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I am marking this as read because I am finished with it, but I did not finish reading it.

I made it halfway and then I kept trying to go back to it, and each time I tried I could only manage a page or two without getting frustrated. I hate this book. I hate this more than I have ever hated any other book. It is fewer than 100 pages but still I will never finish it. I will be happy to never read another word of it.

Young woman - who Fedor has given no real character or personality at all - says barely anything, then awkward young loser guy launches off into long rambling lectures about nonsense. Over and over. And I guess we're supposed to think all of these speeches show he has the soul of a deep thinker, perhaps even a poet?

He rambles at her all night before he even asks her name! This isn't a poet this is a narcissist.

It's the original literary representation of the meme with the guy in the nightclub talking to the girl who looks bored as hell.

How anybody has ever enjoyed this I do not understand.

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.