Or, is it as simple as stated in the “about the author” section at the novel’s end, “Paulo Coelho once said that following your dream is like learning a foreign language; you will make mistakes but you will get there in the end.” That might be true, but I don’t think any man ever had a conversation with the desert, the wind, the sun, or an opportunity to “speak to the hand that wrote all.” Are we talking about the big man upstairs? After reading this classic, I understand why it took Paulo so long to get the novel published. Paulo Coelho says, “I always knew that my Personal Legend, to use a term from alchemy, was to write.” It’s hard to decide what niche this novel belongs to. After reading this tale, I’m not sure. Anyway, enough said, lets talk about the eight characters in the novel (some have brief appearances, but all are important to the story).
First, we have our protagonist, Santiago, the sheepherder. He lives in Spain and wanders the countryside with his herd. The sheep trust him to find food and water (the only thing they want), and in return, they provide him an income when they are sheared. But Santiago has a recurring dream...a child at the Egyptian pyramids says, “If you come here, you will find a hidden treasure.”
Secondly, we have the gypsy woman who interprets dreams and agrees that there is a treasure awaiting him. She will take no fee but wants one-tenth of the treasure if he finds it.
Thirdly, we meet the King of Salem, Melchizedek. He says to Santiago, “Give me one-tenth of your sheep and I’ll tell you how to find the hidden treasure.” He tells Santiago the same thing that the gypsy woman said, but gives him two stones from his golden breastplate. They are urim and Thummim. The King says, “When you are unable to read the omens, they will help you to do so. Always ask an objective question.” Now if you think that I’m giving the story away, think again. I’m only on page 33.
Santiago sells his sheep, pays the King his one-tenth (six sheep), and boats over to Africa where he is robbed. Now broke, he finds a job with a crystal shopkeeper (the fourth character). Santiago improves the business dramatically and saves enough money to quit his job in less than a year. Santiago leaves the shop without saying goodbye to the shopkeeper and continues on his Personal Legend. Okay, stop worrying, I’m only on page 65.
Alright, I will not tell you anymore except that the remaining four characters are: the Englishman (the reader never finds out his name), Fatima (the love of Santiago’s life), the Alchemist (I loved this character), and lastly, the Coptic Monk. Folks, you are going to blow right through this fast moving novel. Is Santiago a man in search of truth like the narrator in Daniel Quinn’s, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit (1995)? Don’t you love literature? After reading The Alchemist, I almost want to read The Arabian Nights, a very old collection of tales written by various authors. The key word in that statement is almost. Anyway, I highly recommend this classic novel.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: After reading about the tribal wars in The Alchemist, I started to think about Lawrence of Arabia. The best book about him seems to be Jeremy Wilson’s Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of T.E. Lawrence. Amazon.com states, “The exploits of T.E. Lawrence as British liaison officer in the Arab Revolt, recounted in his work Seven Pillars of Wisdom, made him one of the most famous Englishmen of his generation. This biography explores his life and career including his correspondence with writers, artists and politicians.”
Goodreads.com states, “The unabridged edition was selected by The New York Times as one of the six best nonfiction books of 1990. Now this critically acclaimed biography--abridged by the author--offers a portrait of the legendary modern-day knight, Arab revolt leader, British secret agent and World War I military genius. 32 pages of photographs.”
The author Jeremy Wilson said on 11/6/2011, 'I completed Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorised Biography in 1989. The full text ran to 1,200 pages – around half a million words. It was published in Britain that year by Heinemann, and in the US by Atheneum in 1990. The New York Times Review of Books ranked it among the fourteen best titles of its year. Their reviewer had written: “This biography will endure beside Seven Pillars as his monument, and any future book about T. E. Lawrence will be but a commentary on it”. Malcolm Brown, writing in the London Daily Telegraph, described it as: “the solid sheet-anchor study this subject has long required”. Kirkus Reviews labelled it the “definitive historical biography”.'
Another good book about tribal life is Ibrahim al-Koni’s Gold Dust. Amazon.com states, “Rejected by his tribe and hunted by the kin of the man he killed, Ukhayyad and his thoroughbred camel flee across the desolate Tuareg deserts of the Sahara. Between bloody wars against the Italians in the north and famine raging in the south, Ukhayyad rides for the remote rock caves of Jebel Hasawna. There, he says farewell to the mount who has been his companion through thirst, disease, lust, and loneliness. Alone in the desert, haunted by the prophetic cave paintings of ancient hunting scenes and the cries of jinn in the night, Ukhayyad awaits the arrival of his pursuers and their insatiable hunger for blood and gold. Gold Dust is a classic story of the brotherhood between man and beast, the thread of companionship that is all the difference between life and death in the desert. It is a story of the fight to endure in a world of limitless and waterless wastes, and a parable of the struggle to survive in the most dangerous landscape of all: human society.”
Poster of the 1962 movie:
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