I think I would have liked this book more if I read it when I was 10. The novel started off strong but as I kept reading the story became very repetitive and kept rehashing the same morals and ideas. Not to mention the simplistic prose lent little to the story - maybe a result of the translation from Portuguese to English.
I couldn't help but think that the entire story would function better as a bedtime story than it does as a book written for adults.
i agree. I expected a lot more from a book that so many people were saying was life changing and inspirational. it left me a little unsatisfied.
ReplyDeleteExactly! It didn't live up to the praise.
ReplyDeleteI read one book by him (The Witch of Portabello) and it had the same sort of style. Not overwhelmed. Not whelmed at all. And I'm done with Coelho.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad other people are with me on this! Why is this author so famous?
ReplyDeleteIt's such a relief to find out not everybody loves The Alchemist. I thought there was something terribly wrong with me. I found it full of platitudes, many of which are just plain ridiculous. I reviewed it a while back and couldn't find much good to say about it. It makes me sad that the whole world is swallowing his sappy philosophy without question. So, thanks to all of the commenters for making me feel better!
ReplyDeleteOh, oh, oh, you crush me!!! I'm such a fan of The Alchemist and Paulo Coelho! There's so many quotes in that book that capture life in its entirety and the concept of God or a "Higher Power"....ah, well, we couldn't agree on all of them....i still think you rock!
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint you Stacy... I can see the appeal it just didn't do it for me.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across your blog via twitter last night and spent a good portion of my morning reading your blog. I love it. I hope you don't mind me commenting on an old post, but when I saw you had reviewed this book, I just had to see what you thought about it. I work in a book store part time so I'm always curious to see what others thought about this book as most of my co-workers LOVED it. I, on the other hand, don't get all the hype. It was definitely not a "life changing" book for me. You're right, it was repetitive and I found it highly predictable.
ReplyDeleteSo happy I found your site!
Wow thanks, Brie. I'm glad you like my blog :)
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