re:mote voices

Title: The Alchemist
Author: Paulo Coelho
Publisher:HarperCollins

the alchemist is an internationally acclaimed novel by brazilian writer paulo coelhos, which was included in the recent "big read" campaign by the BBC. coelhos seems to have had something of a checkered path, which includes a time spent trying to become an alchemist himself. while some of his work seems to be of a more auto-biographical nature, the alchemist is presented as a fable, with the intent that its content should cover all the main points in understanding and discovering alchemy. this gives the book quite a religious aspect at times, though it manages for the most part to avoid getting bogged down in the particulars of a sect, even with references to "god" and "allah" based on certain characters. the religious aspects tend more to the idea of the one soul of the world, and how it is all linked together, and those who can speak the language of the world can see into that one soul.

throughout the book the main character is referred to as "the boy", nameless from start to finish, though for some reason the back of the book seems to say that he is called santiago. the boy was raised to be a priest, but decided that it wasn't the life for him, so instead he became a shepard. wandering across andalusia, the boy shelters one night in an old church, there he has a dream of pyramids in egypt for the second time. in the nearest town he is advised by a gypsy woman that if he travels to the pyramids then he will find his treasure. somewhat cynical, the boy determines that he will continue with his own plans, continue to travel as a shephard. however he is then met by an old man, who knows everything about the boy, and claims to be a king. the man urges him to follow his destiny, and so persuaded, he travels to tangiers, following the omens and trials one step at a time.

the alchemist is a journey, one which manages to present a positive view point, at times close to being a little too over the top, but on the whole managing to refrain from going too far. the ideas of alchemy are woven into the novel, the boy encountering a wannabe as well as a real alchemist on his way. the concepts go past that of the conversion of lead into gold, delving into the ideas of the philosophers stone and the elixir of life. but all those are an aside to the more spiritual basis and core of coelho's work. a classic adventure story, steeped in legend and the explorations of the traveller.