Has anyone read that book by Paulo Cohelo? I think that The Alchemist is his most world-wide known book... a best-seller. That book really changed my way of seeing things... it's a book that everyone should read. It's about fate, a story about following your dreams.
It's a piece of shit. An intro to philosophy, with contradicting ideas mixed from different religions (especially Christianity and Islam). The book deals with concepts which i think are absurd: fate, faith, luck, etc. The book is written in the most simple manner I ever seen. It told me nothing new, only repeated concepts. The ending itself ruined the whole message of the book. When he found the materialistic treasure, it destroyed all the effect of the message that his real "treasure" was his legend. It appeals to so many people because it is so simple and easy to comprehend.
I wouldn't phrase it like Rubin did, but I disliked the book, too. If I want something like that, just better, I go read The Little Prince (not perfect by any means, but certainly better).
The Little Prince is exellent, one of my favorite books. But, I think that disliking a book because it is simple is pretty stupid - in my opinion. And it's not because you disagree with its ideas that you have to say it's a piece of shit... there are many books with which I disagree and still have respect for. The Alchemist is written in a very simple style and that is its charm - also if you think that the end contradicts the message of the book, then you just didn't get it.
No, I certainly don't dislike it because it's SIMPLE. Are you kidding? That would rule out so many great pieces of literature and art! I dislike it because there are statements disguised as ideas when there's nothing in them, really. That's the huge difference between books like The Alchemist and books like The Little Prince.
But I wasn't talking to you sky_pink! I'm sorry I should have quoted... anyways, I understand your point. But also what some people should understand is that it is a tale... a philosophical tale yes, but still a tale... also, some people can believe in its statements while others can't, but that doesn't mean that they aren't true (or fake?) Anyways, we're not gonna fight over personal taste difference, are we? I don't want that...
I personally loved it. But anyway, I don´t think the ending ruined it at all. The material treasure was a very important part of it, because the story started with the protaginist under a tree in Spain, who then went on a long jounrey to Egypt to find something there, and finally found what he was looking for at the place he started. Anyway, I don´t see how aquiring a physical treasure fucks up the concept... what mattered was to keep looking for what you set out to look for. It could just as easily been anything else.
i hold what i do not believe in as "false". I did understand the book, there is nothing to not-understand there. Sadly though, the words philosophy and simple do not go together well.
Heh. Since when does a philosophy have to be complicated? Such grand, sweeping statements rarely have much ground to sweep upon.
I read a lot of books from Paulo Coelho... In the begining I thought he was such a great writer, I loved all his books... Now I still like the message he spreads, but I think the literary quality is not that much... And now I'm realizing that he always talks about the same things and sometimes I get the feeling he is used to give people the automatic message they want to hear because that's what makes him sell... I would say he is a light writer, but that's just an opinion... Some of my best friends love his books... My favourite is "Veronica decides to die" ( I don't know if this is the right translation) . Anyway, I think it is very good that you're reading a portuguese expression writer... Have you ever read any book from José Saramago or Fernando Pessoa? Try it,really. They are really good!!! Kiss*** Catinha
heheheh, that's the same thing happened to me, at first you thing he knows the feelings so much, but he just know how to express what everybody want to be given by a book. I think this fact makes him a really great writer, it's difficult to reach that, but the message from his books falls. Have you read Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha", that's a real life and phylosophical trip, in my modest opinion. And, by the way, I love Hermann Hesse, I think I'll begin a thread about him...
Just to say that I've read O Alquimista e Brida, but I truly think he really wanted to be more a wizard... and then he decided to write, not good. But I have to say that if someone could write the history of O Alquimista decently it could turn out a good book. Peace on...
well, i feel tempted to say Paulo Coelho is a great writer, that he opened my mind and so on... mainly because he is brazilian, like me, and very few brazilian writers are known worldwide. But he is not. And there are many better writers (who write in portuguese) as Ayesha said, like Saramago and Fernando Pessoa, but probably there´s nothing published in the US from Pessoa. About Paulo Coelho, I´m not certain if he´s an opportunist because of this new "zen-mania" the world is infected with. He always seems to write to a certain slice of the market that buys transcendentalism (is there such a word?). Or maybe he´s just naive, but I´m quite sure he doesn´t believe what he writes.
So I don't really know what to say about it because I read it when I was like 13 and it really helped me out then, and I think maybe that was because it was written so simply, but I started it again about a year ago and I couldn't get through the first 20 pages because I now have read so many things the writing style is very redundent and also I have discovered pretty much everything it is talking about but thorough my own life expirence which I feel is far superior. I think that it really depends where you are at in the progression your consciousness whether it is good or not.
I read it a couple of weeks ago and found it...kind of charming...it's a 'nice' story that makes you think - I think of it more as a spur to my own thought than a book with lots of new concepts and ideas.
I like the main character in The Alchemist, and I liked most of the story, untill it came to the very end, the way I look at it, the pyramids were a greater treasure if he took time to explore them? Im not sure, the book was good, but Im not sure if I should take a second look?
