The Alchemist
I finished reading this book by Paulo Coelho today. It was boring. Uninteresting and pointless. Others have applauded the simplicty of the story and the deeper meaning that it carries, but it didn’t do anything for me. At least one person (including the person who lent me the book) told me that the ending is good, and so I read it till the last word to see what’s so good about the ending. I was disappointed. C’mon, life is not as simple as the author potrays. The ‘boy’ doesn’t come across any real challenges, and at every stage he has someone or something telling him what to do. Now that doesn’t happen in the real world. Sure, there are signs, messiahs and omens. But seldom as simple and unadventureous as in this story. Actually, many a times I was wondering what could the author have been smoking to come up with some totally random, silly and disconnected parts. Like the part about the boy talking to the Wind, Sun and finally some BS Hand of God or whatever. I was not inspired one bit. But if it worked for you, good. I think Kurt Cobain can give you better gyaan. As for me, I’d rather stick to Deepak Chopra.
Comment by yell — July 4, 2006 at 5:28 pm
true, dumb ass writer, much too hyped
not sure if i’d like deepak chopra much more than priyanka chopra either
i lived 25 years without reading anything of chopra, coelho, rand or any such crap… i think there was a valid reason for it, they suck
Comment by Pratap — July 5, 2006 at 3:57 am
Both Paulo C and Deepak C are plagiarists in a broader sense. Most of Chopra’s ideas are taken from ancient texts and repackaged into a hollywood consumable form. But the big difference here is that Chopra pulls it off rather interestingly (if you have the time and inclination for it), whereas Coelho does such a bad job that it makes me want to send him off to the same desert he wrote about. Yes, quite a few of us can see thro Chopra trying to sell his ideas to an ignorant lot and laugh his way to the bank. While I am sure many can live without any of the Chopra, Coelho or Rand, what I was surprised about was the sheer stupidity that people have agreed in majority to be worthy of a 4 star rating (on Amazon) for The Alchemist. If I saw a 3 (or a 3.5), I would have thought ok - to each one his own. But 4 stars appears to be some sort of mega-stupidity sweeping through most of the literate world.
While I am at it, let me also mention that I found the movie The Machinist very lousy, but it has got a four star rating (of some 147 reviews).