The Alchemist

I had read The Alchemist before, in Spanish, a few years back, and I have to say I read at a good time in my life when, much as the book describes, I was in pursuit of my personal legend. So, when I saw there was a graphic novel adaptation of the book, I was very interested. I think the adaption by Derek Ruiz does a good job of bringing the novel to life for readers. The art by Daniel Sampere is well suited to the tale. The art is colorful, and it brings the setting of the tale to life. The graphic novel is a very easy book to read; it took me a couple of hours to get through it, and it is book you may want to reread again that still captures Coelho's message pretty well. I think also that some readers may want to find the full text novel to better savor the prose as well as take more of Coelho's message in. Overall, a nice inspirational tale and a nice reading experience. It is the tale of shepherd Santiago who has a dream and then goes forth on a quest to find a treasure, but what will he find, if anything? And who will he meet along the way? I can tell you he will meet various people along his journey, each with lessons to offer. And on an interesting note about the art, the artist used the likeness of Paulo Coelho for one of the characters, so be on the lookout for that.

Libraries with graphic novel collections will probably want to add this one. I would say teens and up would be a good audience for the book. If you have not read the novel before, this is a good way to do it. If you, like me, have read the novel before, this adaptation may help you appreciate it a bit more.