maria jaya rated The Alchemist: 3 stars
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of …
This book is very close to my heart, and hits right home. I came across this book through a Joyful Militancy reading group organized last year by an online milieu I belong to (and deeply love, despite not meeting some of them yet). I wasn't able to keep up with their pace, so I decided to pause it and re-read it later last year. It took me quite a while to finish reading this, because I had to take some time to absorb and reflect on the discussions and ideas presented. It made me look inside myself so many times and ask: in what ways do I and the groups I belong to perpetuate rigid radicalism? In what ways are we hurting ourselves and each other? How can we heal together? How do we introduce more joy in our activism? How do we make flowers bloom in the cracks of …