Book Review: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I finally read The Alchemist in 2021, roughly three decades after the rest of the planet, and I get the hype now — mostly. This is a lovely little fable about following your one true dream. It is also a book where only half of humanity gets to have one.

The spoiler-free premise: Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd, dreams twice about treasure buried near the pyramids and sets out to find it. Along the way: omens, a king, a crystal merchant, the desert, and the idea the book is really selling. The Personal Legend — the thing you were put here to do, which the whole universe conspires to help you pursue.

What I Loved About The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The parable economy. Coelho writes like someone carving a proverb into a park bench — nothing wasted, everything quotable, the whole thing readable in two sittings. And I’m an easy mark for a follow-the-omens story: I once turned a cheap-Airbnb road trip into five years of living out of a carry-on because it felt like the right door at the right time. The Personal Legend gives that kind of leap a vocabulary, and I understand why this book has talked a few million people into quitting things.

What I Didn’t Love About The Alchemist

The women. There’s essentially one in the book, and her entire role is to wait — faithfully, decoratively — while the man she just met pursues his destiny. Her Personal Legend, apparently, is him. I’d have loved even one woman in this universe with a legend of her own to chase, because women get deserts and omens and terrifying leaps too. The philosophy is universal. The cast, somehow, isn’t.

Final Thoughts on The Alchemist

Read it for the fable, keep your asterisk for the casting. It earns its spot in the follow-your-dream canon, and at this length there’s no excuse not to. If the omen-following puts you in a leaping mood, my digital nomad story is what my version looked like — and my review of Big Magic covers the book I’d hand you about what happens after you say yes.

My final score: 4 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Do I recommend this book? 👍 Yes — with the asterisk above.

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