after.

[hoope]

There's nothing wrong with that. It is pretty cliche but that's not necessarily a problem. The problem is that that's all the book was. One big (crappy) motivational speech. Like I mentioned before, the characters are thinner than paper, and the prose is unimaginative and bland. The overarching message was fine, but even a delicious, succulent piece of filet mignon is unappetizing if it's covered in horse manure (the story itself).

That last analogy may be a little harsh, but I liked the sound of it :D. At any rate, I am not particularly fond of the book, and suffice it to say that I don't think I'll be reading any of the author's other works anytime soon.

I can't say that you are wrong.. coz i have noticed that also when i read it ... but still it was acceptible .. i like the idea of hope and dreaming maybe that is why i enjoyed it .. Though i also read Brida for Coelho and i find it almost the same... i will try reading The devil and Miss Prym.. i heard it better ..

Regards

[formality hater]

Deserts fascinate me and that's why I sort of enjoyed the book! Although, I couldn't get the story.

[ayesha.maya]

I never got around to reading it. Something about the whole 'bestseller' status deterred me :p
Fortunately or unfortunately, the vast general public DOES enjoy being lectured to and told what and how to do it, and since many people don't read that much anyway, something like this is probably akin to a priceless literary treasure in their estimation ;)

Not discounting, of course, the whole 'Emperor's New Clothes' fate that bestsellers often face. For example, I never understood that hullaballoo about the Book Thief either!

[LuggageFan]

It was a nice, light read - suitable for teens, but way overhyped, IMO.