Boys Book Club Review: The Alchemist
Not everything can be turned to gold.
Just as winter transforms into spring, so too does lead into gold in this month’s novel, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. A worldwide phenomenon that has been translated into a whopping 83 languages.
Will we find enlightenment? The secrets of the universe? Discover why alchemy is no longer a valid profession?
Read on to find out!
Missed our last review? See what we had to say on No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.
Details
Author: Paulo Coelho
Page Count: 182
First Published: 1988
Genre: Philosophical Fiction
Buy The Alchemist at Indigo, Amazon or Bookshop.org
Plot Summary (No Spoilers… We Promise)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho has sold millions of copies around the world and is regarded as a modern day classic. It follows Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd, who yearns to break free of his normal routine and travel the world. When he meets a stranger who offers to help him find his worldly treasure, the boy must decide between remaining a shepherd, or trusting this stranger and fulfilling his life’s true purpose. Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom, and wonder, The Alchemist is a story about listening to your heart, seizing the opportunities that life presents, and following the omens that materialize along the way.
The Boys’ Reviews
David’s Review
As I gathered my thoughts and feelings about The Alchemist, I decided to do what I always do after finishing a book—check out the general discourse online. It was chaotic. But during my search, I came across something that read like this: “The Alchemist is popular in the same way that Live, Laugh, Love signs are popular. It’s generic and inoffensive.”
I wish I could remember the username of the person who said this so that I could credit them, because it perfectly encapsulates how I feel about this novel.
The Alchemist, at its core, is a self-help book. As you follow Santiago’s journey from Andalusia to Egypt, he discovers thinly disguised life lessons meant to be imparted to you as well. The problem is that each of these life lessons is shallow, vapid, and arguably problematic.
While there are a few overarching themes in The Alchemist, the most notable ones center around two key ideas: first, that if you desire something deeply, the universe will find a way to make it yours; and second, that following your dreams, despite the risks, is always the right choice. That first one, in particular, gives me the same vibes as the controversial self-help book The Secret. However, where The Secret focuses on the so-called “law of attraction” The Alchemist draws upon religion, faith and spirituality to create its narrative.
God or Allah is constantly referenced, and Coelho even includes notable elements from the Bible, such as King Melchizedek and the holy stones Urim and Thummim. While I’m certainly open to religious elements in a story, in The Alchemist, they felt more like a safety net, being used a bit too conveniently.
“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
― Santiago
For a book where the main character takes so many risks, I found that Coelho himself took none while writing it. Very little of substance happens to Santiago on his journey, and any potential conflicts that arise are dealt with swiftly. I’m not arguing the fact that every story has to follow the template of “the hero’s journey,” but it felt like there was no weight to any of his decisions, and he was just unphased the entire time. He was the literal embodiment of that famous Jeremy Clarkson meme: “Oh no! Anyway.”
While the story itself feels somewhat hollow, the illustrations in the 25th-anniversary edition (which was the version we read) provided a welcome diversion. I always appreciate when a publisher decides to do this as it not only helps break up the pages but also helps to immerse yourself in the world. I find it evokes a similar feeling to how some fantasy novels feature a fictional map of their setting.
Given the book’s spiritual leanings, inoffensive nature, and short page length, I’m not surprised it made its way into a few school curricula. It’s every English Literature teacher’s wet dream—a story filled with multiple interpretations, ripe for discussion.
I only hope this will put students on the path to finding better books, ones that offer far more depth and enrichment.
Verdict: 🙅♂️🙅♂️
Evan’s Review
Hmmmm. This was an… “interesting” one. I believe I had first heard of this book from some celebrity who was raving about Oprah’s book club and this particular title. Given its short page count and the seemingly positive reviews, I figured there was relatively no downside to reading it.
Best case scenario: It opens my eyes up to life-changing perspectives that I never thought about and I become a much better person. A purer soul.
Worst case scenario: It has zero effect and I forget about it as soon as I put it down.
Well, after reading it, I can honestly say I landed more in the second zone.
The story itself starts off strong in my opinion. Following a young shepherd named Santiago, there is a level of intrigue and mysteriousness that presents itself almost immediately. He meets an old man who, without spoiling anything, reveals his identity to the boy and tells him how he can help the young shepherd realize his lifelong dream. Of course, such a proposal doesn’t come without cost and the boy must decide if he trusts this strange man enough to trade his old shepherding life in exchange for the pursuit of his life’s true purpose. While this setup is a pretty common one for many stories, I was still interested enough to continue unraveling the plot.
Once the life-altering decision is made, Santiago faces copious amounts of adversity for the rest of the story. At one point, our protagonist has to essentially start from scratch and rebuild before continuing his journey. This part, as frustrating as it was, plants the seed of doubt as to whether he can accomplish his ultimate goal. Although also a common trope, this sort of story building should in theory make the payoff even sweeter when that part comes and it definitely had me rooting for the young boy.
“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested”
–The Alchemist
I think my main gripes start to develop in the second half of the book. Without revealing too much, the main character doesn’t seem to learn from his past mistakes, whether that be abandoning his purpose to chase love, protecting his possessions from interested parties, or trusting the word of strangers. He is also gifted items from the strange wise man at the beginning that appear to be crucial to his quest, only to not really make use of them on his journey. Adding to this, I found the eventual payoff of the book to be bland. The book built up very well until a certain point but the ending was so unsatisfying and kind of anti-climatic that I felt a bit let down after setting it down.
Also, I’m not sure if this was just a translation quirk (the book was originally written in Portuguese), but it keeps referring to a person’s life purpose as their “Personal Legend”. Due to the capitalization and constant repetition of this term, I felt like this was supposed to be a deeply meaningful choice of words to make you all teary eyed and emotional every time you thought about it. I found it to be annoyingly overused.
In the end, maybe the life lessons went over my head because I’m just that dumb. Or perhaps I don’t have the deeply introspective point of view that this story demands to fully appreciate its constant hints at spirituality and the meaning of life. Either way, this one was a “just okay” kind of read for me—good first half, not-so-great second half.
Verdict: 😐😐😐
Final Thoughts
David’s Closing Remarks
I hate to admit it, but Evan made some great points. Especially about the overuse of the term "Personal Legend" and the way the story ended. I had considered mentioning it too, but I figured I’d already said enough about the novel, and I didn’t want to come off as just ragging on the book. While we might not agree on every single point (Santiago’s level of adversity comes to mind), one thing we can agree on is that it’s not worth your time, even with its short length. You’d be better off getting your enlightenment from a fortune cookie.
Evan’s Closing Remarks
As disappointing as this might be for those who like differing opinions, I can’t help but agree once again with David’s take. While he was harsher than I in his final rating, I felt that we touched on a lot of the same thoughts—particularly the dislikes. Hopefully next time we’ll all try to come up with some of our own opinions instead of plagiarizing a random online review. Anyway… Would I recommend The Alchemist? Well, if most of your life decisions are heavily, if not entirely, influenced by astrological signs and life’s many omens (we all know the type), then maybe . If not, I’d probably skip this one.
Thanks for hanging out with the boys this month 🤙
- David & Evan
Read along with us for the next review of… The Storyteller by Dave Grohl