I feel like The Alchemist was a ship that I missed when it first sailed many years ago- it was such a sensation that tabloids showed all sorts of famous people (Bill Clinton!) reading it and it was optioned for an (as yet unmade) film. So here I am, reading it only 30 years late.
The Alchemist is a very slim novel, just over 150 generously spaced pages. It follows Santiago, a shepherd boy from Andalusia who follows his dream of finding treasure under the pyramids. This dream takes him down a winding physical and metaphorical road: plot-wise he turns a dusty crystal shop in Morocco into a booming crystal and tea shop, learns how to read the signs of the Sahara in Oasis towns and falls in love; metaphorically he learns to better understand people and his own desires, and to take risks in pursuit of his dreams.
Was it worth the hype? Meh. The moral Coelho is espousing here feels a little ‘The Secret’-esque, and the story containing the morale is too simple to hang together on its own. I also took some umbrage with the following:
- Firstly, from a gender perspective, I had issues with the ‘you can have it all’ sales pitch when in practice Coelho only let this pitch apply to men. Santiago the male shepherd can have it all, but his love interests are destined to wait for him, possibly forever, in the towns he passes through. Looking beyond Santiago, while we learn all about the dreams (active and abandoned) of a number of male characters in addition to Santiago- the tea shop owner, the academic alchemy student, the Alchemist himself- none of the women get this same character building. Their dreams are to wait in a desert town for someone to come back and make their lives whole? Eye roll.
- Secondly, from a socioeconomic perspective, I took issue with the idea that what holds people back from their dreams is lack of courage or desire. Coelho’s parable skips over the resources it takes, the family commitments that hold people back, the other less tangible obstacles that might exist (it is easier to risk everything when society gives you the benefit of the doubt and is structured in your favour…). Books like this reinforce the idea that following dreams is equally available to everyone, and if you haven’t done so it’s because you’re somehow lacking courage or gumption, not the circumstances/ family you were born into.
Maybe this was an easier sell in 1993 than 2022?
Counting this one as the ‘Holiday’ square for cbr14bingo as I picked it up and read it while on holidays.