Monday, October 13, 2014
Review of The Alchemist
In my ELA (English Language Arts) class we just finished reading the book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. My rating for this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️ out five. My favorite thigs about this book where the learning about Personal Legends, the love interest between the main character Santiago and Fatima, and also how when I was reading it sometimes a Harry Potter refrence would pop into my head. While the book was talking about Personal Legends it got me thinking "Is everyone on the planet for a reason?" I do think people are here for reason. I love to read two characters falling in love so Santiago and Fatima were cute. Their ship name is Satima. The Harry Potter refrences that came into my head were the Philosophers Stone, and the Elixir of Life. I would recommend this book.
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I agree with the rating you gave for this book. Learning about the Personal Legends and other terms from The Alchemist was a somewhat new experience, as it seems that many works of fiction involving magical realism don't embrace spirituality as much as this one does (or go as in-depth regarding the characters' understanding of the concepts they introduce). I didn't really like Santiago's relationship with Fatima- I thought it could've been developed a bit more. But hey, everyone has their own opinion.
ReplyDeletethe elixir of life and the philosophers stone are part of real life lore not just harry potter. the elixir of life was a reason for exploration and the philosophers stone was a reason for scientific progress. these two items represented the unattainable in reality but are physical items in the book.
ReplyDeleteI would disagree with your rating and I would give the book a four out of five. I read this when I was younger and it really gave me a sense of adventure. It made me think about what I wanted to do when I grow up and what my Personal Legend is.
ReplyDeleteI mostly agree with your rating but I think that the book deserves a bit more credit. I praise the book for its philosophical side when it talked about personal legends. I also liked how their were some really interesting characters in the book. Overall I'd give this book a 3.5/5
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your rating. I read the book in seventh grade and didn't get much out of it and I probably would have agreed with your rating then, but now that we've re-read it with more understanding of what's going on within the book, I'll have to change my opinion. Now that we've put out so many new opinions, I've realized how deep the book actually is. I'd give the book a solid 4 out of 5.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your rating, it seems you were focused on the romance of the novel more than the philosophical means and the tale. If you were rating it as a romance novel I would agree with your rating, as the love story was subpar in my opinion. Also, as a side note, the role of the philosophers stone and elixir of life in Harry potter is very very very very very very very very very very likely to be a reference to its alchemical background and history, not the other way around, as these used to be considered true things that could be discovered, even now some people still believe in it and deny more modern sciences that prove transmutation of lead into gold is impossible.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your rating. Personally, I didn't like the book very much. The constant philosophical ramblings and symbolism were my main peeves about The Alchemist. Other than that, sometimes I felt like I was reading a textbook because the adventure in it didn't seem like an adventure at all. All Santiago did was jump from one person to the next and learn something new from each of them. I give the book a ** out of 5.
ReplyDeleteI believe in fate and the we all have a purpose and a reason for being. I disagree with your rating though. Five stars! I would most definitely read it again! Nice ship.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the book deserves a four out of five because I enjoyed how it spoke of omens and the Language of the World. The book gave me a different point of view of the universe. I think that Satima did have an okay relationship, but the author should have added more between them. Overall, the book was very good and deserves a four out of five in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your rating, but I have one question. What were the Harry Potter references?
ReplyDeleteAs others have pointed out, the philosopher’s stone was neither a harry potter reference nor something Paulo Coelho came up with. I feel like the relationship between Santiago and Fatima very suddenly developed and was two-dimensional. You brought up “Is everyone on the planet for a reason?" and I believe that life is without true reason or purpose. Not to say that life isn’t worth living, I’m simply deterministic. I agree that the book was good and it was definitely worth reading.
ReplyDeleteIn this book I had mixed emotions. Sometimes i didn't like the book because it had too much detail, and i, personally, don't really like details. But other than that I thought that it was entertaining to read because I liked being able to feel the way Santiago felt in the book. I don't know its a weird thought, but the author, for me, made me feel the way Santiago felt at times. Also, like Brayden said, I liked being able to learn about Personal Legends because it was a "new experience."
ReplyDeleteI agree with your rating when it comes to the romance side of the novel, but I feel like there is a whole other side of the book that you did not touch on, like some people have already said. When it comes to the philosophical side of it, I feel like there was so much insight in regards to the way the world works in operation with people and about our purposes in life. I would give the book at least a 3.5/5.
ReplyDeleteI did not like the book as much as you did and would give it a 1/5 instead of a 3/5. I thought the book was too illogical in some areas but I know you enjoyed the love intrest part of the book and so I understand why you gave it that rating. One other thing is why did you not write about something more personal in this blog post as this was an open and free blog post?
ReplyDeleteI agree the book wasn't good at telling the love story, the only good story it told was the connection between him and his heart
ReplyDelete