There are some books which don’t fall in the category of novels nor in non-fiction.
The Alchemist is one such book which falls in between the two. Admittedly, its a fiction - a fable about a boys journey towards realising his dreams. But the whole mood of the book tries to bring out the universal truths and the keys to happiness which does not reduce it to a mere bedtime story. The setting and the plot of the story is fictitious but the message it tries to convey is not.
How often do we follow our hearts? Are we really working towards making our dreams come true? Do we look out for hidden omens by God? Are we comfortable with whatever we possess or is there a burning desire to transcend higher? These are some questions which the story evokes.
The protagonist is a simpleton who sets out in search of the treasure he had dreamt. In the pursuit he becomes worldly-wise and discovers his true potential by listening to his core and conscience and following the secret omens laid out in his path by God. He accomplishes things which he thought were insurmountable in the past. His adventure also leads him to his lady love. The lessons and experiences he picks up along the way proves eventually to be more valuable than the treasure itself. He becomes more and more confident and reassured in himself since he now knows deep inside that he can rise from the ashes and earn a good fortune solely on the merits of his talents and resourcefulness.
Although not linguistically lavish, the well-etched drama makes you visualise all the scenes vividly. The author really manages you to be transformed in a hypothetical world. Yet, I think, one can definitely relate to the incidents in his/her life. It does strike a chord somewhere. Be it the hope, despondency, fear, courage or love. Each one of us has gone through these emotions which are the corner stones of much larger scheme of things leading towards fulfilment.
The gospel of whatever happens, happens for good is aptly emphasized in the quote, ’When you really want something and pursue it, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it’ It’s the positive energy which makes things move in our favour.
Another takeaway from the book is ’One should make the heart his best friend and always follow his advice’.
Sounds cliched? Well, maybe. But it certainly drives home the point. Amazing things can happen if we are receptive to the inner signals from the heart to manifest our destiny and make peace with ourselves.
The book reinforces the fundamental principles in life which we don’t even realise we are deviating from.
This book does not provide any radically new concepts about life. It should be read with a spirit of adventure and also with the intent to draw inspiration on how one can catapult his mediocre existence into a truly enriched one by following a set of divine guidelines or hidden omens.
If you are in no mood of going through the oft-repeated ’philosophical blabber’ and you think you’ve already got the gist or the moral of the story after reading the reviews, I would suggest you better get yourself another one of those bombastic pulp fictions and listen to your heart.