BOOK REVIEW- "THE ALCHEMIST" BY PAULO COELHO

Few days back while going through the collection of my books, my eyes got stuck on one of my most favourite book ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian writer. This amazing book kept me busy last week.

This is a novel of a shepherd boy Santiago, who has a dream and courage to follow it. It is a journey of exploration and self-discovery. The boy goes on a venture to pursue his dream, symbolically searching for a hidden treasure located near the pyramids in Egypt. In his journey he meets many exciting people like the alchemist who helps him in finding his way.

I love the end of the novel because it is never-ending. At the end Santiago discovers that “treasure lies where your heart belongs”. The treasure is in the journey itself. In real life also we can feel that happiness lies in the journey rather than reaching to any particular spot.

Here I recall a dialogue from the Bollywood film ‘HIGHWAY’ by Imtiaz Ali, where “veera” the protagonist speaks the following lines:-

"Jahan se tum mujhe laye ho, mein wahan wapas nahi jaana chahti.

Jahan bhi le ja rahe ho, wahan pahunchna nahi chahti.

Par yeh raasta, yeh bahut accha hai.

Mein chahti hoon ki yeh raasta kabhi khatam na ho."

The language of this novel is simple and beautiful. Paulo Coelho states that we should not avoid destinies and urges people to follow their dreams.

Dreams are meant to be followed…..

Life is meant to be lived…..

Some books are meant to be read, loved and passed on… ‘The Alchemist’ is one such book. I suggest all to read this book once in your life. It is a worth reading this book.

I have read this book so many times, but every time I read I get some new ideas to live a happy life. I don’t know whether you can achieve your dream by reading this book or not, but definitely you will fall in love with the journey of life.

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