Simyacı

Manchmal lese ich ein Buch genau im richtigen Moment. So war es mit Der Alchemist von Paulo Coelho. Ich war unruhig, voller Fragen, irgendwie auf der Suche – und dann kam Santiago. Der Hirte, der von einem Schatz träumt.

Eigentlich ist die Geschichte einfach. Ein junger Mann folgt seinem Traum, reist durch die Wüste, begegnet Menschen, Zweifeln und Zeichen. Aber was wirklich passiert, passiert zwischen den Zeilen.

Coelhos Sprache ist schlicht, fast märchenhaft. Ich habe die Sätze aufgesogen, manchmal laut gelesen, manchmal sofort nochmal. Weil sie so klar und gleichzeitig so tief sind.

Was mich berührt hat: die Botschaft, dass jeder Mensch eine Bestimmung hat. Und dass das Universum hilft, wenn man seinem Herzen folgt. Kitschig? Vielleicht. Aber in dem Moment war es genau das, was ich hören musste.

Der Alchemist ist kein Buch, das Antworten gibt. Es stellt Fragen. Es erinnert. Es ermutigt.

Ich habe es in einem Zug gelesen – und am Ende still gelächelt. Nicht, weil alles plötzlich klar war. Sondern weil ich gespürt habe: Ich bin unterwegs. Genau wie Santiago. Und vielleicht ist das schon alles, was zählt.

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.