This is actually the book that made me decide to get back into writing in my blog. It was a thought provoking book, but probably not for any of the reasons the author intended. After reading it I felt like I needed to rage and storm to someone... a week later and the violent reaction has left me, but I still feel like I need to share my side of the story.
Let me start off by saying that this book was the perfect book to read after Anna Karenina. It was everything Anna Karenina wasn't--it was short, thought provoking, and had a very limited cast of characters. I read it in one day (and I even went to work for 8 hours that day)!
Let me also say, that this book has a great message. Long story short, this book is an allegory about the importance of finding and fulfilling your life's work. What I like about this message is that the author recognizes that not everyone's life work is something big and grand and he says so fairly directly. Sometimes people get it into your head that if you are a mother and a homemaker you must have unfulfilled dreams. That may be true for some people, but for other people, being a wife and homemaker is fulfilling all their dreams.
Now that I have all of that out of the way, I have to get into my beef with this book. Part of the premise of the book is that those who are striving to fulfill their life's work stand a much greater chance of having their heart broken because they have more emotionally invested in their work compared to those who are just slogging through life. I believe this is a true concept, which is why this book bugged me.
For me, there is nothing more satisfying than finding some little gem in a book. I feel about reading the same way other people feel about running or starting a new business and succeeding in it. You could almost say that my life's work is to read all the best books in the world (I'm quite aware that this is impossible in this life, but that's why I'm hoping that if I'm really good Heavenly Father will call me to work in that big library I feel quite certain exists in heaven). This book is an allegory, but it's a very thinly veiled allegory. Unlike The Chronicles of Narnia which are enjoyable whether you read them as a child's fantasy novel or an allegory of the history of the world, The Alchemist is only enjoyable if you agree with the author's message.
As a result, I was a little disappointed when I finished the book. Sure, I felt like I had gained something useful, but I can think of half a dozen novels whose messages will stick with me for far longer due to the work I put into understanding the message.
Is it a book I'd recommend to people? Absolutely. I think it's a book worth reading and I think that most people aren't going to be bothered by the things that bothered me. Would I ever want to own a copy of it? Probably not.
Can you tell I'm anxious to get back into an English program?
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