David Swinstead reviewed The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
I liked it. I didn't *love* it but I liked it.
3 stars
Content warning Spoilers yes. Don't click if you haven't read.
There's a lot of inspirational stuff about following our dreams and never giving up.
And a lot of stuff about learning what true happiness is.
But then it's a bit too pseudo-religious for my liking.
And then in the final 30ish pages all at once several things happened that I thought ruined the whole book: - the alchemist really does turn lead into gold, after it seeming for many pages that it was all just a metaphor - the boy really does talk to God and turn himself into the wind, after (again) seeming like it would all stay grounded in reality and it would only happen figuratively - he found actual treasure at the end! I thought the whole point was that treasure is in us already, its in the connection to the universe and in fining love and purpose.... Coelho make it seem like that's the lesson but then right at the end it turns out, no, the treasure is gold. Not love.
