'The Alchemist' : My review

After dilly-dallying innumerable years, I finally got my hands on 'The Alchemist'. Read it in one sitting. Refreshing. (Thank you to a lovely friend who prodded me to read it).

I am not a big fan of fables. However, I have always loved how fables effectively teach us about morals without getting preachy and boring. The Alchemist is written in almost a dreamy undertone. Several times through the book, it felt like a dream written in text.

The book presents a lot of ideas synchronous to the Eastern philosophy. Like the principal of 'living in the present moment- not in the future, not in the past, but in the present moment'. This is a well known principle of Hinduism and Buddhism as well. Another idea common with East is the idea of destiny. 'Maktub' as the writer quotes several times through the book, in arabic means 'it was written' implying that it is 'destiny' and written by the same hand. At the end of the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' when the precept of the movie is explained, there are several options that are given to the viewer and one of them is 'It is written'.

I got a kick out of reading one of the ideas presented in the story. I could identify with it, but could not have thought of putting it better: 'When you want something with all your heart, all the Universe conspires in helping you to achieve it'. I think that everyone has had this experience in their life, including me.

Overall, a book worth a read..and a reread.